Summer 2011

Yes, I know summer isn't technically over until later this month, but I can smell fall in the air. We've had a very fun summer and I'm sad to see it go. It was also very eventful: Evie lost part of her tooth and gained a scar on her forehead, I lost most of my hair in a drastic new cut, Regis started business school, and Abby has started joy school and grown like a weed. This fall promises to be busy, and probably stressful, as Regis comes to grips with his future and I come to grips with a student budget. Overall, though, it's getting better and better all the time.

Snuggle Bugs

My baby, who is now 2 years old, fell asleep on my shoulder as I rocked her today. I LOVE it when that happens, in large part because it's such a novelty. She has never been much of one for snuggling, so I try to make the most of it when she does. Evie is such an adventurous little thing. She's chipped her front tooth twice (the same tooth!), had a heavy chair fall on her face, toppled off the back of the rocking chair, and all before her second birthday. But I admire her strong will and determination, even though it frustrates me frequently. It's a constant struggle to teach and discipline her, putting her in the right path without breaking her spirit. Does it sound to anyone else like she's a teenager already? Maybe that's why my own mom used to pull teenage me onto her lap, when I felt like I must be squashing her. I guess I'll never grow out of wanting my baby on my lap.

Short Cuts

I was in Salt Lake City the other day and took a short cut that I wasn't familiar with. This is the result.





Choppity chop! This is something I've been wanting to do for a long time, and I am having SO MUCH FUN with it. I drove up to Salt Lake to put myself in the hands of my cousin Ashley. We had a great time, and I'm just delighted with the result. I don't know how long I'll keep it (tee hee) this short.

Double Trouble

My car is now the proud repository of two coordinating pink carseats. Evie has graduated to a forward-facing seat in anticipation of several long car trips this summer. Regis hopes (I fear vainly) that facing forward will make her a pleasanter travelling companion. We shall see.

What Is This?

Anyone know what this is?



Let's hear some guesses.



It is, in fact, the baby wipe with which I wiped Evie's face.



Why is it so colorful? What was she eating?



Skittles?



M&M's?



Gobstoppers?



No. Magic Marker. Yes folks, she was sticking capless markers into her mouth and sucking on them. I found her with the brown. How many other colors do you see there?



Kids are SO gross.

Trip to Texas

In my continuing quest to escape the cold frozen wastes of Utah, we went to visit my sister and her family in Texas last month. Before we left, Amber warned us that the forecast was for "cold" weather--maybe even down to 40 degrees! We quivered in fear. Thankfully, the weather was extremely pleasant the whole time we were there, to me anyway. :) We took advantage of it and played at the beach in Galveston. Since it was the off season, the beach was nearly deserted, but still plenty warm enough for us all to enjoy ourselves.



We also visited the San Jacinto Monument, and the Battleship Texas.


One of my favorite parts was visiting the police horses to feed them carrots, apples, and peppermints. There was even a horse named Abby! I haven't spent a lot of time around horses, and I was surprised at how much personality they have.


My perception may have been skewed because I was sick, but I was disappointed in the Houston rodeo. The smaller rodeos I've been to here are more fun. I wish we'd arrived earlier and had more time at the livestock show before the event, but none of us were thrilled by the Clay Walker concert, which is what really filled the rodeo arena.

We also made it to the Houston Zoo, which is enormous. I really liked the interactive exhibits, like these drums, and we all had a good laugh about the "Feed the Giraffes" opportunity: I think it was $5 for 3 pieces of lettuce.
All the excursions while we were in Texas were lots of fun, but a lot of the time we just spent relaxing at Amber and Steven's house while the girls played together. Abby and Olivia liked playing together, anyway. It will be a few months yet before Evie and Carmen are ready to enjoy each other's company. It was a really great trip, and I'm glad we got to hang out with Amber and Steven again. I'd say Texas and the Houston area in particular are definitely on our list of places we could enjoy living in.

Dropping the Ball, or Goodbye 2010

I think I'm obligated to write a wrap-up post, now that 2010 has ended. This year has brought a lot of changes, of course, but nothing especially drastic.


Evie has learned to crawl and then to walk. She is very strong-minded and determined, which I often find incredibly frustrating. My mother says this is because she's so much like me. She loves reading books, pulling the lids off markers, pouring liquid from one container to another, and taking baths. She loves to touch snow, but not to play in it. She always wants to learn how to do things herself. Evie and Abby are very fond of each other and can often be found jumping on Abby's bed together or cooperating in spreading their toys all over their room.


Abby has really enjoyed her dance class this year, and so have I. Less comprehensible to me has been her sudden love of all things princess-y. She now declines to wear pants any day of the week, insisting on dresses and skirts. I sometimes have to battle her to put on socks, tights, or leggings underneath, even when it is freezing cold outside. She loves to dance around the living room to "princess music" (we have divergent opinions on what that means) and has a very funny expression that she considers her "princess face." Abby was delighted to gain a new aunt this year when my younger brother married, and we have all enjoyed having Court and Lisa over.

I really got into knitting last year, finishing a sweater vest, three pairs of socks, a hand-holding mitten set, and various other small projects. I also, at the very close of the year, was introduced to spinning yarn on a spindle, and I'm looking forward to developing that skill this year. My other accomplishments included running a 5K, embracing the wave in my hair, lighting my first fireworks, and doing a ridiculous amount of reorganizing.


Regis has worked a lot this year. He has been promoted twice (He wouldn't call it that, but that's what it is.) and is learning a lot about managing employees, and business in general. He has enjoyed our vacations to Logan, California, Denver, and other places, and hopes the new year will hold more fun trips.

Here's to 2010.

Christmas 2010

Oh hey, look, it's a new year! So let me tell you about Christmas. It was definitely a good Christmas. We got to see Grandma and Grandpa, and were delighted to see Regis' brother's family who have been in Ecuador. We all got some great loot and had tons of fun playing a dance game on the Wii. (In case you're curious, I rocked everybody's socks. Multiple times.)



As you can see, Abby enjoyed her visit with Santa (although I was disgusted when he asked her if she wanted a Barbie for Christmas. Yes, I know, she's ubiquitous, but that's all the more reason to branch out, Santa. Abby doesn't even know who Barbie is, frankly). Evie declined to sit on his lap, but magnanimously accepted a candy cane.

Christmas is a wonderful time of year. I'm grateful for all my family members, including my Savior, Jesus Christ.

Turkey Day Trip

We went to Colorado to visit my brother's family for Thanksgiving, and boy did we have fun!
I'm pretty sure Abby wanted to stay in Colorado forever.
We had tons of fun just hanging out with the family,
but we also enjoyed visiting the Denver Children's Museum and the Garden of the Gods.

Thanksgiving dinner was absolutely delicious--I'm determined to brine my next turkey, because of how moist and tasty theirs was. Thanks again, Glenn and Julie. We love you!

Spinnaroni Penne

This is a blend of a dish from my Australia The Beautiful Cookbook (which I love for the vagary of its adjective) and a sauce from Our Best Bites. It's yummy and gooey and crispy on top, AND it has spinach which practically makes it a health food. Except that the spinach is . . . well, you'll see. My favorite thing about this meal is this: as we were eating, I mentioned that I was going to blog about the recipe, and asked, "What should we call this dish?" Abby responded, "The Little Mouse!"

Spinnaroni Penne
or, The Little Mouse

Sauce:
2 C low-fat milk
1/3 C (3 oz) low fat cream cheese
Okay, before we go any further, I have to confess: this is called "Guiltless Alfredo Sauce," but in my copy the less is crossed out and a y substituted, because I use whole milk and regular cream cheese. It's delicious. Don't judge me [hi Heidi!])
2 T flour
1 t salt
1 T butter
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 C grated Parmesan cheese

Toss milk, cream cheese, flour, and salt in a blender and process until smooth.
In a non-stick saucepan, melt better on medium-high heat and add garlic. Saute for 30 seconds, add milk mixture. Stir constantly until it simmers, about 3 to 4 minutes. Keep stirring until it thickens considerably, about 5 minutes. Remove pan from heat, stir in cheese, and cover immediately. Let stand 10 minutes or more before serving.

Pasta:
5 oz pepperoni, cut into julienne (this is the stick, not the pre-sliced)
1 bunch carefully rinsed or pre-washed bag spinach, coarsely chopped
1/2 lb penne
1 1/3 C panko (or you can use regular breadcrumbs and saute them in butter for 3 minutes)

Directions:
Make sauce. Preheat oven to 350 F and butter a 2 qt baking dish.
In a frying pan over medium heat, saute the pepperoni until nicely browned, about 7 minutes. Remove to paper towels with a slotted spoon. Saute spinach in pepperoni drippings until wilted, about 5 minutes. Combine drained pepperoni and wilted spinach.
Cook pasta to al dente according to package directions. Drain well.
Fold 3/4 of sauce into penne. Layer half the penne into buttered baking dish and top with spinach mixture. Scatter remaining penne evenly over the top and spoon on remaining sauce. Sprinkle breadcrumbs over the top.
Bake in oven until hot and bubbling, 20-25 minutes. Serve immediately.

Sock It To Ya

These are my socks that I knitted myself, with some hand-painted yarn that I got for my birthday. I love that they don't match.

 

 

 

 

The pattern is called "Labyrinth" and the yarn named "Indian Corn," so I got a big chuckle out of the fact that I called this project "Maze." Y'know, like maze the puzzle and maize? HAHA! Ha. It was funnier in my mind.

Goody!

Good news: I used up my weekly allotment of DUMB in one fell swoop today by emptying a cup of peppercorns into the dishwasher. All my actions for the rest of this week should be characterized by extreme forethought and intelligence.

Regulate, Formalize, Educate

I've displayed Abby's spectacular dancing on this blog before. While she already has a great style of her own, I thought it would be good to introduce her to a little more formal type of dancing, so we enrolled her in a ballet class. It's been a great source of exercise and very therapeutic: I belly laughed so much the first class that my gut was sore the next couple of days. Watching a bunch of 3-year-olds galumph, stumble, and blank-stare their way through a 45-minute class definitely raises my spirits.




And actually, if watching your child try to master the arabesque and plie appeals to you, it's your lucky vague time period: Studio K Dance Academy has openings available for 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, and 10 year old kids. You can find the details in that link to their blog. We've only been twice so far, but I think it's a great value and lots of fun. They mention on the blog that it is a very low pressure studio, which I can vouch for as far as Abby's class goes. We'd love to see you there!

Feeling Corny

Abby and Evie are both happily following in their father's footsteps by devouring corn at every opportunity. We thought it was really cute that Evie could hold her own corn. And she may have done a better job of clearing off the cob than Abby did.

Right on Target

A few minutes ago, I finished a stressful shopping trip to Target with the girls. I turned from tussling the girls into the car to see an SUV with SERENITY printed on the back window, and experienced my first adult brush with hysterical laughter.

Treats

This is why I believe heaven will smell like lime and toasted coconut.

Happy Tails to You

I think family trends are quite amusing. My sister just blogged about her daughter saying Mommy (in a sentence), and my brother-in-law just posted about his daughter's pony tails. So I'm just trying to keep up with the Gotbergs and Browns.

Mom Mom bo-bomb

Evie said "Mom" for the first time today. I was SOOO excited. For weeks I've been saying "No, I'm Mommy" when she grabs me and reaches out her arms to be picked up, crying "Daadaa!" Looks like it's finally sinking in.

Preparation

A natural disaster hit our condo!

But don't worry. We survived.

Actually, the Sunday before last, our bishop spoke about emergency preparation, and at the end of his presentation, declared a preparedness practice: we were not to shop for the next three days, not put gas in the car, and try to use as little electricity as possible. I imagine it was a little more exciting for some of our ward members, but we always do our grocery shopping for the week on Friday or Saturday anyway. The only thing we didn't have enough of was: TOILET PAPER. It was kind of funny, because Sunday morning I mentioned to Regis that I would absolutely positively have to be sure and go to the store on Monday, because we only had THREE rolls left. So of course . . . no shopping for you! My sweet visiting teacher called Monday and asked if there was anything I needed, and very kindly brought us a few more rolls. As it turned out, we would have made it to Wednesday afternoon on our own (is that too much information?) but it was nice to have that security. :)

So now we've gotten really focussed on our food storage and 72-hour kit. Having kids reeeeally increases the amount of stuff you need, even in an emergency. But we're having a good time pricing cans of freeze dried fruit and canned bacon (I'm told it's quite tasty!). Now we just need to figure out where to put it.

Mooooo-what?

My second child has just weaned herself, just like the first child did. I'm delighted this time. I had a really hard time when Abby decided she was done--I felt rejected. Evie is about the same age as Abby was, but I think it's easier this time because she'd already cut way back on the amount and number of times she was nursing. Now if I could just get her to drink cow milk . . .