Libby's Latest

Lindsay's Baby Shower

2012-01-30T14:49:00.000-07:00

The "Melib" of Melibindsay got together to throw a baby shower for the "indsay", as she is now less than 6 weeks from her due date! (which is Leap Day. Wouldn't that be awesome?!) We had tons of fun planning it! The theme? Alphabet.

Here are the invites I designed just using Pages (one day I'll learn Photoshop... not today) and I printed them on the back side of different cute papers. We went for the obvious color- pink (with gray accents).

We put balloons on Mel's balcony to help people figure out which apartment to go to. (I also included a map which I drew in Pages as well, but you don't get to see that. It was cute though :D) Thanks, Mel, for hosting! It was so nice not to have to clean my whole house AND make tons of food (because a clean house and tons of cooking never go hand-in-hand for me) :)

We labeled the food "Ww is for Water" etc.

The mini pies were actually really easy. I used my favorite pie crust recipe, and this filling recipe, using the frozen berry medley from Costco. The cupcakes were ones I had been wanting to try since I saw them here. I admit, though, I used a boxed cake mix- I was doing so much from scratch, I scrimped there, but everyone still raved about them.

I used this recipe for the Chicken Salad, which doesn't it look so pretty with those red grapes, green celery and brown cashews? I made the shredded chicken ahead of time with this easy crock-pot recipe- which I love to use and then take the leftover juices and blend them with the veggies and use it for stock in other recipes. The croissants were from Costco, although I would love to someday try and make croissants. If they're that good from Costco, imagine how amazing they would be fresh!! Anyone have a good recipe?

Costco roses- one day I'll take flower arranging at BYU, but for now, I just have to rely on the flowers to speak for themselves :)

Mixed, fresh berries, veggie platter,

Mel threw together a spinach, crasin, feta salad with walnuts on the side (since Lindsay's mom is allergic to nuts) and two dressings to choose from.

I used my silhouette to cut out letters from the alphabet and then I sewed them together. The sewed doily garland was reused from this shower. The "table cloth" is a queen, fitted gray sheet :)

To go with the alphabet theme, our prizes were little notebooks with a pen.

And our party favor was 3 sugar cookies with "A", "B", and "C" piped on. If we had to do it again, we would have put A on a small cookie, B on a medium and C on a large round one since we had to stack them to get them to fit in the cellophane bag. We originally wanted to have cookies cut out to be like the letters "A", "B", and "C", but it was really hard to find the letters we want. Walmart and every chain craft store sells the same 101 cookie cutter set with the alphabet in it, but the letters are puny, so we had to improvise.

We played 3 games: This one is called "My water broke"! (every baby shower needs at least one gross game, right?) Everyone had to keep an eye on their cup throughout the shower and whoever's ~~creepy~~ baby emerges from the ice cube first had to yell "My water broke!"

Yay Kellie!

Our next game, was like baby/pregnancy/labor-terms scattergories, except we had Lindsay come up with a list of terms for each letter of the alphabet previously, and people would get a point if they chose the same term she did. We ended up with a 5-way tie at 5 points and so gave the prize to whomever had filled in the most answers.

Yay, Kelsey!

Our last game was called "Makin' a baby" and everyone had to mold a baby from play dough. Lindsay got to choose her favorite.

Linds wanted to make one, even though she wasn't allowed to choose her own :)

Kate won, though accidentally knocked the head off right before the picture so she's holding it on here :) (did anyone else notice the name of everyone who won started with "K"?)

The haul.

I felt like people were very generous. Linds got some great loot!

Here she is trying on the nursing cover I made her :) I also made a carseat cover, which I'll post separately.

Here's a pic of some of the old ballet girls.

And here's Melibindsay.

And finally, I want to make a shout out to an amazingly supportive husband who came home after work last Friday to a hurricane house, full of piles of clean laundry needing folding, migrant toys, a nice pile of dirty dishes, and a lame-o dinner to greet him (since I was in the kitchen all day doing shower prep). I then ran off to Melissa's to put food together (with all said things still in place) and when I returned after midnight, he not only waited up for me, but had folded all the laundry and put it away, emptied the dishwasher, loaded it up and washed it all and put all the toys away. (aaaand put the kids to bed by himself) If that's not enough, I ran off Saturday morning, leaving him in a similar situation, and he watched the kids all day while I was at the shower, cleaned up the cupcake mess I left in the morning and didn't complain that I was too tired to make dinner when I got home. (thank you Chinese take-out).

My man is THE. BEST. I love you, Jay.

Kid Conversation

2012-01-25T20:35:00.002-07:00

The bulk of the craziness should subside after Saturday, but I can't keep all this cute convos in my head for long...

First I just wanted to mention how amazed I am by Peach's vocabulary expansion! She already uses sentences! (although, you have to be a mom to understand them...) A couple of the most common are:
"ahwango" = I want to go
"wanmo" = I want more
"wight heeyew" (usually with pointing) = right here

she's also figured out that you don't typically say "thank you" when you give something to someone, you say "here". Or in her case, "heeyew".

Right now "dog", "duck", and her brother's name all sound very similar, and it can be hard to differentiate. If it's one of the first two, and I'm confused, she'll often accompany it with an animal noise.

She also is very aware of what belongs to The Frog and what belongs to her. She often picks up The Frog's sippy cup and says,
Peach: [Frog]? Moke? (milk)
Me: Yes, that is The Frog's milk.
Peach, obviously pleased with her correct assessment, then drinks his milk.

The other day, I was dropping something off for Jay at work, and we were kind of in a hurry because we wanted to make it to story-time at the library, so I said to The Frog before we got out of the car...
Me: [Frog], we have to go in and out really quickly, or we'll be late for story-time at the library, so you have to stick right with me, ok?
The Frog: okay, mom!
So we go inside, he does a great job non lolly-gagging, he went through his usual ritual of pushing all the disability buttons to open the two sets of doors to get inside, and pushing all the elevator buttons. We made it all they way to the faculty fridge and back down stairs through the elevator. I couldn't believe what a great job he was doing- he usually has to stop and look at EVERYTHING and ask questions about it. The doors our were just in sight, and The Frog takes off down a hall lined with classrooms and people studying.
Me: [Frog]! Come back, bud! We're going to be late for story-time! We've got to go!
The Frog: Mom!! (yelling, while running past the students, away from me) You've got to stick right with me, okay?!!

Earlier that morning, I realized I had forgot something and, as usual, said something about it as I thought out-loud. (ha. I now can't remember what it was that I forgot...)
The Frog: Mom, you're so funny. That's so funny that you forgot about that.
Me: It is?
The Frog: You're so cute, mom. You're so cute.

And finally today, we were on our way to drop Jay off at work/go to the Bean Museum (every Wednesday they have story time and they bring in a live animal for the kids to pet. It's soo stinkin' cool! We've touched a blue-tongued skink, a turtle, and today it was a bearded dragon.)

I wasn't really paying attention to the other side of the car, as I was buckling in Peach and Jay was helping The Frog. The Frog climbs into the car, jumps, and then bonks his head on the ceiling and starts crying and blaming Jay for hitting his head.
Jay: [Frog], I didn't touch you! You jumped and bonked your own head!
Me: (I'm embarrassed to say, but lectures like this are very common from my mouth) I know your upset about getting hurt, [Frog], but you're the one who was acting crazy in the car. If you'd just calm down and get in your seat, you wouldn't get hurt.
The Frog: But Daaad. (sobbing) You shouldn't have told me to jump in the car! Why did you say that!!

Hectic!

2012-01-16T13:46:00.001-07:00

Last week was sooo hectic! Between waking up at 5:40am to work out every day, and staying up late pulling things together for my 10 year high school reunion so we can start selling tickets, I'm completely exhausted. Then there was all the little things that crept in- watching kids for a friend, accompanying on piano for a friend in church on Sunday, a meeting about this years' Relief Society Weeknight Meetings, my monthly book club meeting and having my 2 best buds for dinner for our monthly "Dine-O-Round", I am officially taking a hiatus, until I feel like it.

I just need a couple of weeks to pull together some of my organizational projects I've decided to do to help streamline my life, but I need some start-up time to get them going. I'll hopefully share about those once they're in motion and working. (i hope...)

Don't worry, my kids will still be cute when I get back.

Kid Conversations

2012-01-03T17:55:00.000-07:00

I have been storing up a few of these.

The Frog comes up to me out of nowhere.
The Frog: Oh no! Moooooom. Uh-oh, you forgot something!
Me: What?
The Frog: You forgot to get me a puppy!

One time at dinner when Peach was coughing after a drink The Frog comments:
"It went down the wrong pipe. It was supposed to go into her tummy, but it went down to her legs."

Iris, The Frog and I are all sitting at the table. The Frog is talking to Iris.
The Frog: How old is your mom?
Iris: 46
The Frog: How old is your dad?
Iris: 45
The Frog: How old are you?
Iris: 17
The Frog: How old is your baby?
Iris: (laughing) I don't have a baby!
The Frog: (pointing at her breasts) But you have those!
Me: She's not married yet, Frog, she can't have a baby.
Iris: I don't even have a boyfriend. Can you help me find one, Frog?
The Frog: You mean like me... or daddy?
(we're lauging)
Me: Daddy is already married to me, Frog.
The Frog: Well, I'm not big yet.

Iris told me about this conversation when she put the kids to bed for Jay and I one night.
They're reading bedtime stories.
The Frog: (turns to Iris) Can you forgive me, Iris?
Iris: For what?
The Frog: I pooped.

and then this morning, I was getting the kids dressed and Peach was trying to open a dresser drawer. I asked The Frog to help her.

The Frog: Do you need help, Peach? Here. (opens the drawer) Look! What's in there? Just underpants and pajamas. (to me) I think she wants to look at my underpants. (to Peach) Do you want to look at my underpants, Peach?
Peach: (nodding) yeah.
The Frog: (dumping them all on the floor) Of course you can look at my underpants! Of course you can!

Quick Trip to Moab Day 1

2011-12-30T23:59:00.000-07:00

We wanted to take advantage of Iris being out of school and go somewhere cool for her to see, but we wanted it to be fairly inexpensive which means we needed to be able to drive. We also didn't want to force the kids to spend the whole time in the car, and I (selfishly) wanted to go somewhere I've never been. Southern Utah was the obvious choice, but there are a lot of places we could go, and most of the National Parks are geared to camping and hiking- both of which are not a great idea, especially in December and with a 3-year old. After our miserable "hiking the Y" experience last August, we decided hiking is out until our kids are oler.

We decided to go to Moab! It's only about 3 1/2 hours from our house and is super close to both Canyonlands and Arches- two national parks that have hikes, but are still beautiful if you just drive through and get out at the many look-out points. I highly recommend this excursion if you are a family with younguns.

Poor Iris sat between the two carseats the whole time. Here she is getting some shut-eye.

We got a late start because Jay had unexpected, major computer issues that needed to be resolved before we could leave, but luckily, we weren't going too far, and didn't have huge plans for the first day, so we just got there later than planned and didn't get to swim in the hotel pool the first day, as we thought.

The cutie munching on the hem of her leggings...

Playing Peek-a-boo with her "bankie"

Some driving shots. The sky was so beautiful that day!

The start of the red rock

The Frog asked me, "why are there colors in the sky?" That was a hard explanation to simplify...

That night in the hotel, we all had to go to bed at the same time, and after about 2 1/2 hours of trying to get the kids to sleep, we were finally all out by about 9:30pm.

Quick Trip to Moab Day 2 - Canyonlands

2011-12-30T23:45:00.000-07:00

Thankfully, the kids slept in until 7:30pm after going to bed so late. We went swimming in the morning and after running to the grocery store we headed to Canyonlands.

The kids promptly fell asleep and missed the gorgeous scenery on the way up.

As soon as we got to our destination (about 45 minutes later) and turned off the car, they promptly woke up!

Jay and I agree that the landscape reminded us a lot of the Grand Canyon, just more expansive.

After lifting The Frog up to this rock for what I thought would be a perfect shot, he stood up and climbed away from me. I nearly had a heart attack because I couldn't see how close he was to cliff and I think the people nearby could hear my panicked voice and came to help. Thankfully, he's fine, and I think, by the time we grabbed him, The Frog understood the gravity of the situation because he started crying. I'm pretty sure I got at least 5 gray hairs during those 2 minutes.

Most of the vistas were a tiny walk from the road, which was perfect for the kids to be able to stretch their legs and walk a bit, but not so painstaking as a hike.

We noticed that there was snow only where there was shade. I'm amazed it's lasted this long! The weather was really beautiful, and I was totally comfortable in only a very light jacket.

After Canyonlands, we stopped at an elementary school playground before going out to dinner.

The Frog talking into the rainspout

We had dinner at a delicious Chinese place called Szechuan Restaurant on Main Street. The first night we were recommended to the Moab Diner by a lady at a convenience store (we realized we forgot the wipes....) but we liked this place much much better.

Of course, the kids always love their nightly "ba".

Quick Trip to Moab Day 3 - Arches

2011-12-30T23:30:00.000-07:00

This is a bad shot, but I was amazed by how many crows were lurking around- they were to Moab as Seagulls are to Salt Lake or Pigeons are to New York City.

I wish I had instead taken a shot of them flying over the canyons and red rock- gorgous.

I saw these at the gas station, and I'd heard about them only recently but had never seen them anywhere. I had to try them. Verdict? Not impressed... They're basically a Ding Dong in Oreo form.

Even though the Arches entrance is much closer to Moab, the kids again fell right asleep by the time we got in the car.

So Jay stayed in the car with the kids while we hiked to the higher vista point for Delicate Arch. (I'm kind of glad, because we wouldn't have done the hike if the kids were with us)

It was amazing to me that standing in one place you had the above view, and when you turn around, it looked like this:

When Iris and I got back to the car, the kids had woken up and we went to the lower vista. As you can see, the arch looks much further:

I took way too many pics of the scenery from the car, but everything was just so beautiful.

We drove straight home from Arches. The kids did an amazingly awesome job, and I'm so glad, because we're going to be making another road trip, to much further away, very soon.

Rice Balls

2011-12-27T16:26:00.000-07:00

Iris showed us how to make rice balls stuffed with stuff (tutorial later- it's really not hard...) wrapped in nori (seaweed) and I was amazed by how much Peach loved them!

Christmas Day

2011-12-26T16:19:00.000-07:00

We had a great Christmas this year- poor Iris had to wake up as early as the kids on a Sunday, but she was a good sport about it. :)

Peach loves taking small objects out of containers, so this was right up her alley.

We started a new tradition this year - the Christmas Pickle. The pickle ornament gets hidden on Christmas Eve and whoever finds it first on Christmas morning, gets the "pickle prize" :) (this year a Snickers)

The Pickle Prize winner (with lots of help...)

Peach with her favorite present - her baby

Peach in her Christmas dress

The Frog in his Christmas sweater - Thanks Nanie!

I made this fur hat for Iris- it's a copycat of a cute one we saw at Gap

The Frog experiencing Pez for the first time

The Kids

I wrapped Peach up in my new scarf. Doesn't she look like a monk?

I usually end up feeling bad on mutual gift-giving holidays because Jay always seems to think of something amazing. This year, he gave me a life-time subscription to Ballet West and we went have our first date tomorrow night at The Nutcracker! I'm sooo excited :)

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and will have a very Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T13:58:00.001-07:00

Recipe Fail: salty muffins

2011-12-24T16:14:00.000-07:00

I make pancakes probably 3 or 4 times a week for breakfast. Everyone loves them, me especially, they're easy, they keep me full longer than a lame bowl of cereal, and I feel like they have some nutritional value since I use freshly ground whole wheat flour.

For the last several months, The Frog gets upset if I don't make him a smiley face one, but lately, he's been really interested in letters and so requests letters.

Just thought I'd pass along a tip for all you pancake makers who have never delved into the letter pancakes before- If you draw the non-symmetric letters the right way, initially, they will look backwards when you flip them over (and the underside never looks as good). This means I've had to start perfecting my backwards letters, and now when I do a "J" in the mornings (the most requested letter...) I have to think really hard about what it's supposed to look like!

Iris's stack 'o pancakes. I'm so glad I finally don't out-eat everyone at breakfast :)

This is the huge bowl of bran muffin mix that lived in my fridge for a few weeks. In my family, it's tradition to always eat bran muffins (with lots of butter, and the oranges from our stockings and usually a fritata or some other eggy thing, and maybe bacon) on Christmas morning and this year I decided to do it as well. As a mom, I can appreciate this tradition because this awesome batter will last in your fridge for up to 6 weeks and still turn out beautifully. This means you can make the batter the night before and bake them fresh (while opening presents) the morning of :) (you could even make the batter a week before if you're experiencing a particularly busy Christmas week...)

Well, this is the first year I've tried to make them and I'm not sure what happened when I got the recipe, but I quickly discovered that the Tbl of salt the recipe called for, actually should have been a tsp. Which means I had to then make an additional double batch (sans salt) to make the muffins palatable. Which means, we got a LOT of bran muffin mix. Luckily, they're delicious and the batter lasts a long time.

And finally, I can't believe it, but making the other two batches of muffins used up this giant 6 lb can of Crisco I bought at Costco when we moved here over 3 years ago. Woah. That's a lot of Crisco.

Christmas Lights at the Riverwoods

2011-12-23T22:16:00.000-07:00

We went to look at the lights at the Riverwoods Shopping Plaza since it's so close, and because they have a Santa you can take pictures with for free. Unfortunately, there was already a line right when he showed up, and we decided it was too cold and boring to wait. We had fun just walking around though. :)

loved the light canopies- reminded me of our Utah wedding reception :)

2 More Stockings

2011-12-20T15:54:00.000-07:00

I made 3 stockings our first Christmas here, but didn't do it last year for Peach's first Christmas because of the flood. Now this year, all of a sudden, we have 5 in our family, so I was 2 stockings short. The two on each end are the new additions :)

Cuteness

2011-12-15T14:39:00.000-07:00

Peach has been sporting leg warmers a lot lately. This was after being stripped for a meal, and I couldn't stand the cuteness: flower tights + leg warmers + crazy hair

I realized that origami ornaments would also make fabulous gift tags. Doesn't that kinda look like a cute snowflake? I wrote "to" "from" on the back.

Every once-in-awhile I get to witness cutenesses like this:

but not very often, so I savor them when they occur :)

Christmas Train

2011-12-13T14:31:00.000-07:00

The Frog being distracted by the nearby coin car "rides"

For family night last night, we went to the Provo mall so the kids could ride the Christmas train (while mom did some last-minute shopping...)

Once he saw the train, he was chasing it and trying to hop on.

It was kind of a rip-off (says the cheapo) but at least Peach was free :)

Getting ready to go

I didn't wait for the train to finish loading with passengers before I dashed off to the stores, but when I heard it chuffing by, I ran out for a quick pic.

Then it was back to the coin cars...

Bananas in pajamas and Peach :)

Just want to remember...

2011-12-12T14:00:00.000-07:00

my cute boy

extra blackberries + extra whipped cream = yum

Christmas is Finally Here!

2011-12-11T22:14:00.001-07:00

Even though I already decorated with lights, it still just doesn't feel like Christmas until you have a tree up. Last year, we never set one up, because of the flood and also because of the flood, our fake tree was ruined. This year we decided to get a real one and then buy a fake one after Christmas when they go on sale, although after being reminded of the awesome smell, I may be willing to put down the extra cash each year. I can smell it as I come down the stairs and it's fabulous!

I thought it would be fun if Iris and I made a few origami ornaments. She did most of them, but I utilized the one thing I remember how to make from 4th grade, and thought it looked really festive glowing over a tree light.

glowing origami "balloon" or "box"

Iris's large crane

Joint effort- saw on Pinterest

Iris did this cutie

Kid Conversation

2011-12-10T23:48:00.000-07:00

The Peach has finally had her first funny kid "conversation"

[Setting] All eating In-N-Out for lunch. Iris is next to Peach is next to Jay is next to The Frog is next to me. Peach appears to be done and starts walking around on the bench and tries to climb behind Jay.
Jay: (to Peach) Ahhhh! Don't touch me with your dirty little hands!!
as Peach touches his sweatshirt and gets fry sauce on it...
Jay: ugh. Gross, Peach! (pointing) Look what you got on my shirt!
Peach: (Goes in really close to look at the spot intently. Then says in a whisper with extreme awe) WOOOOOOW!

Cousins Here and Temple Lights

2011-12-10T14:24:00.000-07:00

The MA cousins from my side were in town and we had so much fun with them!

Cousin C explaining the intricacies of the exhibit to Peach

We took them to the Bean Museum at BYU, played around at our house and Iris made a delicious Japanese feast for everyone. (of which I have no pictures because my battery died :( )

Gangsta Peach's new fashion statement

The boys were so fun to watch. They get along really well together.

The only food shot I got (battery charged while eating)- only a bit of Miso soup was left untouched and I convinced Iris to just eat it so we wouldn't have to save a less than satisfying amount. I also urged her to just eat from the pot, since our bowls were already in the dishwasher. She is very respectful and so, obliged :)

After the cousins went back to grandma's and our kids were in bed, Jay and I wanted to take Iris to see the lights at temple square and this was the only night we could get a babysitter. We had to park a few blocks away, and so we got to make use of the fun pedestrian flags.

We walked by the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and had to go in and take a closer look at the exquisite tree and festive decor. (and Jay and I wanted to show her where we had our wedding luncheon.)

It was really crowded and really beautiful. I'm bad at taking good night shots, so it's hard to tell.

Jay and Iris with the Salt Lake Temple in the background

Iris jumping down from the wall :)

Joy in Japanese

For those of you who have never been to the lights at temple square- every year they have words like "Peace" and "Joy" in different languages lighted along a path of large nativities. We found some Japanese :) They even had a large Japanese nativity, which I thought was very cute.

We got to witness a marriage proposal too, which was awesome because I even told Iris on the way up that I see one almost every time I go :)

1000 Cranes

2011-12-08T14:02:00.000-07:00

In Japan, they have a tradition where if there is something you really really want, you can show your sincerity by folding 1,000 origami paper cranes and then your wish will come true. Iris started making some over Thanksgiving break and finally finished them!

Once they are made, you must string them all together and give them to whomever the wish is for. We wanted them to look ordered, so we decided to sort them by color first.

Then we made 20 strands with 50 cranes on each strand. Here they are all strung, and the first two (left) strings have been fitted together, so they are more compact.

Here is the finished product (at about midnight... it took awhile)

She gave them to her volleyball coach because she wishes that Timpview can take state in volleyball again this year. :)

A Mess of Napkins

2011-12-07T14:07:00.000-07:00

Not only does Peach love to blow her nose (and other peoples' noses) but she loves eating tissues as well. (Usually in small ripped-off portions at a time. She's not a barbarian, you know...)

Well, this latest affinity has now been extended to napkins.

If she were eating anything else in this way, I might've needed to offer her a napkin!

Kid Conversation

2011-12-06T08:46:00.001-07:00

Jay: [The Frog], guess what mommy did to me last night.
The Frog: What?
Jay: She woke me up in the middle of the night and said, "Stop touching your food if you're not going to eat it!!"
The Frog: (laughing) Why'd she do that?
Jay: Because she's mean.
Me: NO, because sometimes I talk in my sleep.
The Frog: I bark in my sleep.

Ward Christmas Breakfast

2011-12-04T22:48:00.001-07:00

We had our ward Christmas Party on Saturday and the decor was crazy awesome. Like Pinterest awesome. I can't believe the work that must have gone into it!

The food donation area

cute mini presents stuck to the front of the stage

The program backdrop and where pics with Santa will be later.

Isn't that a sweet punch bowl? It feels so festive!

Crazy marshmallows at the hot chocolate bar

Giant Cardboard ginger people decorated the walls all over

Can you believe the cardboard reindeer? That must have been soo painful to make... I have a hard time cutting out symmetric windows in a box house...

Cute gingerbread men. Do you see the one with the casualty?

Plasticware is not supposed to look cute at a ward party...

Cereal and fruit. I love those huge containers.

There was one of these at EVERY SEAT. hours. hours and hours is all I think of looking at this.

My visiting teachee's family just had a new baby last month and they dressed for a nativity while the birth story in Luke 2 was read and I played "Away in a Manger" on the piano.

When it was The Frog's turn to sit on Santa's lap, he crawled over and started barking. This one never breaks character...

I thought Iris would like to talk to Santa and maybe Peach wouldn't cry if she was there too :)

Triple Double Oreos? Iris Haircut!

2011-12-04T22:47:00.001-07:00

I made some home-made oreos for a Dine-O-Round and we got to talking about the different Oreos. Everyone seemed to be a fan of "cakesters" but I'd never heard of them! I tried to find some at the grocery store next time I was there, but I couldn't see any. I did, however, see the Triple Doubles. Wha? Iris and I thought we should give them a shot.

The Triple Double

Iris with "before" hair and the Triple Double package

Oh and these are my just-'cause-roses. I love my boys :)

We also got Iris a haircut so her bangs would be out of her eyes. Sorry for the blurry shot... I her hair turned out super cute!

Super-cute new eye-revealing haircut

Kid Convos

2011-12-02T07:49:00.001-07:00

I've been verrrry behind posting (as in nothing for 2 months!!) because sometimes I'd just rather live life than write it down. However, some of the stuff The Frog says is just too awesome to risk forgetting, and so here are a few that I've remembered lately:

For those of you who don't know about the show Blues Clues, the main dog, Blue, often "Skadoos" into a picture doing a little dance.
The Frog: Mom, have you ever skadooed into a picture?
Me: No, honey, I haven't. I don't think I know how to do that.
The Frog stands up right where his is at the lunch table and does the skadoo dance. "Like this mom!"

Yesterday, we had just left the grocery store and were running through the windy parking lot to get back to the car before freezing our tails off.
The Frog: Mom! Wanna see what I got? (starts trying to unzip his puffy vest)
Me: (thinking) ohh no! did he steal something?
The Frog: (rips off his vest and throws it to the ground and starts running with his arms out) Fur!! I have fur! Did you know that?
The Frog is still a dog lately.
I discovered once we got home that he had snuck some disgusting looking candy (a Juicy Drop Pop) through the check-out. At least he didn't steal...

Later in the car on the drive home.
The Frog: Mom?
Me: Yes, hun?
The Frog: Did you ever go to the moon and find aliens there?

Still later on the drive home.
The Frog: (urgently) Mom! Stop! Stop the car!!
Me: What is it? (I pull over to the side of the road)
The Frog: (holding out a penny) I need to put this somewhere.
He unbuckles and hops out of his seat. Puts the penny in the little compartment next to me, and climbs back in his seat.

And then waaay back in September when it was still warm enough for popsicles...
The Frog: Mom, can I have a popsicle?
Me: Well, yes, but we need to change your diaper first. You're getting pretty squishy.
The Frog: mOOOoooom. Don't you want to know how I feel about this?...
I LIKE being squishy.

Absurd Electricity Bill in December

2011-11-27T22:46:00.000-07:00

I just LOVE putting Christmas lights all over the house. It's like living in a fairyland! (Oh, and I decided to leave up some of the baby shower decor. Doesn't it kinda look like snow?) The Frog even got a strand in his room as a special Christmas nightlight.

Cat-Sitting

2011-11-26T22:42:00.000-07:00

Our neighbors went out of town for the holidays and we offered to watch their cat. It was a lot more fun than I was expecting! I've never had the smallest desire to own a cat (except maybe when I was little)- all I can think about is hair all over the furniture, but Dusty was a lot of fun. (and short-haired :D)

I was amazed at all the places he fit- behind the washer and drier was one of his favorite places to go. (maybe to get away from the two obsessed children?)

exploring in his favorite room- the ~~junk~~ craft room

Peach loved to follow him around and pet his soft fur. She only poked his eye once ;)

I was amazed with how tolerable Dusty was of The Frog's constant need to take him places- usually boxes.

Peach loves to walk around "talking" on my phone. If I didn't know better, I'd think she really was. Her gibberish is amazing!

Dusty liked to watch what Jay was playing

And try to grab at his player. It was really funny. (for me... Jay got annoyed)

Dusty and Peach helping to put up Christmas decorations

The 3 kids are watching some cut scene from a video game. Must be intense...

I can't get enough of this girl, and she can't get enough of her "bankie"

Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T22:41:00.000-07:00

We went to my mom's for Thanksgiving this year. It was kind of a small crowd, only my parents and my little family. When we got there, The Frog asked, "where are my friends?" (talking about his cousins) It was sad to tell him they weren't coming, but we still made enough food to feed the whole group :)

I attempted my grandma's rolls. They were good, but not as good as hers.

My mom made the best stuffing I've ever had- from the Test Kitchen Cookbook.

Roasted hubbard squash,

Waldorf salad (I forgot how pleasant this is! My mom used mayo instead of whipping cream this year. I think I like both ways!)

I decided we should have a sweet potato casserole, since it's traditional (for Iris), but my family doesn't usually serve one. It was pretty good, but everyone agreed, it almost tasted exactly like pumpkin pie, so a bit redundant. I might try them again w/out sugar in the potatoes, and slicing them instead of mashing them.

Turkey, mashed potatoes and 2 kinds of home-made cranberry sauce. (now do you know why I tend to over-do it? I get it from my mom...)

My mom alllllways makes pumpkin pie from the Libby's can, but this year tried the Test Kitchen recipe. I like Libby's better, but maybe that's just because I grew up with it... It was still great though!

We've had a lot of pumpkin pie around here lately, (and Iris isn't a huge fan) so I also brought the Pioneer Woman's blackberry cheesecake. It was good, but I thought it was too dense and very thick- I noticed after that she calls for a 10" springform pan, and I have a 9". The simple topping was great. I think I might try lowering the sugar in the cake and using plain yogurt instead of sour cream sometime... I'll report back.

Here's the crew- minus me (behind the camera.)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Peach Speaks

2011-11-23T13:22:00.000-07:00

This blog has been very picture heavy for the last long while, and I haven't been recording much of the kids' development. This won't be the most interesting to read for most of you, it's more for my scientific needs to document data and to be able to answer future inquiries by my kids.

Since The Frog didn't really say anything (even mama and dada were a bit debatable if he understood completely) until 15.5 months, I've been shocked that Peach has already started saying things and clearly understands fairly complicated sentences. She's starting to get to the point where she picks up a new word each day.

in approximate chronological order:
mama
dada (for awhile she always said "dad")
bye-bye
baby
peckoo = peekaboo
nana = banana
up
dow=down
apple
ppbbb = what does an elephant say?
ow = owl
hi
eye
moo = what does a cow say?
(with an emphatic strain) chEEEEE = cheese
moke = some kind of drink (stems from milk)
gaykyou = thank you
bakey = blankie
ooo (with hands to mouth) = food
wawa = water
ju = juice
baaa = bath
zsyou = shoe (not sure how to write the s in "pleasure" sound)
book (with a very deliberate "k")
"ooo ooo" while slapping her belly = gorilla
puts her finger to her lips and blows = shhhhhh
"no" and points just below her nose = nose

Other cutenesses I want to remember:

When you ask her a yes or no question, she will always respond with either a very deliberate nod and an intent look in her eyes, or she'll scrunch up her whole face and shake it no. She has very animated facial expressions. (pretty sure I know where that came from...)

She loooves the tubby :) If you mention anything about a bath in her presence, not even necessarily to her, she starts making her way upstairs and let's you know she's going up.

If you ask her "where's your blankie?" She will immediately go find it- and she always knows exactly where it is. She also asks for it when she gets hurt and immediately calms down once she gets it.

Peach barks and (more often) pants like a dog when she sees any representation of one- including her pretending older brother. (He often refers to himself as "the dog" to express himself. As in "the dog wants this" or "the dog can't say sorry because dogs don't talk, mom".)

She lately loves to walk around with a tissue and try to blow her nose and offer to blow other peoples' noses for them. If you let her blow yours, she says "gaykyou!"

She loves to feed other people and takes it quite personally if you won't accept her slimy offering.

She loves to play peekaboo and getting chased. She also requests "this little piggie" by touching her stomach and saying "wee wee wee".

She is sooo stinkin' cute and so easy going- happy to speak gibberish with strangers and flash a smile. We also love that she loves her older brother sooo much and is very forgiving when he's a bit too rough with her. We just love her to death.

First Snow!

2011-11-19T22:40:00.000-07:00

The Frog is actually old enough to enjoy play dough now! I'm going to do a play dough recipe review, soon. Cooked vs. uncooked.

We got our first snow storm!! It was basically melted the next day, but The Frog was really excited to get out there.

Peach didn't know what to think of it. She was so bundled, she could hardly move.

Isn't she sooooo stinkin' cute?

She finally looks all chubby- like babies are supposed to look! :)

Funny Sleeper

2011-11-16T11:10:00.000-07:00

The Frog goes through phases of requesting to sleep in odd locations- under the bed, in the crib, and in this case, squeezed in between the bed and the wall, on top of a pile of stuffed animals.

LRH Baby Shower

2011-11-13T11:08:00.000-07:00

One of my best buds from Stanford, LRH, just moved to Provo with her husband (he just started teaching in the Y's Econ department) and she's expecting her first baby- a girl, in December. One of our other friends from the Stanford singles' ward has moved here as well, and the two of us threw her a baby shower at my house. It was so fun to plan and I think it came together really well. Because L and her husband read a TON of books, I thought it would be fun to do some kind of literary-ish theme. I picked "Nursery Rhymes"

Invites

I sooo wanted to think up some really clever rhyming think for the invite, but we were pressed for time. We ended up changing the date, and only had 2 weeks to plan. Invites have to get out quick! :)

All our food was Nursery Rhyme related. These were "Patty Cupcakes"

We served several kinds of herbal tea with real sugar and cream and the teapot said "I'm a little teapot". I bought some fine china teacups and saucers from the DI. (Something I've wanted a reason to do for a long time. Now I really want to through a tea party!)

Humpty Dumpty Deviled Eggs

3 Blind Mice Cheese and Crackers

This one was a stretch, but Old Mother Hubbard goes to the "fruiter" (something I wish I could say regularly) and so this is her fruit platter

I'm a little teapot all steamed up! (hot water for tea)

Jack and Jill-Fetched water (cold water)
and in the background there are
Peter Peter mini-Pumpkin Pies

I love an excuse to buy flowers :) Sam had some really cute nursery rhymish decorations that just added that last cute finishing touch.

Here's another one, thought it looks more like Beatrix Potter, it's a goose! And a cute one at that :)

Here's the whole table. I made those ubiquitous tissue paper poofs and doily poofs and attached them to my light. Then strung sewed paper stars and hung them behind.

I was amazed by how many nursery rhyme books were at the library and I checked out about 30 of them to make a free, easy decoration on the mantel and behind the food.

The whole room. I also sewed a paper doily garland and hung a few more tissue paper poofs.

These were game prizes- some of the DI teacups full of Hershey Kisses: "Georgie Porgie, Pudding and Pie, Kissed the girls and made them cry.

One of our games was a "baby makin' contest". (hehe) LRH got to be the judge of which she would like to be her own most.

My sad contestant.

We decided this one would have been great, except for the creepy face.

The winner!

Sam- my co-hostess and the momma-to-be!

"Writing down" gifts in my spreadsheet.

writing in the book of nursery rhymes

Since LRH has a love of poetry- especially silly poetry and haikus, one of our games was to rewrite a nursery rhyme as a haiku. LRH picked her favorite. Then we wrote them down in the front of a book of nursery rhymes for LRH to take home.

Jack Be Nimble party favor candles

Thanks for letting us plan such a fun party, LRH! Good luck with the new babe :)

Ward History Party

2011-11-11T22:45:00.000-07:00

Our ward had a fun ward history party that was movie themed. They took a bunch of famous movie posters and inserted people's faces. Here was ours:

Millions of Apples

2011-11-11T22:44:00.000-07:00

It's weird. Last year, we got hardly any good apples from our apple tree and a BAJILLION from our pear trees. This year it happened the other way around.

I filled every bucket we own (and even emptied some at some neigbors') and the tree still looked untouched:

I was even absurdly picky about the ones I was willing to keep. If I had any reason to believe there might be a worm inside, it got tossed.

Iris was amazed by our awesome apple-peeler-corer-slicer.

Sadly, I'm not a big fan of applesauce, but luckily, they are delicious in the dehydrator! Perhaps I'll try to tackle carmel apples again?

Volleyball State Championship!

2011-11-05T23:09:00.000-06:00

So. I'm too excited to save it 'til the end, the Timpview volleyball team won the STATE CHAMPIONSHIP!!! I tell you, it was SUCH an exciting game. We filmed the entire championship match but weren't able to sit close enough to get many good pictures. However, we got plenty shots of the other games, so I'll try to include only a FEW of the best ones during this summary of events. (I just might get carried away though.)

First things first, though. Jay and I, like good, supportive parents, bought Timpview volleyball T-shirts at the beginning of the season to wear to all Iris's games, but I thought I was ordering a women's medium, and it was actually a men's medium, and it DROWNED me, so I altered it and basically made it a women's T-shirt. I changed the neckline too. I forgot to take a before picture, so here's the "halfway done" picture:

Jays was a tad large too, so I took his in a bit as well. I never remembered to take the after picture so here we are as gung-ho supporters, all decked out in our alterations:

Now for the good stuff...

Our first game was against Cyprus. I felt kinda bad because we completely KILLED them. We never won a game this easily all season. I guess our region must be very good? The scores were 25-7, 25-13, 25-13.

Megan goes for the spike

Look at how much air Lauren gets!

Iris too! For being so short, she can sure jump high!

Every picture I have of Jessie mid-air, her pony-tail looks like this. She was named MVP of Timpview's team.

Huddle before next game.

Iris spikes again!

Iris, getting ready to serve.

Round two was against Box Elder. We lost the first, 25-22 but won the remaining three: 22-25, 21-25, 23-25.

Time-out

Iris bumps

Nice dig, Iris!

I love when they set behind themselves. I think it's very artistic looking- like a dance move.

Lauren spikes again.

In the semi-finals we played one of my High School's old nemeses: Skyline. I was extra happy about Timpview winning that one. :) Since I got to go to the two games on Friday while Jay was at work, I let him attend this one while I watched the kids.
25-20, 25-21, 14-25 (we lost), 18-25 (we lost), 15-9.

I love that you can tell Iris's spike makes it past their block in this shot.

Awesome save, Iris!

The final game was against our own region rivals, who we took second place to: Salem Hills. It was seriously, the most intense game I've ever watched. In a nutshell, we lost the first two games: 22-25, 22-25. But we came back and won the next two: 25-18, 25-22. The final game should have been completely stressful, but I completely forgot that they only go to 15 on 5th matches. At one point we were up 12-10, and then Salem Hills scored 3 in a row, putting us behind: 12-13. Then we were tied at 13-13. All Salem Hills needed was one more point and the game would be over, but Timpview miraculously scored 3 in a row and we won 16-14!! If you want to relive the experience, I filmed the whole thing (although I got there and realized I only had 45 minutes of memory and so I constantly stopped and started the filming so that we wouldn't film in between serves. I actually ran out of time and ended up filming the entire last match on my iPhone.) and am in the process of posting it to YouTube. I'll post a link once I've done it. (It's hardcore. Seriously- I added a score to the bottom right corner, and put in some slow mo clips. Make some popcorn though, it's about 45 minutes long.)
It was much harder for Jay to get decent shots of this game because he had to sit so far back- zooming in all the way lends itself to blurry shots... It was worth it to have the student support though- the whole Timpview football team was there and a lot of other students too. (We also JUST got there before it started and a lot of people had come early to save seats. DUH to us.) Salem Hills probably still had more than we did, but I think our crowd was louder :)

I love their celebratory hugs.

Lauren played better than I'd ever seen her play in this game.

Timpview just won!!

The trophy!

I think this picture just looks cool- the crowd rushing the floor.

The Daily Herald Interviewing Iris. (our neighbor happens to be the camera man)

I think this picture is sooo funny- like it looks staged.

Self-explanatory! You're awesome, Iris!

Tons of random people kept hugging Iris and telling her good job. I think she was weirded out by it, but she was still polite. Strangers don't usually even shake hands in Japan, let alone HUG!

A mom shot :)

The State Champions!!!

So many people came up to me after and thanked me for hosting Iris or told me she has perfect form and could get a sports scholarship here if she wanted.

Congratulations, Iris! You have worked so hard and you deserve the title!

Leaf Raking

2011-11-04T11:07:00.000-06:00

Iris's coach emailed me to tell me that the night before the state tournament, all the girls were getting together for dinner and they were all going to bring some kind of treat with an inspirational message. When Iris came home that night, I poked through her bag to see what kind of sayings people came up with. Most people had attached insightful quotes about courage or doing your best, or how to be successful in life etc., etc.

'Spose my idea of inspiration is a bit different. **blush** Here's what I sent her with:

Now for the cuteness:

she may be nearly bald, but still not immune to the forces of static electricity

don't you just want to squish her?!

of course. his first impulse is always to crash, bang, or throw things.

what a great helper :)

he quickly realized it was much funnier to throw leaves...

at me!

This one might make the Christmas card, folks!

Happy Birthday Hello Kitty

2011-11-01T23:06:00.000-06:00

Today is Hello Kitty's birthday! (according to Iris's folder)

Apparently, Hello Kitty loves apple pie, but we happened to have some pumpkin, so we thought that would probably be close enough.

Happy 37th Birthday!

Halloween!

2011-10-31T23:06:00.000-06:00

The kids must have been antsy because it was impossible for me to get them to pose together.

Or separately.

This was the best I could get:

Happy Halloween!

Pumpkin Carving!

2011-10-30T23:05:00.000-06:00

Iris's first time carving pumpkins

The Frog thought he should document the moment thoroughly

The final products:

Chevron Pillow AAAND I'm awesome!

2011-10-30T11:04:00.000-06:00

I'm slowly accumulating pillows for our "Theatre Room" (as we lovingly refer to it) since it had to be redone after the flood. I found this yellow chevron fabric for sale on Etsy (a surprisingly GREAT place to get fabric!) and thought it would go nicely with the other pillow I made awhile ago.

Which leads me to why I'm awesome...

Let's look at that other pillow one more time, shall we?

Now, let's look at something I noticed in Real Simple Magazine:

That's right people. Z Gallerie. $70.

Mine was less than $20.

uh-huh,
uh-huh,
uh-huh uh-huh uh-huh.

Ward Halloween Party

2011-10-29T11:03:00.000-06:00

We had a trunk-or-treat this year with our ward. (and I live in Provo, so they're all of our neighbors too :D) We had chili and cornbread beforehand in the gym at the church.

Witch Iris with Tinkerbell Peach

cutest. Tink. Ever.

the spooky ghost

I realized once I got home that I never got a pic of myself, so Jay obliged. Sadly, you can't see my purple tights and pointy witch shoes in this pic. Know they are there :)

witchy me

When Jay showed up with the wig on, Peach started crying initially, and wanted me to hold her. This is once she's had a bit of time to get used to it, but she is still very unsure of what is going on. As you can see, I couldn't find the right hook hat, so this is why Jay is only half-hearted Hook.

And here's the group- thanks to a friend taking pictures of everyone at the event! :)

Soba, Tempura, and Frog's 1st Picked Outfit!

2011-10-26T11:01:00.000-06:00

We (and by we I mostly mean Iris) made soba noodles and tempura. Turns out the noodles are meant to be served cold, which I thought odd. You basically just cook them like the package says, and then Iris put them in a bowl with ice cubes to cool them off. (She tells me this is usually eaten in the summer.) Then we each had a little bowl of sliced green onion and Tsuyu sauce she uses so often for dipping the noodles in.

soba in tsuyu sauce

We did tempura again- this time carrots and red bell pepper.

carrot tempura

red bell pepper tempura

AND today was the first time The Frog has ever shown initiative about getting dressed and he picked this outfit out all by himself :)

strike a pose!

Costumes Unveiled and Freaky Spider

2011-10-25T23:00:00.000-06:00

So.

This year was a bit of a let-down for costumes. Because my brother makes such a big deal about his Halloween party, and goes to such extent to make it well-planned and intricate, I enjoy thinking about themed costumes for our family. I had decided pretty soon after Halloween last year that this year we would all be Peter Pan characters. It was perfect, Hook, Wendy, Peter Pan & Tinkerbell. Then when we decided to have Iris along, she would have been a great Tiger Lily. However, there were two pieces of information I didn't have:

1) The Frog is now old enough to be opinionated about his costume

2) My brother decided not to throw a party this year :(

Sadly, I didn't know about either of these things until after I had already started buying materials for Hook and Tinkerbell. SO Jay ended up being a half-hearted pirate and Peach was Tinkerbell. (as well as every other girl under 5...)

So, my unveiling is very anticlimactic for me this year. le sigh.

Luckily, I did get a fantastic deal on the fabric for this dress, since it was the end of the bolt. The tulle was from a 6" roll at Zurcher's.

I was excited to see that I just happened to have this button in my stash of extra buttons from clothes you buy. (this particular one is from a sparkly green 3/4 sleeve bolero, in case you were wondering)

After trying her in wings and seeing how much she HATED them, I debated trying to attach small wings to the back of her dress somehow. BUT when I noticed the Halloween store I bought the wings from didn't take returns (lame) I realized if I bent the top of the wings to a curve slightly, they no longer hit her head and Peach would tolerate them. (phew)

This awesome little thing is the puff for her toes. Sadly, the gold dress shoes I ordered online, didn't make it here in time, so we just had her wear sneakers.

I have to thank Iris for doing an excellent job on them. And to think she had never made pompoms before!

As soon as The Frog told me he wanted to be a ghost, I had visions of tantrums and trodden and discarded white fabric since those darn eye holes are so hard to see through. (plus, how do you eat?) So this was my solution:

Ghost costume

I used some silky fabric I got for free a few years ago and bought something sheer to go over his head. I basically cut a hole in the middle of a rounded rectangle and put in some elastic. As you can see below, I sewed an elastic strap to go under his chin to keep the "veil" on. Then if he wanted to get rid of it to eat, etc. it could just hang behind him from his neck. It worked pretty well! I like that this is pretty gender neutral and could be used for a fairly wide range of ages.

Here's the hideous women's jacket I found at the DI that just screamed "Captain Hook" when I saw it. I removed the collar and buttons and cut off about 6 inches from the bottom. Then I rehemmed, added gold and used the bottom to make big cuffs. Then I sewed two big decorative buttons to the cuffs.

Before:

After

The shirt underneath was just a white collared shirt from Savers and I also removed the collar and sewed 3 pieces of gathered lace to the front, and added some gathered lace around the cuffs.

I decided not to dress up this year and go as a witch. (hehe) It was high time I bought me a witch's hat anyway- I feel like it is an answering-the-door staple. I found an awesome one at Halloween city for about $6. I pulled out some orange ribbon from some wedding shower gift of long ago and cute-ified my hat. I'm not fully dressed yet- this pic was taken before going to a little kids party.

scary witch- eee eee eeee

And finally, the season wouldn't be complete without a picture of this HUGE spider hanging out on our porch.

Yeah.
The Frog caught it for me in a jar and we brought it to our Mother's Group Halloween party. (why I was dressed up)

A lot of people were sick and I was enjoying myself too much to remember to take too many pictures, but I did snap a shot.

Tinkerbell and the only non-Tinkerbell girl there. Serious.

Ah yes, so The Frog decided at the last minute that he wanted to be Spiderman instead.

The kids made these little spider cookies. I thought they were really cute!

Iris's Volleyball Pics

2011-10-25T22:38:00.000-06:00

We have taken a million-billion photos of Iris's volleyball games. I have officially gained a new appreciation for sports photographers... It's HARD to get anything to be non-blurry!!

We have had so much fun going to all her home games (and a few aways that aren't too far) and we are excited to announce that the Timpview Volleyball team has qualified for the state tournament, ranked 2nd in our region!! We are so proud of Iris- she is wicked good!

team lineup before announcing the players

It was always exciting to see how they would pronounce her name :)

Iris serving

I've never seen her miss a serve!

She may be short, but she is the left-side hitter.

T-BIRDS!

This shot makes me think she should play basketball. :)

Don't worry- she got it!

Iris wanted to make something for everyone on varsity, and she designed these flags to pin on their bags herself. She did the embroidery (THS and around the edge) and I helped her sew on buttons, cut stuff out, and sewed the colored part of the volleyballs with the machine. I think they turned out really awesome!

super cute flags

warming up

huddle!

L spikes it!

E just saves it!

Look how high Iris can jump!

There was always a small gathering of students to cheer the team on, and they always rushed the court when we won. (which was most of the time :D)

hugging coach Bailey

At the last home game, they always celebrate the leaving seniors, but they also honored Iris since she will also not be returning next year. :'(

My friend took a picture for us, but Iris couldn't see where the camera was, haha.

The seniors and Iris :)

Tubby Time

2011-10-23T22:59:00.000-06:00

Uh-oh. This looks like a job for...

Tubby Time!

All clean! Time to ham it up!

Love the "wink"!

Nabeyaki Udon and Tamagoyaki

2011-10-22T22:57:00.000-06:00

Iris loves udon, but had never made it before. When I saw the noodles at the store, I thought, "what the heck?"

I did what I always do, and googled "Nabeyaki Udon recipe" (since that's what we ordered at Shoga when we went for Iris's birthday) and ended up using this one.

Iris, also made tamagoyaki, which is basically eggs, beaten, with salt and sugar and then poured extremely thin- like a crepe, and rolled, pour more, roll, over and over, so all the egg is one giant roll.

tamagoyaki (tamago = egg)

Here are some of the prepared Udon ingredients. Notice the pink and white stuff- Peach loved it.

It's not called for, but Iris said to put it in. Who am I to argue? It's cooked fish. Here's the package. (We bought it at Sage Market in Salt Lake- it's a Japanese-specific market. It was fun to go, but not worth the drive from Provo)

Udon package. I'm sure any udon would be fine though.

the boiled udon

chicken. I love how Iris says this word.

removing the spinach. Thanks beeg seester for this awesome contraption!

Ok, we're about to start cooking it all together. Doesn't it look beautiful? (noodles are under neath)

Once the chicken looks done, you crack a couple of eggs in there. I never knew how much of a staple eggs are in Japanese cuisine.

Iris showing off the final product

Mmmm. It was good too.

I found these awesome chopsticks at Sage market that are for kids. I couldn't resist getting some for Peach and The Frog, despite their ridiculous cost.

They are shorter and have a little loop thing for your finger.

I suppose I was a bit over-zealous, considering The Frog only uses a fork about half the time...

Spiderman!!

2011-10-21T10:58:00.000-06:00

The Frog has been watching the old Spiderman cartoons on Netflix and is officially obsessed. When he's not acting like a dog, he's Spiderman.

It's mostly cute, except at the grocery store when he jumps out of the shopping cart and runs away down the aisle yelling "Spiderman!!!!"

(okay, it's cute even then!)

Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-20T22:54:00.000-06:00

Since Iris had no school, we decided to head down to Rowley's Southridge Farm in Santaquin. I went a few years ago when The Frog was just a bundle. I didn't remember having to pay for the hay-ride last time. That was a bummer for me, BUT they have made it a bit more exciting now.

hay ride pulled by a tractor The Frog absolutely loved

This time they had a little maze. The Frog loved running through it. We had to drag him away from it to the pumpkin patch to finally pick out our pumpkins.

They had a really cute old fashioned truck loaded with pumpkins, in case you didn't want to bother walking through the patch.

They also had an old tractor around, which The Frog had to take for a "spin".

more running through the maze

oh yeah, did I mention that Peach walks now? yep! as of a week ago.

leave it to The Frog to find a way to cheat at the maze.

Halloween Harvest

2011-10-17T22:55:00.000-06:00

We got the strangest "Jack-Be-Littles" in my garden this year...

ok. it's fabric paint :)

First Makeup

2011-10-16T22:53:00.000-06:00

Or maybe I should say, first time unscrewing a lid.

I usually let her hold my mascara while I'm putting on make up in the morning. Looks like that one has to stop.

Perhaps she was trying to draw attention away from her nose... (sorry!)

Boys will be Boys

2011-10-15T10:52:00.000-06:00

PS. the Lego patent will expire on October 21st. Looking forward to the price decrease :)

First Minky Blanket

2011-10-13T22:51:00.000-06:00

This morning I finished sewing my first ever minky baby blanket. Ever since I felt the stuff, I've wanted to make one. (it's just so darn expensive!)

One of my neighbors was expecting her first and instead of doing what I normally do- buy from the registry, I decided to utilize some JoAnn's coupons and whip something up real quick.

The front- though it looks pieced, is jut flannel made to look that way. Totally cheated...

I thought it would look better if I had some kind of border, but didn't think about that until I got home... So, I cut the minky a bit larger made a kind of border that ended up being MUCH trickier than I expected to get the corners to look decent.

I did some minor quilting just to help it stay together after washing.

Don't look too closely at the corner- arg!

Puzzled No More

2011-10-13T10:50:00.000-06:00

Last night we finished the puzzle the McCarthy's started while they were here. Just thought they might like to see it :)

Pumpkinland

2011-10-12T22:49:00.000-06:00

Yesterday, my group of moms & kids I hang out with went to Pumpkinland at Vineyard Garden Center. I had never heard of it before, but it was actually really cool! They had a mini corn maze (that is geared for little kids so you're not smacking your head, desperately lost with two wailing kids...) and lots of farm animals, a playground, and an awesome slide. We will definitely be going back :)

This kid moves so fast lately, it's hard to get a still shot

you can go in or around the maze. we opted for around.

They had lots of different ones of these

Natto and Chicken Curry

2011-10-11T22:48:00.000-06:00

The latest installment of Japanese food:

Natto package. Jay brought it all the way from Japan at Iris's request, since we can't find it in Utah.

(update: they sell Natto at the Sage Market in Salt Lake City. That's the only place I've found it so far.)

Natto is basically just fermented soy beans.

Yes. It's kinda slimy and stretchy like that once you stir it all up.

You eat it on rice. I must admit- it's the first Japanese food Jay and I haven't liked. I think if you like coffee, you might like this. Jay and I think they have similar scents.

We got this curry mix at an Asian Market in South Provo, but I later found it at Walmart.

It's just chicken, carrots, potatoes and onion boiled and then you add the curry packet inside. We used two mild ones and one medium hot.

I LOVE these. Kinokono Yama. (translated: mushroom's mountain)

The perfect amount of chocolate to crunch ratio with a healthy portion of completely adorable.

The Frog approves whole-heartedly.

Gateway Discovery- McCarthy's in Town

2011-10-10T22:46:00.000-06:00

Jay's family came in town last weekend! As usual, it was full of relaxation, good food (thanks Pam!), and a few things in our house were left better than when they got here. (thanks Jim!) I always forget to take pictures when they're here- what is wrong with me! But I did remember to bring the camera when we all went to the Gateway Discovery:

I think this next one is so cute of Peach and Jay's little sister, K. Peach is helping her with her homework, obviously.

We are all always so glad when they can make it out here :) The Frog always brings up moving to Massachusetts after they leave.

Boxed Peaches & New Haircut

2011-10-07T22:44:00.000-06:00

that is all.

Pigtails for Peach

2011-10-02T22:43:00.000-06:00

Peach's mullet is getting quite long in the back. Long enough that...

Isn't she so absolutely adorable?!

Unfortunately, this is how she feels about it...

Funny Frog

2011-09-24T22:42:00.000-06:00

I just wanted to point out the underpants. Too bad that only lasted 1 day...

We often go around the block together- The Frog on his bike and me in the stroller. Well, the other day I thought it would be fun to go to the grocery store together, not thinking about what I would do with The Frog once I got there... Well, he got his first trip to the store outside the shopping cart, and when I got to the checkout, we ended up with a bag of Dum Dums and some "Phineas & Ferb" bandaids that I didn't pick out. Here he is making the most of his new bandaids...

A preview of my Halloween costume this year:

Kid Conversatoin

2011-09-23T20:59:00.000-06:00

Today The Frog wanted an Otter Pop, and I always make him take off his clothes (for obvious reasons). Once doing that, I immediately noticed the saggy state of his diaper and told him I needed to change it first. He says to me:

The Frog: "Mom, don't you wanna know how I feel about it?"
Me: "Sure"
The Frog: (sincerely) "I like being squishy."

Then later today we walked to the grocery store (The Frog rode his new bike) to try and get some fennel (which they didn't have). I realized to late that this meant I couldn't trap The Frog in a shopping cart (because I had to carry around his bike and push Peach in the stroller). It could have been worse, but let's just say I ended up buying some character band aids and a bag of dum dums that I wasn't planning on purchasing...

When we first walked into the store, they had a little Halloween display and I kept calling to The Frog, trying to get him to join me in produce. This is what he said to me:

"Mom, I'm just curious about this stuff! I'm curious, mom!"

Iris maintains fame!

2011-09-23T20:51:00.001-06:00

I had to miss a super intense volleyball game on Tuesday because Jay was presenting at a conference in Japan. Timpview ended up beating Maple Mountain after a grueling 5 matches. Luckily, a better photographer was there to show me some highlights. Check out this article and these pictures!

Go Iris!

Kid Conversation

2011-09-22T08:21:00.000-06:00

Peach is amidst her you're-welcome-to-try-to-change-my-diaper-but-heck-if-i'm-going-to-stay-here-while-you-replace-it stage. Which means I usually have to pin her by the hips until I can get the second velcro tab in place (while she adamantly protests).

Yesterday, during said protestation, The Frog runs up to me with Spiderman in hand and in the best raspy voice a 3-year-old can muster says:
"Let her go!"
and shoots me with webbing.

General Update

2011-09-20T14:57:00.000-06:00

I've realized that it's been awhile since I've documented some of the recent achievements of my munchkins. I know I won't remember them all now, but maybe I'll add things as I think of them later...

Peach has become quite strong-willed and she can't be denied of anything her brother gets anymore. He asks for milk, she wants some too. He has a car, she needs one. He gets up from the table during dinner to run around (much to my chagrin and constant disapproval.) Our once peaceable baby is giving me great incentive to get her older brother to be better behaved. It's clear that his example has an effect on her.

The Frogs latest endeavor is to build "castles" out of our sofa cushions. I'm sure I put them back at least twice a day lately... Peach, of course, likes to be involved as well.

Peach has become more aware of speaking and often tries to mimic the last thing you said. Just today The Frog got a banana for himself, so of course, she wanted one too. She pointed at his banana and started fussing and so I asked her if she wanted a banana and she assured me with a "nana".

She's been saying "bye bye" for a long time, and says it constantly with any object she can find held up to her ear. She's also started saying "baby" in the last month, usually while patting her own chest, or squeezing and patting any stuffed animal in sight. It's completely adorable.

She is threatening to walk every day- taking a step or two more than yesterday without falling. Although I don't blame her for being hesitant because it seems like every time she's on a roll, her brother promptly crashes her to the ground. You can tell by her cries of frustration that it hurts her pride more than her body.

The Frog also likes to use our kitchen chairs as a "spaceship" and whenever I try to put them away for us to eat he says, (in the classic whiney tone) "But MOOoooooOOM!" and then adds thoughtfully, "but what will I use as a spaceship?"

The Frog is constantly correcting me and punching holes in commands-
"Actually, it's a castle mom, not a house."

Me: "Please come sit down so I can change your diaper."
The Frog: "Actually, you want me to lie down, right?"

At dinner, The Frog keeps poking Peach,
Me: "Please keep your hands to yourself"
The Frog instantly begins kicking her legs...

He is very clever and pedantic, even at 3. I wonder where he gets that from...

September Birthday's Party

2011-09-18T14:37:00.000-06:00

Now that my parents are back from their mission, they like to have an almost-monthly dinner for local family to celebrate everyone who has a birthday. We have amazingly accumulated 6 September birthdays in our family! Here are a few pics:

Cousin S chasing Peach

Iris's Volleyball season starts!

2011-09-16T22:20:00.000-06:00

It has been so fun to go to Iris's volleyball games (it helps that they have won every game so far...) and I have certainly gained a great respect for sports photographers. It is HARD to get a good picture of the action! They start every game lined up and name the players. At home games, when their name is called, they wave and throw a t-shirt into the crowd. Iris (6) always gets called first and the first game was at Provo High and they totally butchered the pronunciation (basically they made took a Japanese name, removed a syllable and made it an American name.) and she didn't realize they were announcing her. haha

I really really really wanted to get a reel of photos that showed her serving, but it's pretty hard. Jay and I both took over 200 pictures trying to get a couple that show you how awesome she is, but everything goes so fast it's super hard. (and they move so fast they're almost always blurry...) Here is a conglomeration of more than one serve to make a mini "reel" from their game agains Provo:

We call this next one the "crazy hair" shot:

I think it's so awesome that even though she's only 5'3", she's one of their main hitters.

ka-BAM!

aaand she does it again...

We brought the whole family to watch her JV game and decided we will never do that again... Now we just take turns going to JV and Varsity (the games she plays) for home games (or Provo 'cause it's close too).

Timpview and Provo are rivals and I think Provo has been the best in the league in the past, but we beat them this year- much to everyone's surprise. It was epic. They had to play 4 matches- won the first 2, lost #3, and won #4.

This is game 2 at Timpview against Timpanogos.

Again, they had to play 4 matches- it was intense. Well worth being an hour late to my book club. :)

Game 3 vs. Springville, I gave up trying to take pictures BUT here is a link on The Daily Herald of a MOVIE of shots from the game and an interview with the coach. Iris is pictured many times. (it's obvious who she is because she's the only Asian...) I would just like to point out that I am in the background when the coach is talking- orange shirt, crazy crimped hair, and turquoise bag. oh yeah. I wasn't even trying. I don't think they mentioned it, but Timpview beat Springville pretty easily, which is awesome considering their past (which they mention).

The Deseret News picks out names of players that were especially helpful in each game, and Iris is specifically mentioned vs. Provo and Timpanogos.

Though it's hard to pinpoint one thing that has made this year so successful for Timp, I'm willing to bet that Iris is at least one of those reasons :)

Too bad I can't claim any of her talent is because of me...

Nice job Iris!

Happy Birthday Frog!

2011-09-10T21:51:00.000-06:00

The Frog turned 3! 3 is the first odd prime, so that's pretty cool... I couldn't stand to make The Frog wait until dinner to open our present to him, so I wheeled it in first thing:

We got him a Strider PREbike! He really has been talking a lot about bikes lately, but he has a really hard time with the pedals on his tricycle, so when I saw these, I thought it would be perfect. It helps you learn how to ride a two-wheeler, without the pedals- so it's appropriate for younger kids.

I had been asking The Frog all week what he wanted to eat for his birthday dinner and breakfast and he kept saying "an apple". Finally I started suggesting things "how about pizza?" and he finally decided he wanted to have pizza for breakfast. So here we are. (notice the apple too)

Whenever we eat The Frog always asks me, "mom, does it stain?" and if I say "yes" he takes off his shirt and requests that Jay do the same.

Surprise, Iris!

The Frog often likes to "make cupcakes" when I'm cooking which means he climbs up on to the counter, gets out the cupcake papers, and fills them with sprinkles. So long ago I asked him what kind of birthday cake he wanted this year and he said "pink." I asked him several times since then and every time he says the same thing so I just dyed a white cake pink.

He, of course, wanted to put in his own candles.

Here he is getting ready to eat his requested birthday dinner- pancakes. (I think the 3 turned out pretty well if I do say so myself...) He's still learning how to put up 3 fingers- quite the challenge!

And finally, the moment The Frog has been waiting for...

He just loves to blow out the candles (on everyone's cake...) and they didn't even make it through "Happy Birthday".

The girls.

The pink cake.

The ever messy...

sugar coated...

I think this is the first year The Frog knew exactly what to do with the wrapped objects.

Nanie & Gampie sent these. Thanks!! He loves them!

The matching set! He has tons of fun in the sandbox, and now I get to find piles of sand all over the yard. Hurray! ;) (ok, I admit it, I can't help but smile...)

And he's also showcasing something an older neighbor kid gave to him- a Spiderman car with a spiderman action figure inside (that can come out to play with). He was going to take it to the DI because when you turn it on, it no longer drives around on it's own, though the headlights still turn on. Our neighbor was holding it when The Frog rode by on his new bike and The Frog wanted to play with it. Our neighbor gave it to him for his birthday and he has no clue that it doesn't even work properly. As far as he's concerned, it's awesome. He takes great pleasure running around the house saving things and casting webs at his sister. (better than casting toys...)

Happy Birthday Frog! I can't believe how big you are and how much fun it is to have you around.

Now I'm Perfect!

2011-09-06T15:57:00.000-06:00

Happy Birthday to me! It was pretty cool being a cube, but this year I get to be perfect!! Note the factors of 28: 1*28, 2*14, 4*7. Note their sum (w/out 28, obviously...) 1+2+14+4+7 = 28!! Cool huh? That is called a perfect number and that is why I am looking forward to my perfect year :)

It started off with a perfect day too:

Exhibit A:

Jay squirms at the thought of ~~crumbs~~ breakfast in bed, so he snuck in (because he let me sleep in) and left this tray for me on a "table" (diaper box) in front of my nursing rocking chair. I never thought I would ever get breakfast in bed, because of his aversions to it and so this was a most excellent, stupendous, happy surprise!

He also outdid himself and made lunch (frozen pizza) and dinner (spaghetti and meatballs). It was so nice to not cook for a whole day! I can't even remember the last time...

AND he made this cake for me at my request. It was sooo good. It was more like a brownie cake with ooey gooey frosting. mmmm. And it was malty. I highly recommend it!

The Frog insisted on putting in the candles.

I insisted on lighting all 28 of them.

The Frog insisted on blowing them out.

I insisted on a pretend blowing out picture because it would take way too long to relight them.

Peach insisted on rubbing the delicious cake all over her body.

I insisted she have a bath in the sink.

Now, before all you ladies get jealous and down on your men for not being as spoiling as mine, I'd just like to remind you that this it was not only my birthday, but our anniversary. So for my first birthday/anniversary gift I got these babies:

I can't WAIT to do my laundry!!

Then he said he would dedicate some of his monthly "fun money" to getting me 3 hours of cleaning service every month- for all those little things I just can't get to. He must know how I'm a perfectionist and dusty moulding and fingerprinted kitchen cabinets really stress me out...

And THEN after the kids were in bed, we went shopping for a birthday outfit (which, I sadly couldn't find anything I liked. How weird is that?) and as we left Down East Outfitters I asked where we should try next and he said. "Sorry, we're out of time. We have to be somewhere now."

And he took me to see these guys:

They're called 1964 the Tribute. Meaning they are Beatles impersonators and they were AWESOME. Seriously! Without my glasses on, they totally sounded, acted and looked just like (my all-time favorite band) The Beatles. They also happened to play a lesser known Beatles song that just happened to be the song Jay and I danced our first dance as a married couple to- "Til There Was You". Couldn't have planned it better, eh?

It was sprinkling a bit at the beginning of the concert, so we had to cuddle under the tarp we were sitting on. Darn.

Basically, I can tell this is going to be a perfect year!

Phone Pics

2011-09-04T22:17:00.001-06:00

I don't sync my phone very much, so here are a few pictures I took off it when I got the volleyball ones off.

The Frog ALWAYS requests a ~~ridiculously unmaneuverable~~ car shopping cart when we go to the grocery store. I usually have Peach ride up top to avoid injuries and crying at the store, but Day's Market's car shopping cart is slightly smaller and more maneuverable than the other stores and it lacks the upper seat. I thought I should document this "first".

Since the car shopping cart incident didn't go too badly, I decided to try my luck with the bike trailer and go to the park. The ride there was great. The ride home... never mind.

I have no idea what we were doing in these. Probably just bothering Iris in her room...

Peach LOVES Iris's Japanese cell phone. Probably because of the cute things hanging from it.

I love this one. It seems so accurate somehow...

Congrats Iris!

2011-09-04T22:06:00.000-06:00

Iris had her Varsity Bulldog Classic tournament on Thursday and Friday. I forgot how fun it is to go to sporting events when you actually care about the outcome! Jay and I traded off going to the games on Thursday- we had all planned to go but The Frog had some signs of sickness, so we decided not to bring him.

There were 6 teams competing. First every team played every other to establish rankings (Timpview won all 5 games- even against their rival Provo High) and ended up being placed first. Then they had the single elimination play. The easily beat their first opponent, but their final game agains Provo was soo intense. (Jay got to watch their first game with them, which I hear was just as intense...)

I'm so glad I got to be there Friday night while Jay stayed home with the sleeping kids. Timpview lost their first match by 2 points, then won their second, but it was close. The final match was sooo intense, but I would like to add that Iris was responsible for 3 points in a row! She was on FIRE. I'd love to think it was genetics, but then I have to keep reminding myself that we are not related. I'm just her fake mom...

I seriously haven't screamed so much in a long time, maybe ever! I thought for sure I would be hoarse the next day (but I wasn't). Anyway, if you couldn't guess, we ended up pulling ahead from being behind and won the third match, 15 to 12. It was awesome!! From what I gathered, it's been a LONG time since Timpview has beat their rival team in volleyball. They get to keep this gigantic trophy in their case all year.

I'm soo soooo sad I didn't bring my camera. Luckily, I had my phone :)

This was just a pre-season tournament, but it got me way excited for the rest of the season.

P.S. Thanks to everyone who bought cookie dough or donated money to the team! Rest assured the money will not be put to waste :D

Iris's Birthday Party!

2011-08-27T22:37:00.001-06:00

I was really excited when I saw that Iris's birthday was going to be while she was here because I've been wanting to have a birthday party, but it seems silly to do a lot of hubbub for babies who don't care and won't remember.

We invited the JV/Varsity volleyball team with this fun little origami invitation we rigged up.

It's supposed to be a bag or a purse.

I printed the invitation in Disney-esque font (she chose it). I don't own photoshop, so that address blurring is the best I could do...

We put little suckers (or lollipops, if you ask Jay...) inside.

Iris is a big chocolate lover, so I, of course, did a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. The Frog, of course, wanted to help put in the candles.

Iris's favorite color is purple, so we decorated with purple!

I just thought our present turned out cute, so I wanted to take a picture. I just love wrapping presents! :) I got a really great deal on a mini video camera and I thought Iris might be able to use it to capture some things she wants to remember while she's here.

The girls looking through a scrapbook Iris put together to show us about her home, family, and school. I think the girls liked learning more about Iris- she is quite timid with her English and they also don't get to chat much at practice.

After cake and presents, Iris showed the girls some music videos from her favorite music group and now I think they're going to start a fanclub :D See for yourself.

Peach's First Birthday!

2011-08-23T22:08:00.000-06:00

Happy Birthday Peach!! 1 is such a unique and awesome number to be! I wish all kids could be old enough to understand and appreciate it before it's over.

As you can see, my awesome "1 hat" that I made for The Frog was not well received. (There's a reason I don't make her wear headbands anymore...)

I made her a "1" pancake in honor of her big day and she quickly found a way to get even with me forcing her to wear the hat.

Look at that face. You can see she means business.

That night we had an extra-special meal (which I did not document with photos) because one of my best buddies from Stanford just happend to move to Provo last week and also just happened to share a birthday with Peach! I just had to invite he and he husband and baby-to-be to join in the celebration.

Here is Peach's cake. You can't tell, but moments ago she was wailing and crying and as soon as we started singing "Happy Birthday" she instantly quieted and was totally into it.

Her first dainty taste.

Is this okay with everyone that I'm doing this?

The Frog of course had to get in on the action.

Not bad. I'm proud of her for showing some restraint. :)

I of course had to make another cake for LRH (and the rest of us). The Frog so graciously offered to help put in the candles.

This picture makes it look like she was really into opening presents, but The Frog ended up taking over in all cases.

and some presents she never touched while wrapped...

I helped LRH move into her kitchen last Saturday and she lamented about not having a good pancake pan. I bought a large one and haven't used this one since (even though it works great) so I passed it on. :)

Iris's First Day of School

2011-08-23T22:07:00.000-06:00

I was so excited to finally take a first day of school photo for one of my "kids". Iris was good to humor me :)

Homemade Japanese Dinner #2

2011-08-22T21:38:00.000-06:00

I convinced Iris to make us a Japanese dinner the night before her first day of school (mostly since I know she'll be too busy once school starts... at least until volleyball season is over). This time on the menu was Miso Soup (again, but this time with better instructions), sticky rice (obviously) and tempura.

First the Miso:

sorry it's sideways!

I cut these cubes. They are a bit bigger than when Iris did it. Next time I'll do 6x5x2 instead of 5x4x2.

Shiitake mushrooms. Last time we used enoki, but they were all out.

Bean sprouts. The ones at the asian market had more developed beans at the end that offered a bit more nuttiness than the bean sprouts I'm used to. I really liked it!

Green onion added at the very end. I cut it with scissors right into the pot.

Miso Paste. We got this at the Asian Market.

First boil the mushrooms for a bit.

Then add a handful of bean sprouts. Let boil awhile, then the tofu. I didn't keep track of exact times because it doesn't seem to matter too much. I would say prepare the mushrooms, put them in. Wash the bean sprouts, put them in. Cut the tofu, put it in, etc.

She put in about 3 spoonfuls like this of Miso Paste. The green onions go in almost right before serving.

Now for the tempura.

She was looking for shrimp to bread, and the Asian Market already had some breaded! Next time I'll just get the shrimp, though, so she can show me how to do the breading as well.

I decided awhile ago to give up on eggplant, because I've never made something with it that I liked. Well, perhaps I gave up too early :)

Green pepper. Isn't that weird? I don't think I've even eaten green pepper as the main veggie before, it seem to always play in the orchestra for my meals.

This is the batter- about 3 cups flour, two eggs, and then add enough cold water to get it about the consistency of pancake batter. (but not lumpy like pancake batter)

Trying to show the consistency with horrible photography skills.

Coating the eggplant.

This electric skillet was filled with about an inch of vegetable oil and heated to about 350 F. She started the shrimp first.

Then added the eggplant. You can see how beautiful the shrimp looks now.

The finished goods. And MAN were they good :)

This is some kind of sauce that you dilute with water to dip the tempura in. It's called "tsuyu". This is what she put on the fried tofu last time too.

We also dipped the tempura and shrimp in a mixture of soy sauce and mayo. I had to laugh because it reminded me of Utah's famous "fry sauce" :) (ketchup and mayo, for all you non-Utahns)

The Frog approved.

We also picked up some of these to try- Iris likes them...

and so does Peach.

Thanks Iris for a delicious meal! Hopefully this was enough info for some of you to try it for yourself :)

Domestic Goddessness

2011-08-20T21:30:00.000-06:00

Here are two of my latest projects:

Libby's Razzleberry pie. It wasn't as great as I was hoping, but I learned a lot about making pie. Jay is a total pie person, and I'm completely a cake person, but on our past trip to Mass to visit Jay's family, his mom may have single-handedly convinced me to perfect the art of the pie. I have never had better crust in my life, than on her new favorite pie crust recipe from The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook - a book that has been on my wishlist for quite sometime now... Sadly, my crust wasn't as good as hers, but I am driven to figure it out. I'll let you know when I get there...

I also finally finished Peach's quilt! It was supposed to be ready for Iris to use before she got here, but it took me a couple extra weeks to find time to finish the binding. Luckily it's hot enough still that she probably won't actually need it on her bed for awhile.

My sister-in-law's mother so so SO generously offered to machine quilt it for me. Doesn't it look amazing?!!

Thanks Iris for patiently holding it up until I could get the lighting good enough :)

Peach's First Scary Bloody Injury

2011-08-19T22:00:00.000-06:00

Doesn't look so bad now that she's cleaned up, but when I responded to her screams her mouth was full of blood and after I had to clean up a trail of blood on the tile and change my clothes and hers to get out the bloodstains.

Basically, The Frog tackled her on the tile and it didn't end well...