We found this idea on one of my hair blogs listed. It is so fun to do. It looks so pretty and fancy. It just takes about 20 little rubber bands and 15 minutes. Mallory was going to her ballet class. She looked like a little ballerinaSaturday, August 29, 2009
Ballet Hair Do
We found this idea on one of my hair blogs listed. It is so fun to do. It looks so pretty and fancy. It just takes about 20 little rubber bands and 15 minutes. Mallory was going to her ballet class. She looked like a little ballerinaMonday, August 17, 2009
Our New Home
I finally remembered to take some pictures of our new house. So here they are.
It is a 1 story house, which is so fabulous. It has been years and years that we have had to deal with kids and stairs. I am loving it! It is the biggest place that we have live, so it is fun to have some breathing space. (But small to all you Utah basement lovers)
I didn't even know it was on a corner lot when I was looking. Kinda nice though. We have a huge yard, but we wouldn't know that now. It is way to hot to notice. In a few more months we will love it.
The kitchen is a bit quirky. The table is on the other side of the high bar...yes over carpet. But we are enjoying the set up so far. There is a big laundry room and pantry there you can see. Just love having a laundry room that does not double as a walk way from the garage. You can see I haven't put much away or hung stuff yet. It is still kinda clutterd. I love the top of Jillian's head.
Here is our table...we were having the missionaries over for an indoor picnic. (Love my new red Longaberger plates. Happy birthday, anniversary, mothers day, to me from me!)
Here is our view. This area is still being developed, so there is not much around us...just sand. It will be nice not to worry about many cars when it gets nice and the girls ride there bikes.
And our backyard...sand and more sand. Who needs a sand box? It is actually a really big back yard. We always manage to find houses with really big yards, just no grass. Kinda funny. The girls will still play though.
It is a 1 story house, which is so fabulous. It has been years and years that we have had to deal with kids and stairs. I am loving it! It is the biggest place that we have live, so it is fun to have some breathing space. (But small to all you Utah basement lovers)
I didn't even know it was on a corner lot when I was looking. Kinda nice though. We have a huge yard, but we wouldn't know that now. It is way to hot to notice. In a few more months we will love it.
The kitchen is a bit quirky. The table is on the other side of the high bar...yes over carpet. But we are enjoying the set up so far. There is a big laundry room and pantry there you can see. Just love having a laundry room that does not double as a walk way from the garage. You can see I haven't put much away or hung stuff yet. It is still kinda clutterd. I love the top of Jillian's head.
Here is our table...we were having the missionaries over for an indoor picnic. (Love my new red Longaberger plates. Happy birthday, anniversary, mothers day, to me from me!)
Here is our view. This area is still being developed, so there is not much around us...just sand. It will be nice not to worry about many cars when it gets nice and the girls ride there bikes.
And our backyard...sand and more sand. Who needs a sand box? It is actually a really big back yard. We always manage to find houses with really big yards, just no grass. Kinda funny. The girls will still play though.Thursday, August 13, 2009
3rd Grade...Here we come!
Much to her dismay, Mallory started school this week. I hate when she goes back to school. She is (usually) very pleasant and fun to have hanging around the house telling me that she is bored, listening to Jillian blame every tiny little thing on her. Sorry little Mallory! Since it is too hot to do much, she might as well be in school learning. She has learned a lot on the piano this summer though!
This picture is actually her 2nd day of school. I thought she looked cute in her ($30) jumper!
This is her first day of school, and yes, it is a uniform dress code. At first I was NOT thrilled, but now I really like it. They are just really really expensive. I spent $100 on these 2 outfits. YIKES is right. I don't even spend that much on my clothes.
Since the public schools here are rated almost last for this lovely state, I put her name on a waiting list for a Charter School, which is rated much better. We got a call after the first few days of school letting us know that she got in. So we did not have much time to prepare for the first early morning. We were thinking we were going to have this whole week to play and get ready for school (regular school starts a week later than this one). We had 1 afternoon to get ready. So it has been a SUPER CRAZY week. We have gone from sleeping in to waking up before 7 AM!! It takes me about an hour to get her to school (and back again), but should be a bit quicker when I can just drop her off. So now more than ever I am LONGING for Tucson. I did not realize how lucky I was there. I had a bus, with the nicest driver ever, pick Mallory up at the end of our street, at 8:45. Funny at the time I complained about that being early and about our street being too long. What was I thinking?? I must stop complaining all together. Mallory has done great her first few days, and I have found a few more "school approved clothes" for a bit cheaper.
This picture is actually her 2nd day of school. I thought she looked cute in her ($30) jumper!
This is her first day of school, and yes, it is a uniform dress code. At first I was NOT thrilled, but now I really like it. They are just really really expensive. I spent $100 on these 2 outfits. YIKES is right. I don't even spend that much on my clothes.
Since the public schools here are rated almost last for this lovely state, I put her name on a waiting list for a Charter School, which is rated much better. We got a call after the first few days of school letting us know that she got in. So we did not have much time to prepare for the first early morning. We were thinking we were going to have this whole week to play and get ready for school (regular school starts a week later than this one). We had 1 afternoon to get ready. So it has been a SUPER CRAZY week. We have gone from sleeping in to waking up before 7 AM!! It takes me about an hour to get her to school (and back again), but should be a bit quicker when I can just drop her off. So now more than ever I am LONGING for Tucson. I did not realize how lucky I was there. I had a bus, with the nicest driver ever, pick Mallory up at the end of our street, at 8:45. Funny at the time I complained about that being early and about our street being too long. What was I thinking?? I must stop complaining all together. Mallory has done great her first few days, and I have found a few more "school approved clothes" for a bit cheaper.So, I am crossing my fingers that maybe, just maybe, the stars might be alinged for Mallory this year to only have to attend 1...that is ONE school for the ENTIRE 3rd grade. She has changed schools every year so far. I think that is border line child abuse. What is even funnier is that I could see us staying here, in this FANTASTIC PLACE, long enough for her to finish elementary school. JUST MY LUCK!!!
(and that is NOT comlpaining, honest)
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
My little Buddy!
Is already 11 months old!! I know every month I write that I just can't believe that he is that old...but I really can't believe that next month my little newborn baby is going to be 1. HELLO!!! Where did that go???
I broke down and bought a LAME high chair. I hate high chairs, but he needs one so so bad. I had a booster with Jillian and HATED it. He loves it and that is all that matters. He would sit in it all day and eat if I let him. He is a little garbage disposal for sure. He is still loving the mushy baby food, which is good. He loves to eat rice, beans, bananas, pancakes, and his new favorite is mandarin oranges. Too bad we have carpet under our dinner table and his high chair. I guess it is not our fault some idiot designed it that way. (It had to be a single guy who doesn't know anything about kids, or husbands!)
This last month has been a whirlwind. The biggest event was Logan getting his little twiner back...his Daddy. We were so excited to pick him up from the airport. Michael and I couldn't wait to see how Logan would react to his Daddy coming back into his life. He kinda just stared at him for awhile. Then when Michael hugged me he had a look like, who is this guy hugging my mommy. He has warmed up to Michael. Logan is a guys boy. He loves to play with the big boys. It is cute. He loves when his older boy cousins come over and play with him too. (It is so much fun living by Michael's brother). It has been sad leaving my parents too. Logan and Papa are best buddies and he misses him terribly. I think Papa would hold Logan more than I would. WE NEED YOU BACK PAPA!!!
I broke down and bought a LAME high chair. I hate high chairs, but he needs one so so bad. I had a booster with Jillian and HATED it. He loves it and that is all that matters. He would sit in it all day and eat if I let him. He is a little garbage disposal for sure. He is still loving the mushy baby food, which is good. He loves to eat rice, beans, bananas, pancakes, and his new favorite is mandarin oranges. Too bad we have carpet under our dinner table and his high chair. I guess it is not our fault some idiot designed it that way. (It had to be a single guy who doesn't know anything about kids, or husbands!)
This last month has been a whirlwind. The biggest event was Logan getting his little twiner back...his Daddy. We were so excited to pick him up from the airport. Michael and I couldn't wait to see how Logan would react to his Daddy coming back into his life. He kinda just stared at him for awhile. Then when Michael hugged me he had a look like, who is this guy hugging my mommy. He has warmed up to Michael. Logan is a guys boy. He loves to play with the big boys. It is cute. He loves when his older boy cousins come over and play with him too. (It is so much fun living by Michael's brother). It has been sad leaving my parents too. Logan and Papa are best buddies and he misses him terribly. I think Papa would hold Logan more than I would. WE NEED YOU BACK PAPA!!!Logan has quit nursing altogether, totally against my will, but what am I to do. Over a month of cracking and bleeding was plenty enough for me to change my thoughts about gross formula, which is so dang expensive, especially the way Logan drinks. He is gonna drink us out of our house! He has started sleeping better which is fabulous. He was waking up and drinking 3 bottles at night. All I did was wash bottles and make formula. Kinda felt like a brand new mom up all night fixing bottles.
Logan gets cuter and cuter everyday. He also gets madder and madder everyday because he cannot crawl yet. That is right...NO movement. He is learning to pull himself half way up and then gets stuck and falls over. I guess the later the better. I need to get things off the floor before he starts getting into everything. That will be fun!
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Coconut Cupcakes
They are the BEST EVER!!!
1 3/4 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup packed sweetened shredded coconut
2 large whole eggs plus 2 egg whites, room temp.
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup unsweetened coconut milk
Whisk together flour, powder, salt. Pulse shredded coconut in food processor until finely ground, and whisk into flour mixture.
Cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Gradually beat in whole eggs, whites, and vanilla. Reduce speed and add flour mixture in 3 batches alternating with 2 additions of coconut milk and beating until combine after each.
Divide batter among lined cups. Rotate while baking half way through. 20 minutes on 350
Frost with favorite frosting.
(Martha makes hers with her 7 minute frosting adding coconut extract. I don't like that kind of frosting. You can probably find it on her site. I would do a yummy butter cream or a cream cheese. I would put coconut extract in. I made it with a ganache glaze. It was good too.
These cupcakes were so coconutty and delicious. I actually liked them plain too. Just make sure you beat the butter and sugar really good to make a light and fluffy batter. Yummy!
More cupcakes to be posted!
1 3/4 cups flour2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup packed sweetened shredded coconut
3/4 cup butter, room temp.
1 1/3 cups sugar2 large whole eggs plus 2 egg whites, room temp.
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup unsweetened coconut milk
Whisk together flour, powder, salt. Pulse shredded coconut in food processor until finely ground, and whisk into flour mixture.
Cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Gradually beat in whole eggs, whites, and vanilla. Reduce speed and add flour mixture in 3 batches alternating with 2 additions of coconut milk and beating until combine after each.
Divide batter among lined cups. Rotate while baking half way through. 20 minutes on 350
Frost with favorite frosting.
(Martha makes hers with her 7 minute frosting adding coconut extract. I don't like that kind of frosting. You can probably find it on her site. I would do a yummy butter cream or a cream cheese. I would put coconut extract in. I made it with a ganache glaze. It was good too.
These cupcakes were so coconutty and delicious. I actually liked them plain too. Just make sure you beat the butter and sugar really good to make a light and fluffy batter. Yummy!
More cupcakes to be posted!
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
10th Anniversary
WOW!!! It has been 10 years since that freakishly cold day in the middle of the summer when we got married. These pictures make me laugh. We both look so young. We had an awesome wedding day and I just cannot believe it has been 10 years. These pictures are from someones non-digital camera. I didn't want to dismantle my nice wedding album to scan some pics in. I remember the Temple was under construction when we got married so we didn't get the perfect temple picture. However, all the clouds made for great lighting. It makes me sad to look at these pictures...I hate getting older and having time fly by, and my babies become big kids. Just HATE that!We have had such good times, times that we will always remember. We have moved 8 times, have had 3 kids, 7 different jobs, both graduated from USU, purchased 2 homes, and have been apart for over a years time (15 months to be exact, not counting all my California getaways). What a whirlwind life has been. We are for sure busy, but life is so good. When we thought about where our life would be in 10 years....I don't think "here" (here is for the place we live) is where I imagined it, but everything is. I am SO not a sappy person (thanks to the parents) so I will not go on and on about my love for Michael. (That does not mean I don't love him any less). I am amazed at what all we have been through and am so excited for all that we still get to go through together. So Happy 10th! Where is my trip to Hawaii??? or my Ruby that I totally want??? I guess I will settle for a really hot day inside taking care of crazy kids and heating up leftovers for dinner!(At least they are good leftovers) What a life!!
We really need to have a make up celebration day. Maybe San Diego on the weekend! Sounds good to me.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
San Diego
I finally got around to uploading some pictures to my computer so I could blog. This was in San Diego a couple weeks ago. My mom flew out of here so we drove her down to the airport. The beach is so beautiful. I am thinking we may go back next weekend before Michael leaves for training. 
Michael was happy to have his little baby boy back. The twins missed each other!
Logan loved the water.
This was actually when we were driving to move. We stopped in San Diego to get some yummy food at OTMC (Old Town Mexican Cafe) It is the best. I would say maybe better than our favorite, Molinitos in Tucson (Oh how I miss that)
Logan loved jammin' to the Mariachi band. He is becoming quite the partier.
Michael was happy to have his little baby boy back. The twins missed each other!
Logan loved the water.
This was actually when we were driving to move. We stopped in San Diego to get some yummy food at OTMC (Old Town Mexican Cafe) It is the best. I would say maybe better than our favorite, Molinitos in Tucson (Oh how I miss that)Logan loved jammin' to the Mariachi band. He is becoming quite the partier.