Soggy Cheerios

www.soggycheerios.com

2007-01-28T23:21:00.000-08:00

Okay- for real. I've got it figured out and set up and ready to go (mostly) so join me at:

www.soggycheerios.com

See you there!

PS. Apparently the link wasn't working earlier- hopefully it is now

A Cake a Week

2007-01-26T18:18:00.000-08:00

One of my goals this year is to decorate a cake a week. Of course the preference is to have someone pay me to do it- but if not then I'll either make a cake for a friend or decorate a dummy. Anyway- this week's cake was for a man named Peter. Peter's wife requested something with the New York Yankees. Peter wanted chocolate cake with white frosting. This is what they got:

It's supposed to look like a Yankee uniform and the NY logo on the side is a little hard to see. The top is a baseball (hopefully that's obvious) and the Peter! is supposed to look like an autograph. The frosting is navy blue- but looks black in the picture.

It's chocolate fudge cake with chocolate cream puff filling and white buttercream frosting. I brushed the tops of each of the layers with melted chocolate.

Our 'magical' dinner

2007-01-23T20:42:00.000-08:00

Steve and I are trying to be healthier and are both doing the Weight Watchers plan. In order to fill up and get in our 5 fruits and veggies a day I have a goal of having two (different color) veggies and one fruit at dinner. I'm also trying to incorporate more fish into our diet. So tonight for dinner we had 'pancho villa tilapia', brown rice, acorn squash, steamed broccoli and cantalope. My girls eat pretty well- but it usually takes some encouragement to get them to try new things. Actually it usually takes some encouragement to get Megan to try old things a lot of the time. ("I don't like chicken! It's yucky to me! Followed by, 'hey, this isn't yucky- this is yummy to me!' after 20 minutes of trying to get her to eat it.)

The fish was baked in foil packets- so they couldn't see them. So before I opened them I told them that we were having magic dinner, and if they ate it then they would grow big and strong. (Hey, it's the truth!) They were all excited to try some and all ate it! We told them the broccoli (not something we usually serve) were 'magic trees' and they ate those too. Cantalope is a favorite as is rice so those weren't a big deal. Ashley ate and enjoyed the squash as well. So YAY!

Random things

2007-01-23T14:30:00.000-08:00

Our next door neighbor is a foster parent. For the last year and a half a 10 year old has been living with them. We walked him to school all last year and he's a friend of Ashley's. I found out yesterday that he's being adopted. YAY! So great for him.

I went shopping today and bought lots of fresh fruits and veggies. Annika just came in and told me she was hungry and wanted a snack and handed me a carton of fresh mushrooms. I told her she wouldn't like them. She insisted she would. So I gave her one. She took a bite and proclaimed, 'I like it!' Then threw the rest away. She just has to be right...

Today at Costco I saw two sets of twin boys. The first mom had two other kids with her and I commented that the transition from 3-4 was my hardest. She said it was her hardest too- but that the twins were numbers 5 and 6! They were 8 weeks old (and tiny!) Then I saw another mom with twin boys on the way out. She asked if Annika and Cori were twins (common question actually- maybe if Annika had more hair she'd look older). I told her that they weren't- they were just close in age. She told me her older two were 15 months apart. Her twins were 7 months. We keep joking that when/if we get pregnant again we should have twin boys. Then we'd for sure have a boy and he'd have a brother (something that concerns me actually- if I'm not going to have two I'd rather just have more girls).

hmmm...

2007-01-20T22:11:00.000-08:00

So it's see the full pictures and have my blog be screwy or see only the left two thirds of the pictures in the slideshow... preferences?? Know how to fix it?

Pictures from Hawaii (but I'm sparing you the ones of me in a bathing suit)

2007-01-20T21:39:00.000-08:00

Flash Slideshow

Back to the real world

2007-01-16T09:00:00.000-08:00

After spending all day yesterday sleeping off the trip I've got to wake myself up and get busy today. School is in, I'm hosting two different activities in the next two days and it seems there are a million things to do.

It was really really nice to have the vacation though and have no where that we had to go and nothing that we had to do. You'd think that it would refresh me and leave me ready to hit the ground running- but instead I think it's made me more tired...

Wish you were here!

2007-01-10T10:17:00.000-08:00

We're having a blast. We've been to the beach every day. All day. Still not tired of it. Today we're going snorkeling at Huanama Bay. We've been swimming at Ko Olina a lot. The lagoons are perfect for kids since they're fairly shallow and the waves are gentle. Steve and I are the only one's with sunburns so far- and they're not horrible. Be back soon! (The extra kids and the guy in the top photo are my neice and nephew and my brother-in-law).

Pulling into Procrastination Station!

2007-01-04T13:11:00.000-08:00

We fly out tomorrow at noon. (yay!) But I've not packed a thing. That's less then 24 hours from now. I do have all the girls laundry done though- and am almost done with mine. I seem to always procrastinate packing. So in the spirit of procrastination here is the 'four things' meme that my family has been passing around.

Four Jobs I Have Had in My Life:
1. Soccer Referree
2. Personal assistant to president of medical device company
3. Computer lab monitor
4. Cake decorator- (currently running my own business)

Four Movies I Would Watch Over and Over:
1. Return to Me
2. I can't think of any others
3. No really
4. I do listen to a lot of cartoons over and over- does that count?

Four Places I Have Lived:
1. Las Vegas, NV
2. Orem, UT
3. Dayton, OH
4. San Diego, CA

Four TV Shows I Love to Watch:
1. Daybreak
2. Heroes
3. Scrubs
4. Grey's Anatomy

Four Places I Have Been on Vacation:
1. Hawaii
2. San Diego, CA
3. Lake Tahoe
4. Arches

Four Websites I Visit Daily: (only four??!! You're talking to an addict!)
1. Gmail/ My google homepage
2. My blog tabs (opens about 30 blogs I glance at to see if there is anything new)
3. My Boards tab (opens 5 boards I read daily- ward board, friend board, caking board, parenting board and family board)
4. cnn.com

Four of my favorite foods:
1. chocolate in all it's forms
2. mexican food (enchiladas, taco salad, fajjitas)
3. Italian food- anything from carrabas
4. Anything with sugar in it..

Four places I'd rather be right now:
1. sitting in my perfectly clean house with everything packed and ready to go tomorrow morning (hopefully that'll all happen before I go to bed tonight)
2. Already in Hawaii having had a successful plane ride with my four angel children (HA HA HA)
3. Sitting on the beach
4. snorkeling

(I'm pretty excited to be going where I'm going shortly)

The Universal Language

2006-12-30T20:35:00.000-08:00

Our flight to Baltimore was a red-eye. When we were getting off the plane there was a girl about 4 or 5 who was whining- in Chinese. Sounded exactly the same as whining in English. We've been laughing about that all weekend.

where am I now?

2006-12-27T12:15:00.000-08:00

This is a game we're going to be playing for the next couple of weeks. Christmas is over and after Christmas eve at our house, then Christmas morning present overload at home we went to brunch at my mom's and then dinner at Steve's parent's. Then yesterday we headed to Parker Arizonia (halfway between our house and my sister's house in Mesa) to see them and their new baby. She is very cute btw. I have two days to hang out with my sisters, and pack for Baltimore. Thursday night I'm flying out with my mom and my sister Hannah to go visit my brother and his wife in Balitmore and witness their sealing in the Washington DC temple. Then I fly back on Jan 1 and leave again on the 5th to go visit Steve's sister in Hawaii. Yup- HAWAII. Woot! We're taking the kids to see their cousins (so not a romantic getaway) and to hang out there for 10 days. I'm excited. So life is a whirlwind for the next several weeks and I'll not be blogging in the meantime most likely. So Merry Christmas- Happy New Year and I'll see you in a couple weeks!

Family Pictures!

2006-12-25T03:05:00.000-08:00

So my sister Becca is a pretty talented photographer. I decided to take advantage of that while she's visiting for Christmas break from college.

Saturday we went up to the mountains to try and get some family pictures. Rebecca's camera's batteries had died (boo!) so she took some pictures with my new digital camera. Seems like it takes pretty good pictures so far! We didn't get any whole family shots since of course not everyone felt like participating. (annika) But Becca got some good shots of us in pairs and individuals though. Here are some of my favorites. We took some group shots today- but those were with becca's camera- which is film. So we'll not get those for a few days with christmas and all.

I think Megan may win the award for most photogenic child.
I had a hard time with any pictures of steve and I in color. Mostly because the redness of his beard totally washes out all color in my face.
Annika wasn't happy to be taking pictures. She wanted to be held the entire time we were up there. So mostly sad or serious shots of her. Also- her face is pretty scratched up since Megan's newest evil trick is scratching when she gets mad- and Annika is the most abused. If you've got ideas for stopping that I'd appreciate it.

love this one of Steve and Cori

Notice all the missing teeth? Guess who gets to visit the orthodontist after the beginning of the year??
cute baby.

Love this one. Too bad Annika didn't want to participate. Ashley is smiling semi normally- yay!
About the only shot of annika smiling.
Love this profile.
Notice the tear?
Love this one too.
See all the freckles?? Guess where she gets those? (Steve). Cute huh? I can't believe she's almost 8!

Merry Christmas from us!

Babysitting swaps

2006-12-25T02:17:00.000-08:00

My friend Lacey was talking about setting up a babysitting swap on her blog. I commented for an hour about all the swaps I have going on and figured I'd share my comments with you guys.

I love babysitting swapping. I've got a couple friends that I did this with who's children were the same age as mine. They were the sort of kids that came over and because they played so well with mine that it was less work to have them here. We swap a lot and don't really keep track just because we're good friends.

Then we have a formal 'co-op' where there are nine (and we're looking for a tenth) women who have 3-5 kids and we swap kids. Everyone has a day of the week and a time period (either 9-12 or 12-3) and you're committed to watching kids that slot during the week. But the rest of the week you can take your kids so someone else's house if you need to. I've used it to have time to clean my house with no 'helpers' or to work on a project, run errands, go to appointments etc.

Then I have a different group that is for weekend date nights. There are three families and we rotate watching kids. We watch all the kids the first weekend, then the next two weekends the other two families take a turn (there are 9 kids in all) and then the fourth weekend we all pay a babysitter and go out together. It's really nice because we have 2 date nights a month that are 'free'. It also makes us go out- which if we have to set up a babysitter every week just doesn't happen cause we're lazy.

Then of course we also have my mom and sister. I do usually pay Angela when she babysits- but my Mom frequently watches the kids while I run around or volunteer at the school.

Wow- that was a long comment. I think I'm going to copy/paste that into a post. But having 'swaps' is a fabulous idea. Mom's need breaks. NEED. Plus it's just hard to go places with kids- at least with more then one.

Wrapping made easy

2006-12-18T16:39:00.000-08:00

Gift wrapping is not my favorite activity. I'm also not very good at it. Steve is much better. But somehow I end up wrapping all the gifts year after year. This year I have some new 'tools' that I recommend for everyone. Seriously loving the scotch paper cutter and the pop up tape dispenser. Thank you 3M and Scotch for making my Christmas season a little easier. The paper cutter is SO.MUCH.NICER then scissors. The tape dispenser is so nice too- especially since I'm known to get to the point to need tape and not be able to find it- which means I have to let go of the place that needs taping to lift everything up to find it again.

Happy Birthday to Annika!

2006-12-13T22:08:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday Annika! I can't believe that you're three! You seem more and more grown up every day- but insist on a daily basis that 'I little' if I even think to suggest that you're getting bigger. You have a killer smile- and have from day one.

You're also a little bit compulsive. Even tonight while opening presents you took one present off the table, opened it and then put it back on the table before opening another .

You are a charmer. Everyone who meets you thinks so. You also put on a good act. You are my little miss stubborn.
We love your cheeks. The dimples on top and the dimples on bottom. You've got a butt that just won't quit. You're going to hate it when you're older, but for now it's so darn cute!

Happy Birthday Annika! Love you girly!

Why is December so busy?

2006-12-13T21:30:00.000-08:00

Tonight was Annika's third birthday party. (Happy birthday to her). The party went well. The food was good (Italian themed since she wanted 'mini pizzas') the cake was delicious and adorable. My kitchen needs to be recleaned and my kids need to be put to bed. Fun was had by all. Pictures to follow in the near future.

Tomorrow is the progressive dinner for the women at church- that I'm in charge of. None of it is at my house- but I'm bringing lots of food because I'm compulsive like that. I'm in need of a good soup recipe that can simmer in the crockpot all day. I'm thinking baked potato soup? But really I'm up for anything.

Friday is Steve's office party. At club tequila. Which is in a casino. So I need to find something slutty to wear (ha ha, just kidding). I'm making two full sheet cakes with the company logos on them though. So that's my project for Friday.

Saturday morning is a funeral for a friend of mine's 17 year old son. I'm terribly saddened by this and am helping out with the funeral luncheon after the family goes to the gravesite. I just can't fathom the pain of suddenly and tragically loosing a child.

Saturday night we're going out with some friends for dinner and then to 'The Forgotten Carols' which is a Christmas production that's pretty cheesy- but fun.

Then Sunday I collapse- except for the whole church thing. Woot!

Also- we bought tickets to Hawaii. We leave in less then a month. For 10 days. I'm freaking excited!! We're all going. Wahoo!

Um, I think I shot myself in the foot...

2006-12-13T08:26:00.000-08:00

So I have finished, stuffed, addressed, stamped and sealed Christmas cards. They will be mailed as soon as I get to a big mailbox. I didn't make enough cards. I knew I didn't. But I thought there would be like 10 or 15 people that wouldn't get one. Turns out there were 30. Guess I shouldn't have joked about 'top tier' cards. Can I retract that? The hardest part? Trying to guess who might read my blog and want a homemade card and who wouldn't know the difference. Am I WAY overthinking this? Possibly. But don't be offended when your card arrives- either way.

So...

2006-12-09T21:18:00.000-08:00

I've been busy working on Christmas projects and house projects and baking projects and church projects- and basically not being on the computer much. I've gotten some help installing wordpress on soggycheerios.com- but I've not completed the set up completely. I've been busy working on www.amberliciouscakes.com as well- not completely done yet- but if you want to have a look and/or give suggestions feel free. I'm officially done with all my niece (and one nephew) gifts, all my family gifts for extended family (with the exception of Steve's brothers- which I'm clueless on... thinking gift certificates to restraunts or something??) I've gotten stuff for the daycare ladies at the gym, Ashley's teacher and I'm almost done with Steve and the girls. I think that's all that's left actually. I'm also making Christmas cards... well- 40 of them. The 40 people I love most get 'top tier' cards and the rest get photo cards... just kidding, I'm sending the 'homemade' cards to people who'll appreciate it most.. I'm almost done with those as well. My goal is to completely finish those and have them ready to go in the mail Monday morning. I've also rearranged the office crap to make more room for my cake stuff in that closet.

So I've been busy. Really. But my house doesn't look like it. Right now I'm sitting down to wait for the dining room floor to dry and rest my feet. So I'm tiding you over with some picures... My friend Barbara was venting her frustrations over Christmas picture taking today over the phone and so I'm sharing some of the many that we took to end up with our final pictures, and I'm not even counting the mess-ups of Steve and I.

Hmmm..

2006-12-04T10:29:00.000-08:00

So apparently I can post at Soggy Cheerios but no one can comment? That doesn't work for me. I'm working on it. Until then answer me this:

What kind of digital camera do you have? Do you love it? Ours is 1 1/2 years old and isn't working (grrr). I've not been overly impressed (Kodak easyshare) and was looking online last night (is window shopping online evil on the sabbath?) and was shocked at the cameras that are in the same pricerange as our dead/dying one is but how many more mpegs they have! So tell me why or why not to get a camera like yours.

I've Moved!

2006-12-03T23:44:00.000-08:00

Check me out at SoggyCheerios.com

Yay for Adam!!

2006-12-01T12:28:00.000-08:00

I volunteer at Ashley's school every Friday morning. I work with kids in her class who are struggling with reading. There is a little boy named Adam who was by far the one who needed the most help. They have sight words that they're working on and pink is the lowest level. The pink sight words are ones that Ashley learned in Kindergarten- to give you an idea of the level. Anyway, Adam has a range of issues, he doesn't keep his hands to himself, follow directions etc... He get's pulled out for lots of different help during the day- but hadn't qualified for the reading specialist yet. So we've been out of school for a month and I was fully expecting him to go from knowing 25% of the words to knowing 10%. But he came out (we work in the hall) and was chomping at the bit to get to the flashcards (usually he wants to chat about everything under the sun first). He knew all but 5 of the 50!! WOW!! Then we worked on those 5 and he remembered them well enough to get 100% YAY!! I don't know what happened- he said that he had a new teacher that was working on flashcards with him (previously he'd told me that his parents wouldn't do the cards with him because they were too busy) and that he was smarter now. I praised him and gushed over his good work over and over and told him how awesome he was. I talked to the teacher about it and she said he's not seeing the reading specialist until next week. So I don't know if his parent's got a tutor for him or what- but it's certainly helping. So YAY for Adam!

Before you make cookies this Christmas...

2006-11-30T23:23:00.000-08:00

Don't use your mom's sugar cookie recipe!!! I am not a fan of sugar cookies. They're always hard and flavorless. I've tried several different recipes and just tried this one below. They're soft and puffy and pretty good. My new sugar cookie recipe of choice.

Here's a recipe for the cookies and the frosting. I've never made these, but saved the recipe when I saw it posted on another board, in case I ever need it. The cookies got rave reviews from everyone who made them at the time. There was also some speculation that using butter flavored crisco in place of the butter would make them softer - you can try it if the orig. recipe isn't quite what you're looking for! "Like Lofthouse" sugar cookies

COOKIES: 1 cup butter (using butter flavored Crisco makes them even softer) 2 cups granulated sugar 3 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 1/2 cups sour cream 5-6 cups flour (until desired consistency for rolling) ICING: 4 cups confectioners' sugar 1/2 cup shortening 5 tablespoons milk 1 teaspoon vanilla extract food coloring (optional)

COOKIES: Cream together butter and sugar. Beat in eggs and sour cream. Mix in dry ingredients. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Roll out dough to a 1/4 to 3/8 inch thickness using a generous amount of flour. Cut out shapes and bake on an ungreased cookie sheet for 8 minutes. Cool on wire rack. Frost and decorate as desired. ICING: In a large bowl, cream together the confectioners' sugar and shortening until smooth. Gradually mix in the milk and vanilla with an electric mixer until smooth and stiff, about 5 minutes. Color with food coloring if desired. Can also change the flavoring using other flavors

A recent project and my cool new apron.

2006-11-30T23:09:00.000-08:00

This is the apron my Aunt Hope sent me. Cool huh?The day before Thanksgiving I delivered these to school. The PTO bought them.
One basket was filled with White Chocolate Chip Orange cookies
One with Caramel (soft) popcorn
One with triple chocolate peppermint cookies. (Chocolate cookies with chocolate chunks, then half dipped in chocolate and then dipped in crushed peppermint- YUM).
There was also a basket of chocolate dipped pretzels and chocolate/caramel dipped pretzels and a basket of chocolate popcorn.

YUM!

Now that my camera is working...

2006-11-29T09:50:00.000-08:00

I've got a ton of pictures to post. But apparently blogger has a scheduled outage at 10- and I've got a dentist appointment to get to if I can ever get my kids moving. But I'm promising more this afternoon.

FINALLY!!

2006-11-29T09:45:00.000-08:00

I got my camera to download pictures. Here is a cake I recently did:

I'm loving the bottom border.I really love chocolate and pink.

Stuffed like a Turkey

2006-11-26T18:18:00.000-08:00

Wow- what a weekend! It was fun and relaxing and I love four and 1/2 days of downtime.

Wednesday Steve got off work early so we hit Walmart to do some Christmas shopping. We have some very poor areas of our stake so as a stake (collection of wards) they collect toys/clothes/ect for families that may not have them for Christmas. Our ward was asked to collect toys/clothes for 3-4 year old girls. Well- that's easy to pick since that's the ages of 1/2 our kids. I wanted to have the girls pick stuff out to sort of teach them about charity at Christmas time- but I didn't want to take all four girls to the toy section of Walmart by myself. So I dragged Steve and we went and did that.

Thursday morning we got up and I started cooking pies. Now there are several essentials to Thanksgiving in my family. One of them is pies. Lots and lots of pies. Steve doesn't get it. Not many people do. But it's a time of year when you can make your 15 favorite pies and not feel (too) gluttonous. So I made 2 pumpkin, lemon meringue, key lime (don't try that recipe in the Betty Crocker cookbook- really not that good), banana cream and chocolate cream. My friend emily made a cheesecake. She doesn't understand the pie thing either.

My friend Emily and her family came over for Thanksgiving as well as my sister Barbara who is currently going to school at Dixie State College in Utah. So we spent the time cooking together in the kitchen while the kids played upstairs.

Another important part of Thanksgiving are the mashed potatoes. They have to have some skin- and of course have to be real. No imitations. That was my Dad's favorite part of was mashed potatoes and gravy.

Then the turkey. I actually had some. Now this might not seem like such a big deal to the rest of you- but I've not eaten turkey in about 14 years. It gives me a major migraine and lots of pain in my back, neck and legs. But I decided to try some this year and was okay on Thanksgiving day. But I shouldn't have had leftovers. Last night I went to bed with a killer migrane and pain everywhere. It was gone by this morning though.

I brined (let it soak in a salt water solution) the turkey overnight and added brown sugar, honey and red pepper flakes to the brine. Then I rubbed it down with butter, brown sugar and sprinkled it with more red pepper before roasting it in a roaster oven breast side down. It doesn't come out with that brown crispy skin- but it comes out so moist and juicy and actually tastes good. Also in about 2 1/2 hours and my oven is free! Best $30 I've ever spent.

So Thanksgiving was good. We chatted and played some games after dinner and then the four adults (Barbara had left by then) cleaned the kitchen spotless in about 20 minutes. Woot!

Friday morning we got the girls up and took our car out in the Nevada Desert. We just drove straight up behind our house and went exploring. We stopped and had a picnic and let the girls explore and they loved it. Then Steve let them all drive a little (and there are reasons why kids don't drive- they're too easily distracted!)

When we came home I grabbed a couple bags and we dropped the girls off at Emily's house (thanks Emily and Scott!) and Steve and I headed up to Mesquite. The fun part was that Steve didn't know we were going. But we spent Friday/Saturday up there and stayed in a hotel, got massages, went to dinner, saw the new Bond movie (good except for the obnoxious kids behind us) did some Christmas shopping for our kids and test drove a mustang!

All in all it was a very good weekend. Too bad that Steve has to go back to work tomorrow and Ashley starts back to school tomorrow and we're back to the daily grind...

I'm an Aunt! (Again)

2006-11-25T17:46:00.000-08:00

For those of you who know my sister Katie she gave birth to her third daughter last night. Mom and baby are doing great. They named her Abigail Carleen (after my BIL's mom). I'm hoping for pictures soon.

A buffet of random thoughts (I am in Vegas afterall)

2006-11-21T08:32:00.000-08:00

1. Every room in my house was clean at some point between Friday and Sunday- except for my bedroom and the office.

2. You'd never know that by looking now
2a. What is with that?

3. My business is booming. I'm excited. Woot!

4. Does anyone else notice that when they're more busy they get more done? I know that sounds lame- of course you get more done- you're doing more. But I'm talking about besides the stuff you're busy with. I find that when I've got several projects with deadlines I'm able to get more of the other stuff done that I never seem to be able to finish- mostly because I don't have unlimited time to do them.

5. I also got the summer clothes put away and the winter clothes out this weekend- and the biggest accomplishment- all the boxes are also put away.

6. We did a dessert night on Sunday. Something I like to do about once a month. We invite 5-6 random families from church over trying to mix up people from different ages, parts of the ward (congregation) etc and I make 5-6 different desserts and we eat and chat. It's great fun for me and I hope for the people that come. So I get to try out new stuff without eating it all myself and I get to know more people in the ward.

7. Sunday we invited my visiting teaching companion (another woman that I'm assigned to and together we check up on and visit with several other women in our ward every month) and several of the families that we visit teach. My companion is in her 80's and is Japanese-Hawaiian. She is the sweetest lady ever and she adores my crazy kids. She's trying to get them to call her 'grandma nishi'. Her last name is Nishimoto.

8. Her husband has done a lot of work with the general leadership of the church in Asia. He was the regional representative of Asia and oversaw the construction of the Tokyo Temple. He was talking about his life and telling us stories from WWII (he was a colonel over the Japanese American regiment) and telling us stories about the different people he'd met working with the church. I think he mentioned maybe 5-6 different prophets (head guy in the church) that he'd worked with and knew personally. It was an amazing night. Most people left by about 9:30- but the Nishimotos stayed and chatted until 12:30.

9. I'm making the following today for baskets for school: Chocolate/caramel dipped pretzel rods, chocolate dipped pretzel twists, triple chocolate chunk peppermint cookies, snickerdoodles, tollhouse cookies, pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, chocolate popcorn, two bite brownies, white chocolate Chip orange cookies and peppermint bark.

10. Pretty sure steve's office is going to be ordering regularly from me.

11. My aunt Hope made me the coolest apron. She stitched my logo on it. So fun! I'll post a picture after I find the camera cord.

12. I ordered all our Christmas jammies yesterday. Yay for oldnavy.com!

13. We are getting our kids a swingset for Christmas. Well, we're going halvsies with my mom. This one is one that I want to get. Sounds like a reasonable price for that- but after $95 shipping it's really not. So- I leave you with this challenge. Find a wooden swingset like that one- but somewhere that either has free shipping or that we can pick it up.

I broke out the Christmas music...

2006-11-16T17:31:00.000-08:00

I generally wait until Thanksgiving day. But I was making my mixture of wassail for the season and "needed" to have a cup. Well- I couldn't have a cup without turning on some Trans-Siberian Orchestra....

It's a family favorite (my family- not Steve's- he thinks it's disgusting).

Wassail mix

2 c powdered orange drink mix (tang)

1 3 oz pckg un-sweetened lemonade (kool-aid)

1 1/2 c sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground cloves

add 2 or 3 T of mix to a cup of hot water.

Who I think should run for president in 08'

2006-11-15T01:52:00.000-08:00

Mitt Romney and Hillary Clinton.

Wouldn't that be fun? I think it'd make for the first interesting race in a long time with a candidate who I feel like I could vote for because they're a good candidate rather then because I like him better then the other guy.

Stuff I'm cooking...

2006-11-15T01:48:00.000-08:00

For delivery Friday I have 200 peices of apple crumb cake.

For next week I've got 5 baskets to fill with goodies- I'm not sure what yet- for the teachers at school (the PTO is paying woot!).

I'm thinking chocolate popcorn for sure, maybe pumpkin bread or banana bread? Or mini muffins (pumpkin and banana). Maybe chocolate/caramel pretzels. Pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, triple chocolate peppermint cookies?? I don't know. They have to be things that stack well and don't need to be refridgerated. What do you think? Suggestions?

Things that I've learned at my many doctor visits recently..

2006-11-13T20:40:00.000-08:00

The bigger the practice and the bigger the waiting room and the more recepionists, nurses, and other staff they have means the longer the wait time and the less personal your visit will be. Also, the more information regarding your symptoms they have you write down the more times they'll ask you what those symptoms are and why you're there. The more embarrassing the symptoms? Then the louder they'll ask and in front of more people. Seriously I'm not sure why they have you fill out your medical history at all- it's not like a single person looks at it. My new response when they ask me a question I've already answered on paper? "I believe that I answered that question on #5 on page 35 of your survey, approximately 56 minutes ago while I was waiting."

A couple of things

2006-11-13T08:36:00.000-08:00

I have some weird medical issues happening lately. I've seen my dr. and ruled out hormonal imbalances (which considering my previous diagnosis makes that they're all 'normal' completely weird). I had full blood work ups done that revealed nothing. I've been weaning off the Effexor to rule out things as being side effects. I've been off the Effexor for a week. A really, really hard week to boot. There are so many things going on right now that I feel like I can't talk about. Today I go for an MRI. Two actually. One with dye and one without. I'm nervous. Which apparently makes me mean and impatient. My kids are hiding upstairs. I'm really upset that Ashley is sick. That is completely irrational- and I know it. Like she can control the puking? Sigh... I need to get a grip. Hopefully I'll get some answers today or soon regarding these health issues.

The good news is that I've got all this nervous energy and as a result my house is getting more and more organized. My office is 95% done. I even bought a labeler so I can be as nerdy as Sheri. In other good news I got a second refrigerator. I made a swap with a in my ward. She had a fridge she was getting rid of and I had a computer desk- so we swapped. Good trade all around.

Murphies Exercise Law

2006-11-13T08:06:00.000-08:00

The more prepared and determined that I am to exercise the bigger things will stand in the way. For example- when I decide to go despite my lingering cold (to pilates rather then 20/20/20 though) and hurry and get dressed and get all the kids dressed then someone will puke. Sigh...

I need to go back to school.

2006-11-12T18:45:00.000-08:00

The things I'd like to learn are: HTML, Javascript, and organization... that is all.

Some recent cakes...

2006-11-09T22:43:00.000-08:00

Present cake for my sister Barbara's birthday

Over the hill cake for a man (named Bruce) who was turning 60. There are 60 candles around the edge of the cake.

Chocolate rose cake. Whimsical (means that it's supposed to be tilted).
Pumpkin cupcake cake for Halloween. I made two of these. One for Ashley's class and one for the daycare at the gym.

Kenneth Wegner

2006-11-09T21:56:00.000-08:00

The story:
Here in Nevada we have early voting at various locations around the valley. Malls, rotating grocery stores, libraries ect. So I was going grocery shopping at my local grocery store and there was a guy campaigning/handing out information about Kenneth Wegner in the parking lot. He approached me and was immediately in my face and confrontational. He asked me if I was voting and handed me information. I told him that I wasn't voting that day and asked him why he was campaigning at a voting site. He jumped to the defensive so fast and snidely told me that he wasn't campaigning- that he was simply handing out information about the candidate. That in order to be campaigning that he'd have to be the candidate. I rolled my eyes at him and proceeded into the store. In the front of the store there was a sign stating that this was private property and as such the owner of the property had opted to not have campaigning or leafleting done on their property during the early voting time. So I informed the manager that there was someone in their property doing just that.

When I went back outside he asked me if he could ask me a personal question. I told him I'd rather he didn't. He did anyway. He asked if I was LDS. I told him that I was and he handed me completely different information then he'd handed me previously about Kenneth Wegner, (that alone ticked me off) and he told me that Kenneth was also LDS and blah, blah, blah... One of the papers (the one that listed all the horrible things about his opponent) had a phone number at the bottom to call to volunteer for his campaign.

So I called the number and asked to speak with Kenneth Wegner. I was a little surprised when they put me through to him. I related the first part of the conversation in the parking lot and got the same attitude and defensiveness from him. Then I told him about his volunteer handing me completely different information when he found out my religion and he asked me if I was ashamed of my religion. I told him that was a strange question coming from a man who handed out different fliers depending on the religion of the person to whom he was campaigning for.

He was rude, confrontational and immediately defensive. I have a hard time with people like that. I have a hard time with people who think that I should (or shouldn't) vote for people depending on their religion.

Worse he told me that President Faust (one of the head men in our church- an apostle. Think cardinal in the Catholic church) told him that he needed to run and let people know what he believed. Basically he was name dropping trying to influence my vote. Well. He did. Influenced me to NOT vote for him.

The final straw was when he condescendingly told me that I should pray about it and then ask my husband who I should vote for. Steve and I do talk to each other about our voting thoughts and do some research together- but we also don't always agree and vote the same way. Although after talking to Steve about Kenneth Wegner he agreed that we shouldn't vote for him.

If you're wondering? He lost. Woot!

Deep Breath!!

2006-11-08T17:11:00.000-08:00

YAY! Results are in and Nevada now has an indoor clean air act. No smoking in grocery stores (seriously it was allowed where there were slot machines) or in restraunts or bars that serve food. YAY!! So no more 'smoking or non'- there is just non!!! Woot. It becomes effective in two weeks. I think we'll go to dinner to celebrate!

VOTE!!

2006-11-07T09:04:00.000-08:00

Don't forget to vote today! I know it's midterm elections and not the presidental elections- but really- go vote. Do your homework if you haven't already and go vote.

If you live in Las Vegas don't vote for Kenneth Wegner. More on that later. But he's a jerk. So vote for Shelly Berkley.

Super Saturday

2006-11-07T08:25:00.000-08:00

It's over. It was fabulous (if I do say so myself). Everyone seemed to have a great time. Lunch was fun and light (which is what I was going for). My chocolate class went well, but really how can you mess up chocolate? I came home with a bunch of projects to work on- but most people finished their stuff there. I was just so busy making sure things were running smoothly that I didn't have much time to do crafts, which is okay.

All you need to know about CHOCOLATE

2006-11-07T08:23:00.000-08:00

These are the handouts from my chocolate class:

All you need to know about chocolate….

Consumers spend more than $7 billion a year on chocolate.
U.S. consumers eat about 2.8 billion pounds of chocolate annually, making per capita consumption about 12 pounds per person a year.
American chocolate producers use about 1.5 million pounds of milk.
Chocolate has over 500 flavors components, more that twice the amount found in strawberry and vanilla.

Tempering: ‘Real’ Chocolate needs to be tempered in order to not form white crystals when drying. There are several methods of doing this, a common one using a double boiler- but an easier way is using the microwave.

No more than a pound at a time should ever be tempered, and tempering shouldn't be attempted when the air temperature is over 75 degrees Fahrenheit. A pound of coarsely chopped chocolate should be placed in an open, microwave-safe glass or ceramic container. The chocolate should be microwaved at full power for one minute and then stirred briefly. Continue to microwave at full power in ten-second increments until the chocolate is about ⅔ melted and ⅓ solid or lumpy. Then stir briskly until all the chocolate is completely melted and smooth.

Using a candy thermometer, the temperature must be tested as follows for the different types of chocolate:

(88 to 91 degrees Fahrenheit for dark chocolate, the generic term for semisweet chocolate or bittersweet chocolate.
84 to 87 degrees Fahrenheit for milk chocolate or white chocolate.

For easier heating and reheating you can use chocolate wafers (commonly sold by Wilton in an array of colors) or Almond Bark. Both have the flavor of chocolate, but aren’t really ‘chocolate’ since the coco butter has been removed and replaced with palm oil. This eliminates the need for tempering.

-For dipping fruit (of any kind) it must be completely dry or the chocolate won’t stick.

-To flavor you can buy candy flavoring which is much more intense and doesn’t need as much to flavor so that it doesn’t add too much liquid to your chocolate.

-Always dry chocolate on waxed paper or parchment paper.

Soft Carmel for pretzel sticks

INGREDIENTS

2 1/4 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup corn syrup
1 cup butter
1 (5 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

DIRECTIONS

Place the popcorn in a large bowl. Shake and toss the bowl to make the unpopped kernels go to the bottom; discard.
In a sauce pan over medium-high heat, cook the brown sugar, corn syrup, and butter, stirring constantly. Heat to 270 to 290 degrees F (132 to 143 degrees C), or until a small amount of syrup dropped into cold water forms hard but pliable threads. Remove from the heat, and carefully pour in the can of condensed milk; stir until smooth.
Dip pretzels into caramel- let .dry on waxed paper When they’re semi solid (they’ll never fully harden) then dip into chocolate. Drizzle with contrasting chocolate or sprinkle with chopped nuts, coconut, or candy sprinkles.

Chocolate Popcorn

Ingredients:

White chocolate or White Almond Bark

Popcorn

1. Pop Popcorn

2. Melt chocolate and toss with popcorn until fully coated.

3. Lay out on waxed paper to dry. Drizzle with contrasting chocolate, sprinkle with toffee bits or candy cane if desired.

Chocolate Truffle Filling

Ingredients:

11 ½ ounces milk or dark chocolate

1/3 cup whipping cream

Candy flavoring if desired

1. In a heavy saucepan combine chocolate pieces and whipping cream. Cook over low heat for 4-5 minutes or until chocolate melts, stirring frequently. Remove saucepan from heat and cool slightly. Whip with wisk until smooth. Cover and refrigerate until firm.

2. Roll into balls and then roll in powdered sugar or ground toasted nuts. Place on baking sheet lined with waxed paper and freeze for 30 minutes.

3. Dip into chocolate and allow to dry again.

Candy Clusters

1. mix your favorite cluster ingredients into melted candy (equal parts chocolate and either nuts, raisins, coconut, mini marshmallows, rice crisipies or other items)

2. mix thoroughly so that all ingredients are coated with chocolate.

3. Drop mixture onto cookie sheet covered with waxed or parchment paper. Refrigerate until firm.

I'm still alive!

2006-11-03T16:25:00.000-08:00

Barely though.

This week has been crazy. I've been aiming to stick to the schedule as much as possible. I made a job chart and tv watching rules and the tv's only been turned on once! YAY! We've had a lot of odd things pop up though- dental appointments, medical appointments ect that throw us off- but I'm not aiming for perfection- just following it when we're home to the best of our ability.

Tomorrow is Super Saturday so today I'm trying to figure out what I'm forgetting to get ready. I feel like I should be stressed out- but I'm really not. I've got a great group of really dependable people to help me out and I've put them in charge of certain things and I'm really not worried.

It did occur to me today that this great group of women need to be recognized and thanked in some way so I need to do that tonight as well as prepare for my chocolate class. I'm thinking of killing two birds with one stone and making them some dipped pretzel sticks and wrapping them all pretty. Is that lame??

For my chocolate class I'm teaching: chocolate tempering, nut clusters, chocolate dipped strawberries, chocolate dipped pretzels, truffles and chocolate popcorn. They're all totally simple things (I think) but they're things that I've gotten specific requests for. I'm making up handouts so if anyone is interested I can post them here later.

I'll post some pictures of my completed crafts after tomorrow- if I can get my camera to download. I'm suspecting that my cord is ruined since the camera isn't recognizing it. (angry face) I realized this after trying to down load pictures of my totally cute Halloween girls.

November Schedule

2006-10-26T12:15:00.000-07:00

So Ashley is in year round school. She's on track 4 which means she has the month of November off school. I feel like our Summer flew by and we didn't get to do as much as I wanted and I don't want to waste the month of November on kids watching TV and me wearing my pj's all day. So I'm setting a schedule and some goals to accomplish by the end of the month.

Goals for Amber:
Learn to play 5 Hymns well enough to accompany (one must be Christmas)
Read 5 books
Set up Cake site
Get house fully organized
Teach Ashley one piano lesson a week
Do one craft a week with the girls
take the kids to the library twice
Work out 4 days a week minimum

Goals for Ashley:
Learn how to correctly spell the 100 sight words
Read one chapter book a week (with mom's help)
Learn how to cook 3 new recipes from her cookbook
Have one piano lesson a week
Pass off math speed tests

Goals for Megan:
Learn how to write name from memory
Figure out colors
practice cutting
learn to recognize all alphabet letters

Goals for Annika:
Start learning how to write name
Start learning how to cut
learn how to use the potty (acck!)

Daily schedule:
7:30-8:15 up, dressed, breakfast
8:15- leave for gym
10:30 return from gym
10:30-11:00 mom showers, everyone has free play
11:00 snack
11:10 work on writing and spelling
12:00 lunch
12:30 math, games (board or computer)
1:30 naptime for younger girls- ashley and mom read, do chores
3:30 play time or errands or library or piano
5:00 chore time
6:00 dinner
6:30 everyone helps clean up from dinner
Evening is free time

I want to have some system where the girls can earn 1/2 hour increments of tv time. Ashely especially is hooked on TV and wants to watch it constantly- which I hate. I'm not sure what sort of system to use though. Maybe 15 minutes per chore? Hmm, any ideas there? I'm going to have to try this out and see how it works. Hopefully we can send Ashley back to school smarter- which would be a good thing.

"Mom! You're not my mom!"

2006-10-25T16:35:00.000-07:00

Megan came upstairs and yelled, 'mom, someone's here!' Then when I said 'what?' she says, "mom! You're not my mom! Annika is!"

Geez, you'd think I'd know that by now!

Update

2006-10-19T00:29:00.000-07:00

Made the chicken wraps for dinner. The kids LOVED them. Called them lettuce tacos. YAY!

QOTD: French Apple Pie (brown bag apple pie)

2006-10-18T16:40:00.000-07:00

Okay, french apple pie you make with a crumb topping and bake it in a paper bag. Why? I have no idea. I'm about to make two recipes and see what the differences are though. Anyone know?

Yummy lunch!

2006-10-17T13:40:00.000-07:00

So have you tried new salad spritzers? The balsamic breeze is gross- but the italian is very good. Anyway- for lunch I grilled some marinated chicken, then sprayed the italian salad spritzer on a romaine heart sliced in half lengthwise. Then I grilled it for a few minutes (just until it started to wilt a little). Then I made lettuce wraps with chicken, tomatoes, cheese and guacamole. YUM.

OCD Child

2006-10-16T22:25:00.000-07:00

I know that Megan's in the picture with Annika- but this was the work of Annika. Megan's work is usually destructive. This too.

Obsessive compulsive disorder.

Pretty sure Annika has issues. She likes to line things up- she also freaks out if her shoes aren't perfect on her feet. I can put them on her 50 times and she freaks out. She puts them on and they're somehow perfect the first time (even when they're on the wrong feet- which they usually are). Her OCD is worst the more tired she is. Bedtime is horrible because she's in a toddler bed. Crib blankets aren't long enough to tuck in properly. Twin blankets are too long and touch the floor. I may be making it worse- but I'm making her a special blanket just for her that's long enough tuck in- but not too long.

I know some of it is being a 'terrible two year old'. Stuff like needing to wear pants that have pockets most days, except on the days that I grab some shorts with pockets and she needs to wear a dress. The need to only eat from a blue bowl? Pretty sure she's going to out grow that too. These other things I'm not so sure about.

Just for kicks this is how she carries her babies (something else she's obsessed with).

Some things I've been watching/listening to...

2006-10-14T22:21:00.000-07:00

First of all Steve's theme song... (I love my husband if you should question that- and he's not too nerdy, at least not nerdier then me)... Watch for Donny Osmond. ROFL. Seriously. Or maybe ROTFLOL.

Second something that's only funny if you're Mormon or have attended a Mormon Fast and Testimony meeting lately... but I want to sing it at the next ward talent show. Click Here.

A fabulous cake site.

My projects?? Still working on it. My enthusiasm for spic and span left me sometime during the night. I need to find it again. We did buy two trees today for the backyard. An ornamental purple plum and a nectarine tree. Also learned that the reason our lemon tree might not be fruiting is because we need to feed it citrus food. So maybe eventually we'll get some lemons?

We're watching a friend's 6 year old for the next few days while she's in Chicago with her dh. Her name? Megan. I'm tired of saying full names so I informed her that I'll be calling her by her last name only all weekend. It's cute- and she likes it. Well- she thinks it's funny.

Shame, shame, know your name

2006-10-13T13:43:00.000-07:00

This post would be even better with pictures. But I guess you'll have to see them later since Blogger isn't letting me post any right now....

It's been a busy week. There's been something every evening this week and most nights we've not gotten home until late. This makes for a tired me and a messy house. I can't start the weekend this way or we'll not be able to dig ourselves out on Monday. So starting now at 1:45 I'm working hard until it's all done. What is it all you ask? Well. That's what the pictures were for- to prove that at one point this weekend things were clean, because by Monday? That will no longer be true. (The joys of having kids).

Here is my list:
Blog all the pictures I currently have
Clean kitchen- DONE!! (of course then I made dinner)

Clean/organize study and secretary

organize under bathroom sink
clear stairs DONE- the stuff you see? Painting stuff. Steve's painting the stairway and the upstairs. Woot!!

all laundry done and put away Laundry is all clean, mostly folded and mostly put away. I've got one load left in the dryer (26 minutes until it's done)

find 18 month clothes
put away 12 month clothes
clean bathrooms Bathrooms clean
organize/clean laundry room

wax eyebrows (seriously even took a picture of my caterpiller brows)- See? Told you. Although the picture doesn't do my hairiness justice.

make uberlist of goals like Hope.
Blog that
Move kitchen drawers around
Clean playroom/toss/put up 3/4 of toys

organize bookmarks
Send a thank-you to Char for her thank-you to me
Clean my room, change my sheets DONE- I also cleaned the girl's rooms (including closets) and changed all their sheets

While you're waiting for me here is a fun time waster (mindless fun)

My week in review- math style

2006-10-07T15:23:00.000-07:00

Some numbers from the last week....

28- is how old I turned on the 29th
65- how many mini quiche I made last night
144- how many frosted brownies I delivered this morning
2:30 am- what time I went to bed last night
4- number of days I went to the gym this week (I think)
8- the number of months pregnant the lady was that taught the step and abs class that kicked my butt.
30ish- the number of people that came to my surprise birthday party
2 million- the number of brownie points that earned my husband
3- the number of days I got to hang out with Char before her family got sick.
2- the number of cakes I'm making this week

more details on most of the previous numbers later- right now I've got to clean my kitchen and go on a date with my husband...

The Finger of Blame

2006-09-28T07:49:00.000-07:00

I got a letter in the mail from my health insurance company yesterday. Apparently they want to be 502% positive that there isn't anyone else who can pay for the care of my ankle. I got a 2 1/2 page questionare about the causation, location and responsibility of my injury.

They want to know where it happened (podunk, northern NV)
How it happened (Um, I'm a clutz)
If I was in or around a motor vehicle (um, within 20 feet- but still not the car's fault)
If expenses due to accidental injury/accident? (Actual question) I put: yes, but who would injure themselves on purpose? That's a lame question. (Actual answer).
If the injury happened while I was working? (Well, I was carrying a kid- which is part of my job)
If if happened while playing college sports... (Yeah right!!)

Basically they don't want to pay for the injury if there is anyone else they can make do it. Lovely.

Um, maybe, yes?

2006-09-26T08:31:00.000-07:00

Annika's new way of answering questions is with a question. Maybe she's going to be a lawyer?

This morning:
"annika, did you eat your cereal?"
"um, maybe, yes?"
"annika, did you hit your sister?"
"um, maybe no?"
"then why is she crying?"
"Um, maybe yes?"

Fabulous...

It's official...

2006-09-25T20:43:00.000-07:00

I'm the best mom ever! Annika hasn't been eating at all today and it's driving me nuts! Earlier my mom was wiping her face and she was screaming like she was in pain. But she's like that- if you're making her do something she doesn't want you to do then she'll say you're hurting her (even if you aren't hardly touching her). So I told my mom it's just annika being annika. Then I was getting her ready for bed and wiped off her face (which for not really eating sure does get messy) and she starts screaming bloody murder and saying her teeth hurt. So I look at her teeth- guess what I found? A gigantic canker sore on her bottom gum right in the center of her face. Lovely eh?

It's FALL!!

2006-09-25T08:24:00.000-07:00

This is the best time of year in Las Vegas. It really, really is. The AC is off (most of the day) and the doors and windows are open (but screened- still seeing too many pesky flies). There is a lovely crispness in the air that will stay for the next several months. That's right- MONTHS. I love fall in Las Vegas. And Spring. The fact that we have such fabulous fall weather and such fabulous winter weather and beautiful springs make the 4 months of summer bearable. I'm willing to take the trade off. Since it's so wonderful and Steve spent Saturday cleaning (so not too much guilt) I'm spending the day baking. I've got some new recipes to try, some new cookie cutters to try, and it's fall. I need to spend some time in the kitchen. Besides, the girls all have coughs and snotty noses so I can't take them too the gym. I'll be back with pictures by tonight.

Long day! But good news. ..

2006-09-21T18:34:00.000-07:00

So I had extra kids sleep over last night. So this morning I had two kids to get ready for school. Luckily 7 year olds get ready by themselves- they just need nagging. Then once they were out the door I got 5 kids in the car to take Megan to preschool. Then home to nap both babies. Then back 2 1/2 hours later to pick her up, then home for a rushed lunch, then out the door to take the other Megan to kindergarten, then dropped my kids + one extra off at my moms. Then I went to the foot doctor where I waited for 3 1/2 hours. (Ugg) Costco run and then I went to pick up my kids and they were all sleeping. So I crashed at my mom's for an hour- until she kicked me out since she had company coming for dinner. Then home to rush through dinner and now we're on the way out the door again since Steve has an audit tonight and I've got Bunco. The girls are going to a friend's house and steve's picking them up when he's done. Whew! So I've been gone all day- but hi! What have you been up to??

The good news? No more boot on my foot! At least as long as it feels well. If it starts to hurt then I have to put it back on for another week

In other good news? I've not taken any narcotic pain killer (or any pain killer) for more then 24 hours. Woo!! I may not be an addict after all!

Yay for the endodontist!!

2006-09-20T21:39:00.000-07:00

I never thought I'd be so anxious to see a dentist in my life. I got an appointment for 11:00 this morning. I have never felt such sweet relief in my life as when I got that first shot of novicane. Ahhh. I've not slept the whole night through in weeks. I kept falling asleep in the dentist's chair since I could finally sleep with the pain gone. It's almost 10- so eleven hours since my appointment and I've felt no pain. None. I have feeling back in my jaw and there is no pain. YAY!! I'm so ready to go to bed and sleep all night long.

Super Saturday

2006-09-19T22:28:00.000-07:00

Super Saturday is a day where we (women at church) get together and do lots of crafts either for our homes- or for Christmas gifts for others. I'm in charge of it this year.

Wanna see what we're making??

These are glass blocks- like you use in bathroom windows. They don't photograph well-

This one says "PEACE on earth"

JOY to the world

These are all Christmas ornaments

These are boards that you hang on your wall

Flower arrangement- you make it in the flower arranging class
Stitchery's

These next four are all the same craft. They are four blocks that have four different seasonal sayings.
Paper dolls (laminated)
Cards (super cute)
There's one more- but I forgot to take a picture- I'll post it later.

We're having four classes- cinnamon roll making, flower arranging, home organization and cleaning, and hand dipped chocolates.

We're having a brunch as well. I"m excited!

Blogger Beta and comments

2006-09-18T16:43:00.000-07:00

Currently since I've signed up for blogger beta I can't comment on your site unless you allow non-bloggers to comment. So if you do that then I can comment. Also- you can't sign in and comment here unless you're a beta blogger- but you can sign out and then comment without signing in. Clear as mud? I miss my commenters!!

Something that made me giggle

2006-09-18T09:02:00.000-07:00

A couple days ago Megan swallowed a chip without completely chewing it and it got stuck in her throat on the way down. We tried to get her to drink some water or drink something to help it out and finally convinced her that eating some ice cream would help.

A few minutes ago Megan came up to me and said, 'I have an owie on my head that's not bleeding. Can I have a popsicle and eat it outside to make it feel better?'

Who can resist that logic?

Just say no!

2006-09-13T18:20:00.000-07:00

How do you know when you're an addict? I was taking pain pills for my foot. Right when we got back from our trip I went to the dentist and got 5 cavities filled. Two were quite deep. Deep and infected- but not quite infected enough to warrant a root canal. So the dentist did what's called a pulp cap- supposed to keep it from needing a root canal. Anyway- said that they'd be sensitive for a while. Well- it's been two weeks. I now can't function without taking a couple Loratab or Vicoden a day. I've also taken to squirting infant motrin or tylenol directly on the affected area (really helps btw). I went back in today. It's possible that the tooth behind the one he worked on needs a root canal, or it could be in pain because the bite was high, or it could be the ginormous canker sore. So I'm supposed to treat the canker sore, and he fixed the bite. If it doesn't get better by monday or so (not all the way- but a noticable improvement) then I get to go to a specialist for the root canal since it's my very very back molar. Joy. But yeah- I've been taking prescription pain meds daily since the first day of vacation. Not sure that's good.

Kayaking...

2006-09-12T22:58:00.000-07:00

We borrowed a kayak from a friend of Steve's to take with us on our trip. It was a lot of fun. The girl's loved it too. Here are some pictures: (I actually went out on the kayak too- but there aren't pictures to prove it.)

Steve and Ashley:

Steve and Megan:

Steve and Annika:

The Dirt

2006-09-11T19:39:00.000-07:00

That was the big attraction on our vacation. If we were at the campsite the girls played in the dirt:

If we were at the beach they played in the dirt:The girls favorite activity was having Steve bury them in the sand.

Cori enjoying being the 'biggest' sister for a few minutes. ..

By the time we left we were covered in dirt and everything we'd brought with us was covered in dirt. Cheap fun though right? Also- their clothes did come clean.

Good enough?

2006-09-11T01:44:00.000-07:00

I've finally updated. I feel like I've fallen off the blogosphere- but I'm back. I'm liking the new blogger better- tons better- and I think I'm through my blogger's block. Hopefully that includes commenting on ya'lls blogs as well. I'm going to do better- I promise.

Some random pictures I've been meaning to share

2006-09-11T01:25:00.000-07:00

Here's Cori and her two 'best friends'. The three girls are all within a couple weeks of the same age and hang out a lot. Mostly because their mom's do and stuff- but they're pretty cute together. Cori has started trying to say Sarah's name. Tonight at dinner Sarah was upset and Cori kept 'talking' to her and trying to make her feel better. You could totally tell what she was trying to convey by the tone of her voice and her gestures. Totally cute!
Megan/Minnie mouse. She put on this 12 month costume at someone else's house. ROFL. I couldn't resist the pic.
Cori and Sarah getting a bath in the sink after dinner.
Sarah was supposed to be napping. We came upstairs and Jeffery and Annika had climbed into the crib and all three of them were jumping happily. Yeah, no sleeping there!

Happy Birthday to Megan!!

2006-09-11T01:09:00.000-07:00

We've also recently had a birthday! Megan turned 4 on September 5th. So we celebrated on Labor day with a big family/friend party. She got way more presents then any kid needs (of course) and was thrilled at every single one. I think that 4 is the best age for birthdays. They finally 'get it' but aren't so gimmie, gimmie that it's obnoxious. She was completely thrilled at every single present she opened and it was so fun!

Of course we have our tradition of the birthday pinata- Megan wanted a purple bunny- he ended up a little creepier then I was going for- but I guess it makes it easier to whack right?

Mommy and Megan with the 'scary bunny' as Megan called him.

Blowing out the candles...
Picking up the loot!
The cake.
Megan was a miracle baby. Go here to read all the details. She has such a fun little personality and really is a joy in our home. The last several months she's been maturing and growing by leaps and bounds. She's finally figured out the potty training thing (now for the night training) and talks non-stop. She says the funniest things, of course at this moment I can't think of any of them... She loves to play Barbies and dolls and Polly Pockets and her newest favorite thing is money. Grandma Pechin gave her a purse with a handful of pennies in it for her birthday and she's been carrying it everywhere. That's the best way to get her to do something currently is to offer her a penny.

She loves to play with her sisters- most of the time and is really good at making Cori laugh. Megan gives the greatest hugs and kisses and frequently just comes up and gives hugs for 'no reason'. She also is incredibly silly.

We love our Megan and treasure every moment with her. Happy Birthday Megan!!!

Preschool

2006-09-11T00:59:00.000-07:00

Preschool also started last week. I'm once again doing preschool co-op with some other women from church who have kids Megan's age. We rotate houses and take turns being the teacher. We made up a simple curriculm- but most of it is open to whatever the teacher wants to do. We had fun- but it was crazy last week- mostly because it's the first week. We also have two more kids this year then we had last year.

Here is a video of the kids doing a parade in the backyard. Like how orderly they are?? It was hysterical though.

School has Begun!

2006-09-11T00:56:00.000-07:00

August 28th was the first day of school. I can't tell you how excited we all are! I didn't take pictures on the first day (cause I'm the best mom ever) but here is Ashley on the second day of school:I can't believe I've got a second grader! That's crazy! Her teacher is Mrs. Bates- and I'm not so sure about her yet. I'm hoping to help out in the class room soon so I can see her in action. They watched a full length movie (Brother Bear 2) on the third day of school. That bothers me more then a little bit.

The New Beta Blogger

2006-09-11T00:51:00.000-07:00

If you use blogger upgrade to Beta version (for free) so that I can comment on your blog. If you haven't upgraded then you can't comment on mine (and I know you wanna) and I can't comment on yours. So do it- all the cool kids are. Beside editing your template is 100 x's easier. I finally updated my blogroll. If you're on it and don't want to be shoot me a note.

A big fish story

2006-09-10T23:00:00.000-07:00

So before we even went on our trip the girls were excited about going. If you asked them what we were going to do they said we were going fishing. I don’t know if we had made an offhand comment or what- but Megan especially was really, really excited about going fishing. So we borrowed some gear from Steve’s dad so that we could take them while we were up there. The thing is that fishing isn’t very fun. No offense to you fishermen/women out there- but really- hours on end holding a pole and rarely catching anything? Not my idea of a good time. Also you have to hold still and be quiet- which is not something that my kids excel at. But we were going to give it a shot.

So our first day in Tahoe we went fishing. Got it out of the girls systems. The great part? It took 30 minutes and all three girls caught a fish! Ashley caught the first one which was 14 inches long. Megan caught the next one that was 16 inches long. Annika caught the last one and it was 12 inches long. They were all trout. We had a good dinner that night.

The Girls Waiting to fish
The best part? We found a trout farm that would provide all the gear and the bait and let you fish there without a license (because it’s private property) and you only pay for what you catch (by the inch). So the pond was swarming with fish- and it didn’t take long for the girls to catch a fish each! But the very best part? They cleaned the fish for $.50 a piece.

The action from across the pond (There’s a fish in the net Steve is holding- it’s the one Annika just caught)

Learning the art of fishing

Megan the fisher girl
Ashley with her fish.

We took a picture of all the girls holding a fish- but the camera for some reason didn’t take it! Grr!

So there was our fishing adventure!

I'm a slacker

2006-09-09T00:11:00.000-07:00

Sorry. I'm not blogging. I'm not sure what the issue is. I'll be playing catch-up over the next couple of days. The things I'm promising (with pictures)?

1. Our trip to Tahoe
2. Fishing (Ashley caught a 14 inch trout, Megan caught a 16 inch trout and Annika caught a 12 inch trout)
3. Our state capital
4. The second day of school (since I forgot to take pictures on the first day)
5. Megan's birthday party
6. Random fun pictures

Here's one to tide you over...
Annika kept putting grapes in her cheeks and smiling and saying 'cheese'- it was so cute. She looks like a little chipmunk though.

Gross Problem- I need help...

2006-09-08T07:51:00.000-07:00

I've never had a housefly problem in Las Vegas before. Seriously not even enough to purchase a flyswatter. This summer hasn't been that bad- a few more then normal. But the last week and a half? It's out of control. I'm killing between 15-30 flies a day in my house! That's insane and disgusting. What the freak is going on and how do I stop it!!??

Something to remember

2006-09-06T14:26:00.000-07:00

Taking a bath by yourself is very relaxing- when a 2 1/2 year old and a 4 year old join you? Not so much.

About my foot

2006-08-31T21:40:00.000-07:00

So on Monday driving up to Lake Tahoe we stopped in a podunk town for lunch. After lunch I changed Cori's diaper in the car and walked across the parking lot carrying her to throw it away. I stepped in a pothole with my left foot, it twisted and I went down on my right knee. I had to have Steve help me back to the car.

Now I've twisted and sprained my ankle's many many times and was sure that it was all I'd done. So I put off getting it x-rayed for a couple of days. Finally I went in on Wednesday and got it x-rayed. The urgent care dr. said it was broken in two maybe three spots and that he was sending the x-rays to the radiologist at the hospital to look at. They put me in a boot and gave me drugs and sent me on my way.

I got a call earlier this week from the urgent care calling to say that the hospital radiologist said it wasn't broken, but that there were some significant problems with my 5th metotarsal (no clue on the spelling there) and to make sure that I was seeing an orthopedic surgeon this week. So I went to the orthopedic surgeon today. Two hours, 6 x-rays, and 5 minutes with the foot and ankle specialist the verdict is that it is broken in two places- but that neither of those two places is the 5th metotarsal. I'm still in the boot for 6-8 weeks, I'm supposed to stay off of it as much as possible (do you hear the laughter??) and it hurts like crazy.

Add to that my 5 cavities I got filled on Tuesday, two of with were really deep and my mouth is still throbbing...

So- who wants to come clean my house while I lay around with my foot up, with ice on my cheek, and popping pills?

Hello? Is anyone still there?

2006-08-30T21:53:00.000-07:00

I feel like I've fallen out of the blogosphere. I've been on vacation for a week without the internet and came home and it was time for school to start. Crazy! So now it's Wednesday and the first day of school and I'm still recovering from vacation- also? I've got a broken foot and had five cavities filled on Tuesday.... I'm feeling overwhelmed and swamped with 'things to do' yet have been on so many painkillers that I've not got the energy to do them. That includes blogging. I've been doing a lot of staring at the computer- but finding the energy to think about something and type? That I don't have... I'll be back soon with pictures from lake tahoe (where all three of my girls caught a trout 18, 16, and 14 inches) and where we got completely filthy on a regular basis. Fun for everyone.

Feeling blah...

2006-08-19T14:15:00.000-07:00

It's been a blah week.

Luckily we're leaving town on Monday to go to Lake Tahoe! I'm excited to get away and hang out with just Steve and the girls. We've not been camping in forever. So yay! I'll see you all in a week!

sigh....

2006-08-15T21:46:00.000-07:00

What I did today:
Got kids dressed and fed and out the door in record time
dropped them off at my mom's
drove to NBF Emily's
drove to car shop
dropped off car for brake change
drove with NBF to gym
she dropped me off
worked out with personal trainer
told him thanks but no thanks on the extra $35 a month to meet with him for a 1/2 hour a month
did cardio
high fived Em on her way in and took her car keys
ran home and showered
ran back to the gym to pick up Em
Got dropped off at my mom's
read Annika and story and got her to lay down
left kids with my sister and my mom and I went to lunch to celebrate my dad's birthday
and voted
went to dollar store for balloons
visited friend Mona in the hospital
saw her adorable new baby girl (she has two boys so far)
picked up car
picked up kids
came home
fed kids cereal for dinner
had a smoothie
held Cori (she's got a fever)
held Cori some more
gave her drugs
wiped her down with a wet washcloth
held her
held her
stared at the mess of a downstairs
held cori
talked to Steve while holding cori and staring at the mess in the office
took cori upstairs
Made the girls (well, Ashley) clean up toys
put cori to bed
started load of pee laundry
picked up loft
came and blogged
it's 9:49 and I'm ready for bed.

But tomorrow...
I've got a 9am appointment at the gym
10:00 playgroup at the park
clean my mess of a house
make treats
plan enrichment for the next month or two
6:30 planning meeting at my house
7:30 craft night at my house
crash...

I hate days like this- it was nice- but I like to be home a little. I can't imagine being gone all day everyday.

Happy Birthday Dad.

2006-08-15T21:23:00.000-07:00

Today would have been my Dad's 54th birthday. Tomorrow marks five months since his death. My parent's anniversary (would have been 31) is also this month. I can't belive that it's been that long. So Happy Birthday to a great man.

Where did Saturday go?

2006-08-12T23:21:00.000-07:00

Tonight was our date night. We have a dating circle. We have two other couples that we swap kids with so we can go on dates without paying a babysitter. So of every four weekends two we get to go out for free (well, without paying a babysitter) and one we babysit five other kids. The fourth night we all get babysitters and go out together.

So we dropped off the kids and went to Henderson to pick up some camping stuff for next week (we're going camping at Lake Tahoe). Then we went to Carrabba's for dinner. Much better then Olive Garden or Macaroni Grill for sure. The service was excellent and the food was fabulous! We'll be going back.

I also went to the gym today (before the hot date). Seriously it feels so good. Plus the kids love the daycare so it makes it easier to go. I have no excuses now! Woo! I'm shocked at how good it feels though- I think I can get addicted. Monday morning I'm trying out a Pilates class. I'm excited and a little nervous about that. So far I've just been doing cardio followed by doing the weight machines. I'm feeling it for sure though.

Meme by Cori

2006-08-12T13:17:00.000-07:00

Cori got tagged for this meme by Howie over at Many Mundane Moments...

3 things that scare me:
*Annika picking me up by my neck
*Mom walking out the garage door without me
*being in any room by myself with the door shut

3 people who make me laugh:
*Ashley
*Megan
*Mommy (I like her best)

3 things I love:
*necklaces
*walking and carrying anything (and depositing htem in random places)
*people crawling and chasing me while growling

3 things I hate:
*getting anything taken away from me
*my mom leaving me for any reason
*being pushed down by Annika

3 things I don't understand:
*Why I can't reach things
*that it isn't okay to hit
*Why everyone else is so much bigger then me

3 things on my floor:
*Megan's sheets
*Megan's clothes
*some paper that Megan ripped up (can you tell who I share a room with?)

3 things I'm doing right now:
*sleeping
*Sucking my middle fingers
*dreaming about lunch

3 ways to describe my personality:
*giggly
*curious
*mellow

3 things you should listen to:
*me trying so hard to talk
*me laughing
*my frantic screaming when Annika tries to pick me up

3 things I want to do before I die (in other words, 3 things my mom wishes for me)
*To realize your dreams
*To love to learn
*To be a healthy, happy, functioning and successful adult

3 things I love to eat:
*String cheese
*candy
*smoothies

3 things I'd like to learn:
*how to get annika to leave me alone
*how to open doors
*how to put clothes on by myself

3 shows I watch:
*Baby Einstein (with my friend Sarah)
*Bear in the Big Blue House
*Chicken Little

3 babies I tag:
Eve at It's a Beautiful Morning
Finn at It's a Mad World
Birdie of The Mama

go me!

2006-08-12T00:06:00.000-07:00

I joined a gym. Woo! I've actually gone- double woo!

Darn it! I need a camera phone!

2006-08-07T20:47:00.000-07:00

Saturday while eating lunch at Subway a guy rode past on his Harley Davidson.... bicycle! Looked like a Harley- had saddlebags- he was decked out completely like he was on a motorcycle... as he peddled past. It was fabulous!

My first digital scrapbooking page!

2006-08-03T20:29:00.000-07:00

I did this today! I'm so excited. I'm sending it to Megan's cousin Audrey (They're like 6 weeks apart in age) with the text that is there- but I'm going to change the text and print it out for Megan's scrapbook. Fun huh?

(Click to see it bigger)

My phone just rang

2006-08-03T19:44:00.000-07:00

The caller?

Nevada Cops Ass.

fairy cake

2006-08-02T21:44:00.000-07:00

This was for my friend's little girl's birthday- it was fairy themed. Personally I love the mushrooms...
It was an ice cream cake. The green is all buttercream- everything else is fondant (hand molded).

Catching up.. a LONG post..

2006-07-30T17:06:00.000-07:00

Get comfy, grab some popcorn.

Ready?

Okay-

July 24th celebrates the day that the Mormon pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley after being kicked out of every other place they called home by angry mobs who either wanted their land, were afriad of their voting power or didn't like their religious beliefs. Utah at that time wasn't part of the United States (or even called Utah for that matter) and was a desert that didn't look habital. The the largest water source? The Great Salt Lake- which must have looked so refreshing and inviting from a distance, until it tasted like salt.

So we celebrate every year to remember the pioneers who walked across the plains of what is now the midwest of the United States- but at the time was 'The West' which was largely unexplored and dangerous.

So we had some friends over, ate Mexican food (because really what better way to remember the pioneers then by having a fiesta?
Apparently there is a table hierchy at our house- you've got to be female to sit at the table...
Or willing to eat your feet (isn't she so cute!!)

And what good is a fiesta without a pinata?? It's a covered wagon- which is how the pioneers carried their stuff to 'the west' while they walked (and walked and walked and walked).
Yes I made it myself....

Here is Steve helping Annika taking a swing..

This is possibly the cutest little boy ever isn't he? The only thing that makes him cuter??
He has a twin sister!! Seriously- so cute!

This is my best friends little girl Hannah showing off her loot. Seriously so much candy!! Kid heaven.

It was a great party. Tons of fun. If you want to know more about the Mormon Pioneers go here.

Then Tuesday Emily flew to San Diego to hang out with her husband while he was on a business trip. So I had her three kids and my four kids for two days. Really it wasn't that hard- I even took all seven of them to the park (with my mom). But they play well together and enjoy spending time together. When Emily came home they weren't ready to leave. Really? Does it get better then this? What a package!
Here are Sarah and Cori taking a bath after a particularly messy dinner. They're only like 2 weeks apart in age.

Last night we went on a triple date. Steve and I went out with Emily and Scott and Julie and Brad. We went to dinner at Red Robin and then went to Walmart and bought gifts for eachother. Sounds cheesy (and it is) but we had $3.50 per person and we split up into guys and girls and the two women who weren't married to the guy got to pick his gift and visa versa with the guys. We got some hysterical stuff (miracle grow hair stuff for the bald guy, some hideous 80's earrings for Emily, a three pack of 'baby boy' bibs for Steve (with the comment that they're expecting triplet boys in nine months- yes my friends hate me). It was really fun. Then we got ice cream at Coldstone. I should have known something wasn't right when I really didn't feel like eating ice cream- by the time we got home and found that Ashley had been throwing up I was joining her. That wasn't so fabulous.

Now it's Sunday evening and we've all taken a turn (except Cori) and my kids have spent the day watching videos (I think they've watched Chicken Little at least three times) and I slept until 2:30pm. Just as I was wakingup Steve was going to bed because he was getting it. Being sick sucks- but even worse when everyone takes a turn. The girls are currently eating dinner made by Ashley (mac and cheese) so I think they're feeling better- but the whining? It's not stopped.

So if you're still with me you deserve a cookie. Good job.

Where have I been?

2006-07-27T17:55:00.000-07:00

Um, I've been using spare computer time hunting down pictures of goodies and working on my other blog. I'll be back soon with pictures of pioneer day fun, my pinata, kids with their feet in their mouths, and me with seven kids seven and under at the park... it's been a busy week.

New things...

2006-07-17T23:38:00.000-07:00

I've got a new hair cut...And a new table...
Doesn't it look nice?? I'm getting a couple benches to replace the folding chairs with so it won't look quite so tacky... Plus I'll be able to fit 3 kids to a bench- so we can have 4 adults and 6 kids sit at the table.

My life...

2006-07-17T23:31:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I walked into the kitchen and saw this... (entire box of ziploc bags)
Followed by this...See how cute her finger sucking is??
She's finally decided that walking is easier then crawling. She'll fall down and stand back up and keep walking rather then crawl from there. She's also venturing out into the house by herself. Which means I track her by following the empty tissue boxes, open cupboards and trail of destruction. Just what I need. At least she's cute right??

More bars in more places..

2006-07-16T22:59:00.000-07:00

That's what commercial these trees by my house remind me of every time I drive past them...

YAY!!

2006-07-13T23:27:00.000-07:00

So we set an attendance record! Wahoo!! We had 42 sisters at HPFE (enrichment)! Seriously it was awesome. Everyone I talked to was so excited and said that they'd never had this much fun at HPFE. I met several people that I didn't really know and got to know them (and will remember their names now) and had a great time. It really was minimal planning and minimal set up and clean up.

Since there were so many people it really wasn't possible to meet everyone- but people met just over half. I hadn't thought about people coming in late- but it's what made everything work. The late people offset it just enough so that by the time you got to the person you started with you skipped them and went to the next person- so it was perfect!

Also the girl that talked at the beginning said just what needed to be said about meeting people and putting yourself out there to make friends. It was perfect. I'm thrilled with the results. I was really worried that not too many people would come- I'm glad that we got as many out as we did. YAY!!

Sorry I'm a slacker..

2006-07-13T13:32:00.000-07:00

I'm busy okay! Well, at least that's what I tell Steve. I've offically recieved a calling in my new ward. I'm the Enrichment leader in Relief Society. For those of you who aren't LDS (Mormon) I'll translate... Enrichment (short for Home, Personal and Family Enrichment Meeting) is held quarterly and is a "meeting" mostly for socialization of the Relief Society (Women's organization in our church ages 18+) and for spiritual growth and learning new skills... So my job is to set up these quarterly Enrichment meetings and then also set up smaller 'interest groups' for the women in the ward (our church congregation). Confused yet?

So since our ward is new our first Enrichment meeting is going to be for getting to know eachother. There are lots of new people and it was so large before that it was had to get to know people. Anyway, I'm doing 'speed get to know you' set up like speed dating. Basically you spend 3 minutes with each woman and get to put names and faces together and get to know them a little bit. When you find out where they live in relation to you, and how many kids and what ages you can say, 'we should get our kids together' or 'we should have you over for dinner' and make some new friends! I'm excited- it should be fun.

Here is the problem though... (there's always a problem isn't there??) I have long tables set up with chairs and thought if everyone just rotated then eventually everyone would meet. But it doesn't work- if everyone is numbered then all the even numbers just meet odd numbers- and all the odd numbers just meet even numbers. So you only meet half the people in the room. With speed dating that is great- because if you're a woman you're only there to meet the men! But it doesn't work if you want to meet everyone. I've tried and tried to figure it out- but I've not been able to- any suggestions?

Happy 4th of July (a little late)

2006-07-07T23:26:00.000-07:00

I love the 4th of July. I LOVE fireworks. Not the little dinky ones you buy at the stands on the side of the road- but the huge professional shows. The bigger the better. I love the BBQ's, the summer food and fun and the casualness of it. There aren't gifts to buy or to expect- no pretensions.

We went to a big fireworks show put on by our city on the 3rd. It was at a park not far from our house so we picked up dinner and headed down there. They were supposed to have a large 'mountain' of snow for kids to play in but apparently there was an ice shortage? Yeah, so no snow- to make up for it they had bouncers with a line a mile long. So we skipped that. Megan saw a popsicle stand and wanted to get a popsicle but we wanted to find the snow first. When we found a place to sit down Megan and I went back to get popsicles. The lady said they were out and I told Megan and she made the most pathetic sad face I've ever seen. Apparently the saddest that the lady had ever seen either since she 'found' the last three and gave them to us. Apparently they weren't even selling them- the city was giving them away. If we'd known that before we'd have gotten some sooner!

Here is Megan enjoying her popsicle:

Here is Cori clapping and dancing to the live band. She LOVED it.
Here is Annika enjoying her popsicle:
Megan being shy:
I didn't forget that I've got another kid- but she's spending the week in AZ with her cousin. My Mom went down to watch my sister's kids while she went to girl's camp with the ward (as a leader). So Ashley got to go with her. She's having a blast- but she called today and was feeling homesick. She's coming home tomorrow though.

On the 4th we spent it with my NBF's family and some other families BBQing and playing games. We had a blast and stayed until the wee hours of the morning. We've decided that we need to do an all night BBQ once a month it was so much fun.

So I got all crafty last week...

2006-07-07T23:22:00.000-07:00

and made cards... apparently it's the thing to do? I got together with a couple friends and we put some together. It was fun (but really I'll do anything for a little bit of adult conversation). Here is the finished project: They say 'enjoy' on the front.

A little contest...

2006-07-05T23:27:00.000-07:00

I'm looking for a name for this cake. It's six layers of moist chocolate cake brushed with melted chocolate before frosting and topped with dark chocolate gnache and chocolate curls. YUM! So what would be a good name?

The Week in Review

2006-07-02T23:18:00.000-07:00

I live in Las Vegas. Now it's the end of June and *Newsflash* it's hot in Las Vegas at the end of June. Now don't take this as complaining- it's not- I'll trade 115 degrees for a couple months over snow any day. Especially when snow play means long underwear, three pairs of socks (a person), coats, hats, mittens and on and on and on and brr! While summer play means swimsuits, spray on sunscreen and water. I'll take that anyday. We just play at the water playgrounds...

Swimming..

Megan didn't want her picture taken.
My NBF's baby (isn't she cute?)

Summer also means summer haircuts. This is Megan (W- not our Megan), Ashley and Hannah after I cut all there hair. I LOVE Ashley's hair short. It's a good length for her and always looks nice- I'm glad she decided to stop trying to grow it out.
Meanwhile Cori is learning how to walk. She loves walking in the pool. My inlaws have a shallow part in their pool and with the floaty Cori was cruising. It was so cute!! I'm apparently not smart enough to figure out how to load just one video so there are some others there too- several of her practicing walking from daddy to mommy, annika wanting in on the action, and cori playing peek-a-boo with the camera.

My Recent Shots

Random Reviews

2006-06-27T00:32:00.000-07:00

Mozilla Firefox- Such a better browser then Internet Explorer. My favorite part? You can open websites in tabs. So I can have 20 sites open at the same time and just click from tab to tab at the top of the window. I'm not explaining it as cool as it really is. But you can download it here for free. Also- you can open favorites in tabs as well. Makes browsing favorite blogs fast and easy. Check it out (it'll also let you import your favorites from IE). Really, really check it out though. Did you do it yet? GO NOW!

Coppertone no rub sunscreen- Seriously the best stuff ever. Here we have to sunscreen for every event that we'll be outside more then 10 minutes- and with four kids it's a lot of work and time to rub them all down. This stuff is SO fast. It's also effective. I still do lotion on their faces but yesterday at the park I started to sunscreen up my three girls (the baby was sleeping) the same time as my friend did her one. By the time I finished she was just finishing up his back and shoulders and still had to do everything else. Worth every penny.

Dyson- I love mine. Seriously LOVE. Not sure if I've shared that before. Works wonders- also it's fun to see how much crap it picks up...

My mom- I know she's not really a product- but having her live close is so nice. I'm worried she's going to think less of me now that she sees how dirty my house can get and how obnoxious my kids can be. It's fun to have her to hang out with and to have her be a part of my kids daily lives.

My NBF (new best friend) Emily- As long as I'm commenting on people... Seriously she's awesome. She's so fun to hang out with and talk to and doesn't judge me for my dirty house or messy/mean/peeing constantly kids. The best part? Her girls and my girls play so well together. It's fab. She's also cool to just hang out constantly- which I love.

This site- I'm seriously loving the political comedy and irreverant humor...

I'm a good friend... but not really- an open letter to Sabra

2006-06-26T14:30:00.000-07:00

Dear Sabra,
I know that when you called me and asked if I would store 'something' for you that I said it wouldn't be a problem. I didn't really think that it would be. But well, I'm really not that good of a friend. It's now a problem. You see, when the 'something' was delivered my kids played with it- for an hour- nicely. This doesn't happen often at our house. So I'm sorry, you can't have it. Then I started playing with it. I never knew that 'boy toys' could be so much fun. We don't have much experience with trains- but I think we're in love....I don't think that my girls play with the trains the same way that boys would though. Their favorite part? The 'train wash' and the 'round house' where they can put the trains to bed. Building tracks? eh. Bridges? eh. Abandoned mines? Not so much. But K will find his new trains nice and clean.. and well rested. Also, you'll be happy to know that there are 'twin trains' and 'mommy trains' and 'daddy trains'. Also, a little green one? Annika's favorite, it's the 'baby train'.

So anyway, don't worry about coming down. I know you want to see us and stuff- but we'll be busy- playing trains- and you can't have them!

Another cake, another old man

2006-06-26T14:10:00.000-07:00

Here is the cake I did this weekend. I guess that 30 is the 'making fun of getting old' birthday. There were sayings around all the corners of the cake. It is all butter cream.

MIA

2006-06-23T20:41:00.000-07:00

I got 'swimmer's ear' (massive painful ear infection) that has seriously killed me this week. Not helping was getting a crown prep for the root canal I got a couple weeks ago. So I've been on drugs and out of it most of the week. Sorry for my absence. I'll be caking it up tonight and tomorrow morning and will be back for show and tell tomorrow night.