4 Girls and a Guy

It's Christmas!!

2011-12-25T11:00:00.000-07:00

We had a really wonderful Christmas this year!

We woke up Christmas morning and the girls were very excited to see that Santa had come!

They opened all their presents, and we had a special Christmas breakfast.

We went to church after presents, and Jason had to go to work :( the Christmas program at church was terrific, and afterwards, we headed over to my mom's house for MORE PRESENTS!

We had a really terrific prime rib dinner, and Jason was able to come over from work to eat with us. Merry Christmas!

Nutcracker Fun!

2011-12-20T10:49:00.001-07:00

At the dance studio where Lizzy and Rachel take ballet, they did a little holiday Nutcracker show! The girls had a lot of fun, and the dances were so cute!

The funny thing about this picture - my mom's name is Susan, and her fiancee is John!

Ward Christmas Party

2011-12-15T10:42:00.009-07:00

This year at our ward Christmas party, my family came and shared in the fun!

Here's grandpa ready to eat dinner!

My sister, Angela, and I played a violin and viola duet together!

Lizzy was so cute singing with the primary - she thought it was too loud! The leader told them to sing loud so Santa could hear them, and then Santa came out! Lizzy told Santa what she wanted for Christmas, but Rachel was too scared to do it. Later, Rachel was upset that Santa wouldn't know what she wanted, since she hadn't asked him for anything, so we wrote him a letter and sent it to the North Pole!

FIVE years old!

2011-11-14T20:05:00.000-07:00

My first baby Lizzy is five years old now! I can hardly believe it! A real "kid" age - no longer a toddler! She had a super fun birthday weekend. Her birthday was Sunday, and Saturday she had her piano recital, so we just had her family birthday party then, since her grandparents were coming up for the recital anyway.

Here's her Rapunzel birthday cake - with layers like a wedding cake, just as she requested!

She's excited to open her presents!

A cute dog that walks, barks, and pants from Grandma and Grandpa Gale - Lizzy loves it! Rachel is not so sure.

On Monday we gave her a Chuck-E-Cheese birthday party for her friends and cousins! She had a blast!

Lizzy with Chuck-E-Cheese

Lizzy and all her friends and cousins with Chuck-E-Cheese. Rachel and cousins Emeree, Dominique, and Chloe were too scared to go up there, so they're not in the picture!

Finally, Lizzy got to go in the "ticket blaster" and get tickets to cash in for a prize. She ended up with 650 tickets out of the blaster! She was a little scared to go in, but was brave and did it anyway!

First Piano Recital!

2011-11-12T19:42:00.000-07:00

Lizzy and Rachel had their first piano recital today! They've been taking Suzuki piano lessons; Lizzy for 8 months, and Rachel for 3 months. They were so cute!

The girls all dressed up for their big debut!

Waiting to play!

First Snow Day!

2011-11-05T19:09:00.004-06:00

The girls were thrilled to wake up this morning to see the yard full of snow for the first time this season! They immediately put on their snow gear and went out to play!

I don't know why, but kids in their snow gear always look so cute to me!

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T18:42:00.000-06:00

We had a really fun Halloween this year! We started on Saturday night. We went to Syracuse City's pumpkin walk. The kids really enjoyed seeing all the Jack-O-Lanterns. For some reason, the girls LOVE anything pineapple, so they were super excited to see a pineapple Jack-O-Lantern and also Minnie and Mickey Mouse. Lizzy was brave enough to get her picture taken with a Jedi Storm trooper, but Rachel wouldn't do it. She said, "I don't want to get a picture with the robot!" Then, today, our friend Celia came over with her 5 kids, and we made some fun treats and crafts! We made meringue ghosts and eyeballs, and chocolate pretzel spider candies, and the kids also made foam pumpkins and homemade crayons. Then we watched a Scooby Doo movie, and then... TRICK OR TREATING! Just one costume was not enough, so the girls wore Alice in Wonderland and Princess costumes during the day in the house, and then switched to nice warm cat costumes to go out trick or treating. It was such a fun day!

The favorite Pineapple pumpkin!

Minnie and Mickey Mouse!

Lizzy and the Storm Trooper - she actually knew these guys were Star Wars characters - which surprised me because she's never seen any of those movies!

Lizzy in her Alice in Wonderland costume!

All the girls dressed up!

Lizzy and Rachel show off their crafts: foam pumpkins and homemade giant leaf crayons.

In the warm cat costumes, ready to get some candy!

Lizzy's First Story

2011-10-31T11:57:00.000-06:00

I taught the girls a little nursery rhyme the other day, and Lizzy decided to write it down. So she sat at her little table and this is what she wrote:

1 2 3 4 5 I HAD COT A FESH U LIV
6 7 8 9 10 VAN I FRO HM BAC UGAN
OI DED U LAT HM GO
CUZ HE BT MI FEGR SO
WAT FEGR DIT E BIT
VEZ LEDL FEGR OVA RIT

Here's the actual rhyme:

1 2 3 4 5 Once I caught a fish alive
6 7 8 9 10 Then I let him go again
Why did you let him go?
Because he bit my finger so.
Which finger did he bite?
This little finger on the right.

Halloween Fun

2011-10-14T13:59:00.000-06:00

When I was little, my dad sewed this cat costume for me, and now it fits Lizzy!

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

2011-10-14T13:57:00.001-06:00

We celebrated my grandpa's 81st birthday this week! It was such a fun time! His daughter, my Aunt Brenda, flew into town to celebrate with us. I made a birthday dinner for him - BBQ baby back ribs, and a chocolate raspberry cake. We all had a lot of fun!

Rachel with Opa, showing him how she can add on her fingers.

Grandpa about to blow out his candles!

Me, cutting the cake.

Natalie and John.

Katrina, my mom, Rachel, and me and Natalie in the background.

6 Month Statistics

2011-10-03T16:39:00.000-06:00

It's always fun to go to the girls' appointments and see how they've grown! Natalie had her 6 month check-up today, and she is very healthy!

Natalie at 6 months: 14.3 lb, 26 in
Rachel at 6 months: 14.9 lb, 26 in
Lizzy at 6 months: 15.3 lb, 27 in

6 Months Old!

2011-09-27T16:29:00.001-06:00

I can hardly believe it - Natalie will be 6 months old on Thursday! She is getting so big! Her first 2 bottom teeth came in last week, and I can see the first 2 top teeth just under the gums! Also, for the first time yesterday, she was able to sit up on her own! She is so sweet, and such a good, happy baby! She loves her big sisters so much, and they really love her!

3 Girls Together!

2011-08-27T15:01:00.002-06:00

I was looking through my photos the other day and realized I had no picture with all 3 of my girls together! So I plopped them on the couch and took one!

Dresses!

2011-08-09T15:36:00.000-06:00

I made some cute "pillowcase" dresses for my girls, using a tutorial I found online! Cute!

4 Months Old!

2011-08-02T10:35:00.000-06:00

It's unbelievable to me - Natalie is 4 months old already! We had her 4 month check up, and she is healthy - tall and thin, like her sisters and dad (thank goodness!) Check out these pictures of Lizzy, Rachel, and Natalie all at 4 months...

Rachel at 4 months!

Natalie at 4 months!

Lizzy at 4 months!

Rachel's 3rd Birthday!

2011-07-26T09:16:00.001-06:00

Rachel had a really fun 3rd birthday! She helped me make her cake, chocolate with peanut butter frosting, decorated with, at her request, Snow White, the Prince, and all 7 Dwarves! It was a really hard picture to do, so it didn't turn out as well as ones I've done in the past, but it tasted good! I made homemade vanilla bean ice cream to go with the cake, too! We also had Papa Murphy's Hawaiian pizza for dinner (which she also requested) and grandparents came to eat with us. Rachel got lots of fun presents, and also got to watch "Tangled" with her grandparents, and then we did fireworks in the driveway!

Rachel's Sheet cake - had to make it big to fit all the stuff!

Rachel got lots of great presents!

Rachel in her new Snow White dress, holding her new Snow White doll and horse!

Basement!!

2011-07-22T16:19:00.000-06:00

We finished our basement, effectively doubling the size of our house! It's not decorated yet and we have minimal furniture, but it's so awesome!

During Construction - "Before"

This will be the kids' homework area. It's wired up for computers.

Our new sectional and entertainment center at one end of the family room.

The kids' playroom!

A guest bedroom.

The exercise room

Lizzy Plays Mary Had a Little Lamb

2011-07-15T13:15:00.001-06:00

Lizzy's been taking piano lessons for about 4 months now, and she's doing so great!

CSA Veggies!

2011-07-15T13:11:00.000-06:00

We got our first batch of CSA veggies last week, and the girls were totally thrilled to see fresh peas! They set right to work shelling them into a pan - it took them a good 45 minutes to shell them all! We ate them with dinner, and they were delicious!

4th of July!

2011-07-15T13:00:00.000-06:00

We had a really fun 4th of July this year! The girls and I drove up to Hyrum (near Logan) and went to Jason's sister's house. She lives right on main street, and so we can sit on her lawn for the Hyrum 4th of July parade! The girls loved seeing the "princesses" on their floats, and the cowgirls and cowboys on their horses. They also loved the candy that was thrown from the floats! Afterward, we had a BBQ with Jason's family. Typically, I forgot to bring our camera, and so there are no pictures!!! Darn it! When Jason got home from work that evening, we took the kids out on the driveway and did little fireworks and sparklers with them. We were also able to watch the neighbor's big fireworks, now that they are legal! It was lots of fun, and the girls thought it was great. It was especially cute to see Natalie - she LOVED the bright flashing fireworks that Jason set off in the driveway! I DID get pictures from that:

Lizzy's making a silly face!

Rachel's excited for the fireworks to begin!

Rachel with a sparkler!

Lizzy's writing shapes in the air with her sparkler!

A video of the kids watching one of the fireworks! I only got the littlest package, so they wouldn't be too scary. I remember not liking the 4th of July for many years when I was young, because it was too scary!

Some pictures!

2011-07-01T12:47:00.001-06:00

Mommy's "Birthday"

2011-07-01T12:46:00.000-06:00

My birthday is on December 27th, which is a really bad day to have a birthday. I didn't mind it when I was a kid, but that was before I had to do the Gale Family Christmas eve dinner on the 24th, Christmas breakfast with my own little family, then Christmas dinner with my mom and sisters on the 25th, followed by Day-after-Christmas with my dad and step-mom on the 26th, then at last my birthday on the 27th. It has become too much hauling kids around, eating rich food, cooking rich food, and cleaning up everything. So, for a couple of years, Jason and I have talked about celebrating my birthday on my half-birthday, June 27 instead. On June 26, he reminded me of that plan, and so last minute we decided to do it. We went out to the pie for pizza and I made creme brulee! It was really fun and so much more relaxing than celebrating it at the actual time. Jason and the kids got me a large bamboo butcher block cutting board, and an mp3 connector device so I can use my ipod in my minivan!

Lizzy's Ballet Recital

2011-06-09T09:56:00.000-06:00

Lizzy had her dance recital last night, dancing to Madonna's "Material Girl!" Cutest thing ever! The recital was very good - Davis Dance Academy does an excellent job, and there were many really amazing and talented dancers, and lots of excellent and interesting choreography. 1000 times better production than last year's recital at Syracuse Dance Academy - last year's recital had such poor quality dancing and choreography, even among the "competition" and older teams, that we pulled Lizzy out of there for this year and changed to Davis Dance Academy... and I was very happy with the decision after seeing the recital! Not to mention, DDA is $10 per month CHEAPER than SDA, the costumes were half the price, and SDA charged $6 a ticket for their recital, whereas DDA's recital was free! Better all around.

The girls were supposed to have their hair in a curly ponytail, however, Lizzy's hair is like mine and seriously resists curling! I washed her hair in the morning, and while it was damp, I put in a huge glob of hair gel, and then put curlers in - the tiniest curlers - and kept them in for 8 hours, until it was time to leave for the recital. Then I took the curlers out, and it was nice and curly, and I hairsprayed the heck out of it, and we left for the recital. By the time it was her turn to dance, the curl was gone. So, you can spot her in the video on the back row as the one with a straight ponytail.

Natalie's Blessing

2011-06-06T08:50:00.000-06:00

Natalie was blessed at our church on Sunday, and it was such a wonderful occasion! We ended up with so many family members there to support our sweet Natalie! We had 29 family members come for the blessing! Natalie looked extra precious in her beautiful dress!

Smiling!

2011-05-26T16:07:00.002-06:00

Natalie has started smiling, and I was finally able to capture some smiles on camera today! So cute! She's 8 weeks old today!

Spotlight on the Older Kids!

2011-05-03T21:56:00.000-06:00

Lizzy and Rachel have felt a little neglected in the picture-taking area, since the camera is always focused on Natalie these days, so I took some videos of them highlighting their special talents.

Moab!

2011-05-03T20:23:00.000-06:00

We had a fun long weekend in Moab with my mom, her boyfriend John, and my grandpa! We stayed in a really nice 3 bedroom condo. The kids did really well on the drives to and from, which I was very nervous for, and therefore glad that it wasn't a problem! You'd think going to Moab at the end of April / beginning of May, it would be nice and warm... but we had highs in the low 50's the whole time, and lots of chilling wind, so it wasn't as nice as we'd hoped. We got there on Friday afternoon, and Jason and I went out to dinner at a Mexican restaurant, which was really nice! The girls stayed at the condo and ate there with my mom, John, and grandpa. Saturday, Jason and John did a wild mountain bike ride on the porcupine trail. The kids and I swam at the condo's pool and played outside. My mom and I also went shopping for food for the weekend. Sunday morning, we all rode the Schaffer trail, which was really fun - amazing views! Natalie seemed to enjoy the bounciness of the rough 4WD trail - I sat in the back seat next to her to make sure it didn't shake her too badly, but she was fine. In the afternoon, we went swimming again, and then just had a relaxing time sitting around in the condo. Monday morning, we drove back home.

The girls sitting on rocks in the yard of the condo:

Our family on an overlook on the Schaffer trail:

Grandpa, me, and Natalie on the Schaffer trail:

My mom, John, Lizzy, and Rachel on the Schaffer trail. It was very cold and windy!

A Budding Fashionista

2011-04-18T12:14:00.000-06:00

Well, I don't know WHERE she got it from... certainly not from me... but Lizzy is showing some impressive talent in fashion! Here is her first ever original design... made from kleenex and rubber bands:

Boppy Pillow

2011-04-07T10:55:00.000-06:00

I've loved my boppy pillow with all three girls, and this time it's even better, because Lizzy and Rachel can use the boppy pillow to hold Natalie all by themselves, which they think is the coolest thing ever!

Who Does She Look Like??

2011-04-03T19:27:00.000-06:00

Here are pictures of all 3 of my girls at the same age... we think Natalie looks most like Lizzy.

Here's Lizzy

Here's Rachel

Here's Natalie

Natalie Charlotte Gale

2011-04-02T15:46:00.000-06:00

Our new baby decided to be nice to me and come into the world 1 week ahead of her due date! So, here is our beautiful Natalie Charlotte Gale, born March 31st at 10:30 pm! She weighed 7 lbs 2 oz and is 20 inches long!

She's doing really well, and we're at home now! Lizzy was my favorite visitor, because she walked in and said, "Oh mommy, your tummy is SO SMALL!"

Motorcycling!

2011-03-09T15:01:00.000-07:00

Jason recently got into a new hobby - motorcycling, or really, dirt-biking. He and his friends go out on trails and ride their bikes (he assures me he is very safe...). Anyway, they just had a fun trip to Mesquite, so here are some pictures of my man and his machine.

New Baby's Blanket

2011-02-24T17:02:00.000-07:00

I finished a blanket for the new baby. I had to make one for this baby, since I did one for Lizzy and Rachel when I was pregnant with them. This one is crocheted, and it didn't take very long to do.

Sledding!

2011-02-24T17:00:00.000-07:00

The kids woke up last week and saw that it had snowed overnight! They were so excited, we just had to take them sledding at the park near our house! They had a fantastic time!

Cute Hair and Valentines

2011-02-12T16:26:00.000-07:00

I've been having fun being able to do matching hair-dos on the girls! While doing this hairdo on Lizzy, it was pulling, and she said, "Beauty is pain!" Jason overheard, and it cracked him up!

And, for Valentine's Day, I made these cute chocolate hazelnut truffle flowers - idea from Martha Stewart! I made the flowers out of construction paper hearts, and then I made the truffles, and stuck it all onto skewers. Turned out pretty cute, but it was rather time-consuming!

Cute Skirts!

2011-02-01T16:49:00.000-07:00

The fabric store by Lizzy's ballet studio was having a 40-50% off fabric sale, so I got some fabric and made some cute skirts for the girls!

This is a really easy no-pattern skirt to make. I made them skirts using this method before, and they loved those, so they are really thrilled with these new ones! http://mommyandlizzy.blogspot.com/2009/11/sewing-fun.html

School Time

2011-01-26T16:39:00.000-07:00

Lizzy, Rachel, and I do "school" together every day - we practice Math, Reading, and Writing! The kids love it, and they're really doing great! I was so proud of Lizzy for her good job on reading, I had to take a video!

Fun with Dad

2011-01-26T16:22:00.000-07:00

I found these pictures on our camera card - Jason took them while spending some time with the girls while I was out with friends!

"All the Single Ladies"

2011-01-03T14:37:00.001-07:00

Lizzy and Rachel LOVE this song... the video is on demand and they ask for it over and over!

I got a better video of it on facebook - I couldn't get the better video to upload on here for some reason. So, if you're my facebook "friend" you can check it out on my profile!

Rachel's a "Big Girl"

2010-12-31T14:02:00.000-07:00

Hooray for Rachel! She is potty trained - officially a "Big Girl!" Since we had 3 days off with nowhere to go (no music or dance classes because of the holidays), I decided it would be a good time to potty train her. So, we broke out the underwear - 8 pairs of Tinkerbell and 8 pairs of Elmo - enough to make it through 3 days of possible accidents! I turned up the heat in the house, and had Rachel wear just a shirt and her underwear, so she wouldn't have to deal with getting pants up and down, and set out the training potty. I gave her lots to drink, and set a timer to go off every 20 minutes, and she'd sit on the potty for 1 minute and "try." The first half of the day, she didn't ever go on the potty, but had 5 accidents in her underwear... and then on the 6th time, she made it to the potty, and after that, she didn't have a problem! So, the next 2 days of potty training were easy, because she just caught right on, and didn't need any help. I still kept her in underwear only the 2nd day, and made her stay in whatever room I was in all day, so we could get her to the potty fast, but the 3rd day, I got brave and let her wear stretch pants and play in her playroom without me. She's done really great! One of her favorite things about potty training (and Lizzy loved this too) is I enlisted the help of my mom, Jason, and my sister, Michelle, to play characters (Tinkerbell, Diego, and Dora) that Rachel could call after going on the potty successfully to let them know what she'd done! After the 3rd day, we went to Wal-Mart and got her "Potty Training Present" - an Ariel doll, just like the one Lizzy picked when she was potty trained. We're so proud of Rachel! Such a "Big Girl!"

Merry Christmas 2010!

2010-12-26T10:21:00.000-07:00

We had a really fun Christmas! It started out on Christmas Eve, when we went over to Jason's brother's house for the Gale Family annual Christmas Eve dinner. There was lots of good food, and fun presents from Grandma and Grandpa Gale! Lizzy and Rachel got a big box of Princess dress up clothes, which they promptly dressed up in! Naturally, we did not bring our camera anywhere we went, so I am lacking in the photos! After the party, we drove around the neighborhoods looking at Christmas lights, and then took the kids home and got them into bed. In the morning, Jason got a picture of the 2.5 girls waiting to go see if Santa had come!

He did come, and in fact, he installed a new kitchen sink faucet for me! Here is the before:

And the after:

Our old faucet was leaky and had parts falling off of it. It was really a cheap, bad faucet. The new one is SO nice, with a pull down sprayer, just like in a professional kitchen!

I also got a carving knife - good for cutting up roasts, turkeys, and your enemies:

The kids were really thrilled to come out and see that Santa had indeed come, and he had eaten the slice of pumpkin cheesecake we'd left out for him, leftover from the Gale family Christmas Eve dinner that we had at Jason's brothers house! The kids started off on their presents right away, and they were so excited!

After opening presents, we had our Christmas breakfast, which was a giant puff pancake! It was quite large and impressive looking - it's hard to tell from the picture! But, it was really delicious, and everyone enjoyed it.

After sitting around and relaxing for a while while the kids played with their new toys, we headed out to my mom's house for Christmas dinner! (We forgot our camera, of course!) We opened more presents with them, and I was so excited to receive a 4 slice toaster, so I can make toast for the whole family all at once, instead of in batches as I have to do just about every morning! (We love toast!) Jason had a lot of fun with his new laser sighted Nerf dart gun that my sisters got for him, and they had also gotten some for themselves, so they had a fun Nerf gun war! The kids got a gigantic Zhu Zhu pet maze for their Zhu Zhu pets to run through, and that was so fun for them! We had a delicious dinner of prime rib, and then headed out to my dad's house. After opening even MORE presents with them, we sat around and chatted for a while, and then it was time to head home and put the kids in bed. They were really tired out, and in fact slept in this morning until about 10:00 am! A new record!

I hope everyone had as fun a Christmas as we did! Merry Christmas everyone!

No More Binky!!

2010-12-14T16:20:00.000-07:00

Rachel has given up her binky! It has been a pain dealing with binkies with Rachel - Lizzy never liked them, but Rachel sure did! However, it has turned into a horrible middle-of-the-night search for binkies, and we were fed up! So, I made a chart for Rachel with daytime and nighttime for a week, and got some star stickers to put on it. I told Rachel we were going to be all done with binkies, and every day and night that she went without her binky, she would get a star on her chart, and when it was all full, she could get a little toy from the store. Rachel was very excited about this plan, and gathered up all her binkies and threw them in the trash! Over the next week, she did really well, and although she was sometimes a bit fussy, especially in the car, where she really liked having a binky, I would remind her that if she could be happy and not fuss without her binky, I'd give her an extra star sticker on her hand when we got home. So now, she is all finished with her binky, and she chose a Zhu Zhu Pet for her no-more-binky prize! She is thrilled!

(She got a hold of one of the sheets of star stickers and stuck some on the bottom of her chart before I caught her!)

Lizzy's Nutcracker

2010-12-14T16:15:00.000-07:00

Lizzy's Ballet school put on a little Nutcracker performance for Christmas, and it was so cute!

They all put on mouse ears and ran around being the bad mice!

Then, they changed into soldiers, and got swords to fight the mice away!

Next, they had scarves to dance to the different candy dances.

Then, they all got to be Sugar Plum Fairies!

It was a super cute and fun performance! It was about 20 minutes total of dancing, with excerpts from the Nutcracker Suite and a narration telling the story while the girls danced and did their costume changes! Lizzy had a really fun time!

Brocklee Gale

2010-11-24T15:25:00.000-07:00

Well, we're having another girl! Here are the latest pictures of our cute little Brocklee:

Checkups and Haircuts

2010-11-21T08:53:00.000-07:00

Lizzy had her 4 year old check up, and she is very healthy, as always! She continues to be between 75 and 90th percentile on height and between 25th and 50th on weight, so tall and skinny, just like dad! She is 42 inches tall (3 feet 6 inches) and weighs 35 pounds. Because of her November birthday, she misses the school cut-off for next year, and won't start kindergarten for another year after that... which is too bad because all of her friends from church are going next year, and she's as tall or taller than all of them! She is going to be the oldest, tallest girl in her class - by a lot! I have heard (but obviously never experienced) that tall girls get teased and hate being the tallest... any tall friends reading this who can advise me about that?? Anyway, she's growing up so healthy and strong!

Meanwhile, Rachel loves to help around the house:

Here she is on laundry day folding the kitchen towels and bibs - that pile to the left of her, she did that all by herself! Also in the picture, you can see how long her hair has gotten. Unfortunately, it has grown in as a mullet, and looks rather scraggly all the time, so we decided to take her for her first haircut:

She has natural curl in her hair - not enough to look really curly, just enough to look messy all the time, but this new haircut looks a lot neater and cleaner than her mullet did! She did a good job at the salon too, and didn't cry! She's seen Lizzy get her hair cut many times, so she wasn't afraid. It was all even and straight when wet and cut, but then the natural curl came in to play, so it still looks messier than I'd hoped. Oh well! When she gets older, she'll have a never ending battle with hair products and the straightening iron... just like the rest of us!

Lizzy's Birthday

2010-11-15T10:04:00.000-07:00

On Sunday night, we had Lizzy's family birthday party, with her grandparents. She had lots of fun getting presents! She got a Zhu zhu pet, a bulls-eye horse to go with her Jessie doll, the new Tinkerbell movie, a Dora and Boots playset, and a jar of jellybeans! She got the jellybeans because, when we called her Grandma Gale to invite them to come, she was asked what she wanted for her birthday, and she told Grandma, "I want jellybeans! In a little jar, and you have to wrap it!" She was thrilled to get them, too! I made her a chocolate cake at her request, and put Jessie riding Bulls-eye on top, which I made out of chocolate.

Lizzy's 4th Birthday Party!

2010-11-14T11:50:00.000-07:00

For Lizzy's 4th birthday, I threw her a party for her and her friends! It was my first time ever throwing a kid birthday party, and so I was a little nervous about how to do it, but it turned out really great! I made red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, and at Lizzy's request I decorated them with cowgirl hats I made out of chocolate:

To start, I gave out little goodie bags and party blowers to each kid, and then the first game was "Pin the Tail on Bulls-Eye." Each kid got a turn to play, and received a treat for their goodie bag. After that, we did "Drop the Clothespin in the Boot." I set up a chair in front of one of Lizzy's cowgirl boots, and gave each kid a clothespin. They had 3 tries to stand on the chair and drop their clothespin into the boot. They all got a prize for their bag for that game too. For the next activity, I gave out big pieces of paper from an easel paper roll, and the kids laid on them and traced each others' bodies. Then, the pizza was ready, so we all had pizza and punch. The bigger kids sat at the table, and the little kids sat on the floor!

When everyone was done with their pizza, it was time for cupcakes! Everyone sang happy birthday and Lizzy blew out her candles!

For the last activity, I spread blankets on the floor and put on Toy Story 3, which I gave Lizzy for her present. The kids LOVED that movie, and I was able to get the kitchen all cleaned up while they watched.

It was a really fun party, and everyone had a great time! I can't believe my little baby Lizzy is 4 years old!

Michelle's Pictures

2010-11-05T13:43:00.002-06:00

Here are the pictures that Michelle took, to fill in the gaps for my lack of photography! Thanks Michelle!

Here's Lizzy, Michelle, and Jason just after the big splash-down on "Journey to Atlantis"

Lizzy holding the baby crocodile at Gatorama!

Lizzy got a butterfly painted on her cheek at the Lake Placid Halloween Festival!

Rachel is ready to go to Sea World in her fairy wings and skirt!

Feeding the gators some bread through the holes in the fencing.

Jason and Rachel sacked out on the bed!

Cute girls in pigtails!

Kicking our feet up at the pool!

Florida, days 7 and 8

2010-11-05T10:17:00.000-06:00

On Wednesday, our final day in Florida, it was sunny again, and so we had a pool day. We swam after breakfast, and then again after lunch, until the kids were sick of it! They had a lot of fun, jumping in off the edge into our arms, and playing in the fountains! After dinner, we went to the resort's ice cream shop and got some ice cream, and then went over to their game room and played ping pong and foosball. The kids were too little to really play the games, though, so they got frustrated fast, and we had to go back to the hotel. We got them into bed as early as we could, since we had to be up at 4:30 am to catch our 7:00 am flight, but Jason and I were kept awake, as always until 11:30 when all the pool music and yelling teenagers finally quit.

We woke up early Thursday morning and loaded all our stuff and sleeping kids into the car. We returned our rental car, got our plane tickets and went up to the gate. We said goodbye to Michelle, and Lizzy was very sad to leave her! We boarded our plane, and started down the runway, and then stopped! The pilot came on and said that one of the engines had a problem and wouldn't pressurize, so we were going to have to go back to the gate. We sat at the gate for a little while, and then they told us to all get off, and they'd see how long it would take, but we probably wouldn't be going until at least 10:00 am!! So, we sat around in the airport for 3 hours, until they finally found us a new plane! The positive things were, the plane was now very empty, so just about everyone had a whole row all to themselves - Rachel and I sat in our own row, and Jason and Lizzy in their own row. They also gave us all free meal vouchers, so our lunch was free, and gave everyone the headphones for the movie for free. We were all exhausted from waking up so early, and Rachel napped across two seats (thank goodness for the empty flight!) for about the first half of the flight. Then, she was happy and cheerful for the rest of it. Lizzy did well, too, just watching movies on her portable player. Lizzy fell asleep in the car on the way home from the airport, and continued her nap in her bed for the next couple of hours. We all had a really fun vacation, but it's always nice to be home too!

Florida, days 5 and 6

2010-11-05T10:10:00.000-06:00

Monday in Florida, we spent the day at the resort. We had breakfast, and then went grocery shopping to load up on food to eat at the condo. Then we grabbed some lunch, and headed back to the hotel. We swam in the pool - our first daytime swimming - and also let the kids dig in the sand at their fake sand beach. It was very hot! The pool water was just the right temperature, so the kids didn't get too cold, and they were both brave and dunked their heads underwater, but they didn't want to do it more than once! Mostly, they just wanted to kick around the pool in their "floaties." Sadly, every time we went down to the pool I forgot our camera, but I think my sister, Michelle, may have taken some pictures, so I'll have to see what she's got and post it later. We went over to the grills they have at the resort and grilled up some bratwursts with peppers and onions for dinner, and enjoyed it out on the screened in patio overlooking the pool. Now, the problem with having a hotel room over looking the pool is the NOISE. They had a speaker right underneath our window blasting pool music into the pool area during all open hours - 9 am to 11 pm. The problem was, their timer was screwed up, so the music actually played from 9:33 am to 11:33 pm!! Also, because the music was on, people would be down at the pool yelling and being loud, until the music went off. We called and complained a couple of times, but it never did get fixed. So, if you ever go to a resort and they try to give you a room overlooking the pool, say NO!! The kids were so tired out every day, they went right to bed and didn't seem to mind, but it kept Jason, Michelle, and I awake every night.

On Tuesday, we headed back to Sea World. They were having a promo where you could go a second day within the same week for free, so we went again! It was overcast and threatening rain, but that was kind of nice, because it wasn't so hot or bright. Jason and Michelle went on the two wild roller coasters, and then Lizzy, since she was tall enough (barely) actually agreed to go on the "Journey to Atlantis" splash-down ride! This is no kiddie ride! She was a little scared, but also liked it, so she said, until we suggested that she go a second time, and then she refused!! So, it was a little much for her, but we were all impressed that she did it! We went and saw the sting ray petting pool, and the dolphin underwater viewing, which was really cool, and also "shark encounter," where you ride on a moving sidewalk underneath a tunnel through the shark tank, so they swim all around you, and also to the manatee exhibit, where Rachel accidentally dropped her pacifier into the manatee's pond! We told a Sea World worker so they could fish it out before the manatees ate it, but we didn't want it back after that! We also went to the penguin encounter, which was cool too. Then we went to see a show with acrobats and dancers in the "Nautilus Theater." It was a really cool show, and the kids loved it! On our way out, it had started pouring rain! We stood under a tree and waited to see if it would let up, but it just got worse! We wanted to go see the dolphin show one last time, so we started walking through the rain to find a place to wait for it to start (we had an hour). Luckily, the dolphin stadium, and also the shamu stadium, and all the others are covered (probably because it rains so much in Florida) so during the show, although it poured on all the performers, we stayed nice and dry. That second dolphin show was amazing, and the animals did even cooler tricks than last time - we supposed that they liked the rain or something! After the show, we decided to go back to our condo, so we had to walk back through the park and parking lot to get to our car. By that time, we were thouroughly soaked - I mean we might as well have jumped into the dolphin tank in our clothes. Florida rain is HEAVY, so it was even getting in our eyes really bad, and making it hard to see. Luckily, Florida rain is also very warm, so it wasn't cold to walk through it. Jason said it was like Taiwan. We got back to our hotel and put all our soaking wet clothes in the dryer. Then, one of our old friends from grade school, Bethany, and her husband had moved out to Orlando not long ago, and so we had arranged to meet while we were all there. So, they came over to our hotel room and we all had dinner together and visited. It was a lot of fun, and really great to see Bethany again, and meet her husband!

There are no pictures for this one - I didn't take pictures the second day at sea world! I just forgot about the camera a lot on this trip!!

Florida, days 3 and 4

2010-11-05T09:51:00.000-06:00

On Saturday, we woke up as early as we could, considering Florida time is 2 hours later than Utah time, so it felt very early to us! And we headed to Lake Placid, which is a two hour drive away, into the Florida "Highlands" where much of the orange groves are. (And also the big lake, Lake Okeechobee that you can see on globes.) We visited my grandpa and grandma there, and they took us to Gatorama, where the kids had a really fun time seeing the alligators and crocodiles that are farmed there for meat. Lizzy was really brave, and even held a baby crocodile (with help from one of the workers)! Gatorama has a large boardwalk that you walk on, with fenced in sides, that goes over a large pond where all the adult alligators and crocodiles live. You could buy a bag of bread at the beginning and toss it into the water and watch the alligators and crocodiles snap it up! There are also holding pens with the baby alligators and crocodiles, and those were really cute. We also got to be there for "feeding time" where one of the workers stood on a pier and fed the crocodiles chicken parts. It was very exciting! She would hold a piece high in the air and make the crocodiles jump to get it, and snap their jaws with a very impressive sound! They have the most powerful snap of any animal on Earth. My sister, Michelle, took some pictures, but I have yet to collect them from her, so I'll have to post them later. After Gatorama, we went back to my grandparent's house and had a nice dinner, made by my grandma. Then, the city of Lake Placid was having a Halloween fair on the high school's football field, so we headed over there and had some fun visiting the booths, seeing the costumes, and getting candy. Unfortunately, Grandma ran over a screw in the parking lot and got a flat tire, but fortunately, Jason and Michelle were able to swap out the punctured tire for the spare! On Sunday, we went to church with my grandparents, and had a nice after-church supper. The girls played in the sandbox that my grandparents have in their backyard, and also got to decorate a pumpkin with little spiky decorations (think like a Mr. Potato head) Then we all headed back to Orlando. On the way back, we stopped at the Red Lobster to visit briefly with mine and Michelle's cousin, Amanda, who works there. She was happy to see us! We didn't stay there for dinner, though, because the kids were super hyper, and having been restaurant servers ourselves, Jason and I didn't want to inflict that kind of pain on my cousin! So, we headed out of town, looking at the restaurants along the way. On the way into town, the previous day, we had noticed that there were A LOT of little dive BBQ restaurants... Big Daddy's BBQ, Sonny's BBQ, Woody's BBQ, etc. Lizzy was especially excited about "Woody's BBQ," since it sounded like Toy Story. So, continuing on with the story, as we're driving down the street on the way back to Orlando, I was suggesting restaurants that I saw by the side of the road. Jason, having been on a mission to Taiwan, really doesn't like Americanized Chinese food, so jokingly, I called out, "ooh, look, "Chinese Buffet!" Lizzy, from the back seat, cries out, "VETO! How about Woody's BBQ?" We all laughed and laughed... we couldn't believe she remembered Woody's BBQ from the day before, with just a passing mention.

Florida, days 1 and 2

2010-10-29T19:55:00.002-06:00

We are here enjoying ourselves in sunny Orlando, Florida, where it's in the 80's and so beautiful! We left on Thursday morning and flew on the plane. We were a little delayed, because the original plane had something wrong with it, so we had to get a new plane, but they could only find a small one. Therefore, the last 30 people to arrive for the flight had to take an alternate flight! Luckily, we had checked in early, and took advantage of priority family boarding, so our seats were assured. The kids did really well on the plane, coloring, reading books, and watching movies on their DVD players. After we got to our hotel, we got dinner, and then went swimming. The kids thought it was really fun to swim in the dark! After swimming, we set up the girls' beds. We got them special air mattress beds with a built-in tinkerbell sleeping bag. They were totally thrilled with them, and slept all through the night in their special beds, which is a vast improvement from having them end up sleeping with us in our bed for the whole vacation!

Friday morning we woke up and went to Sea World! They were having special stuff for Halloween there, so the kids got to have trick-or treat bags and get candy. Lizzy was also really excited to see many of her favorite Sesame Street characters, but Rachel was too afraid to go up to them.

We went to the Sea Lion and Otter show, and then got lunch. After that, we went to the Dolphin and Whale show, which was really cool! Lizzy was very brave and sat in the "soak zone" with Michelle, my sister, and got splashed by the dolphins! She was very excited!

After that, Michelle and Jason were brave and went on the "Manta" roller coaster ride, which is very wild and loopy, and you hang upside down from it. The girls and I toured the aquarium while they did that. Then, we all went to the Shamu show. Many of you have probably heard about the Sea World trainer who was killed by a killer whale at Sea World last year, so now the Shamu show is much shorter, and no trainers go into the water with the killer whales. The whales do their jumps and tricks while the trainers cue them from the sides. It was still cool, though. What was fun to see is, a new baby killer whale was born there 2 weeks ago, and the baby and its mother were swimming around in the main pool before the show began for people to see, and I got a picture as they swam by. After Lizzy had so much fun sitting in the "soak zone" at the dolphin show, we all sat in the "zone" for Shamu, but we were in a little wedge of crowd that didn't even get wet at all, but the people on either side of us got totally soaked! It was sort of disappointing, and sort of good!

After the Shamu show, we took the kids over to the kid's area, where they have rides and a play area. Lizzy and Rachel were super brave and rode all the rides, except only Lizzy could ride the Shamu roller coaster with Daddy, because Rachel was still too short. I was really proud of Lizzy for going on the roller coaster! It didn't loop upside down, but it had a pretty good drop, and lots of good turns! Jason said she was saying "This is CRAZY! This is NUTS!"

You can only see Jason in the picture, because Lizzy is blocked by him, sitting on the other side. This is right before going up the big hill! After the kid rides, I took the kids to the Penguin Encounter and Jason and Michelle went to ride the other large roller coasters, "Kraken" and "Journey to Atlantis." Then we were totally tired, and it was dinner time, so we left.

We went back to the hotel and had dinner at the poolside grill, and they happened to have a Karaoke contest! Michelle, Lizzy, and I all signed up to sing, and Lizzy actually got 2nd place for her rendition of "Barbie Girl" which was so good! Michelle and I sang "Love Potion number 9" but we weren't cute enough to win, I guess! And that's the end of days 1 and 2.

These Boots Were Made for Walkin'

2010-10-25T12:30:00.000-06:00

Lizzy really wanted to be Jessie (from Toy Story 2 and 3) for Halloween, so I made her a costume, and for part of it, we went to Ream's and got her some real cowboy boots! She is THRILLED! She's worn them every day since we got them, and just thinks they're the awesomest item of clothing she's ever owned! She looks so cute in them too!

Updates

2010-10-15T10:07:00.000-06:00

Our life hasn't been very exciting lately! I've just been sitting around getting through the first trimester sickness! That's all over, thank goodness, and I'm at 15 weeks now. The baby is doing well, we just heard its heartbeat at the doctor's office yesterday, which Lizzy and Rachel thought was really cool. I also felt the first tiny little kicks a couple of days ago, and that's really fun too - one of my favorite parts! Even when the kids get really big in there and the kicks start to hurt, I still enjoy feeling them wiggle around and knowing that they're on their way!

Here are some pictures I've taken lately of the kids:

New Baby!

2010-09-10T10:13:00.000-06:00

There's our new baby! 10 weeks along, and it looks like this one is going to stay. The baby is the blob at the bottom of the kidney-bean shaped dark patch. Lizzy and Rachel were really excited to see the picture of their new little brother or sister. They both insist that it will be another girl, and Lizzy wants to name her Clara. In fact, Lizzy has learned how to spell Clara, and she writes it on little bits of paper and leaves them all over the house. Jason doesn't like the name, though, so he has "vetoed" it! Meanwhile, because Lizzy and Rachel were both born at 36 weeks, which is considered pre-term (before 37 weeks), and because I'm 30 now, this baby has a high risk of being born dangerously pre-term. So, I get the fun of having weekly progesterone injections, starting at week 16 until week 36. I'm SO looking forward to it. Anyway, I'm feeling the usual nausea that comes and goes all day, and fatigue, but it's not unlivable.

Last weekend we took our first trip EVER without the kids (they stayed at Grandma's house) and we went to Las Vegas. It was a really fun time, but also really crowded, since it was the Labor Day weekend. We left Saturday morning, and arrived in the early afternoon. We went grocery shopping for breakfast stuff, and then checked in to our hotel. We were staying at the Marriott Grand Chateau, which is right next to the Planet Hollywood Casino. That evening, we walked down to the Venetian and had dinner at Emeril's Delmonico Steakhouse. It was fantastic! The service was amazing - there were at least 4 different people waiting on us - someone to pull out my chair, and put my napkin on my lap, and someone to bring rolls, someone to fill the water, someone who took our orders, and other people who brought out the food... and the food was incredibly good. We had lobster bisque, with the most tender and delicious bits of lobster I've ever had, and then Jason got Steak Oscar (filet mignon with crab, asparagus, and bernaise sauce), and I got the special, seared scallops with black truffle butter sauce, green beans, and wild mushrooms. For dessert we split an orange mascarpone cheesecake slice. On Sunday, we ate breakfast in our room, and then went up and sat by the rooftop pool and read books until lunchtime. For lunch, we just went over to the Planet Hollywood casino, where there is a sandwich shop called "Earl of Sandwich" that is actually owned by the real 11th Earl of Sandwich! They have incredibly delicious baked sandwiches. Then we walked around the Planet Hollywood Miracle Mile shops for a while, and then went back and had... A NAP.... ah the indulgence of it all. Then, our friends, Lane and Melinda, arrived (we had a two bedroom condo). We went over to the Caesar's Palace Forum Shops with them and marveled at the extravagant prices of designer handbags and Tiffany diamond jewelry. $25,000 for a 1.5 carat diamond solitaire! For dinner, we headed back over to the Venetian and ate at our favorite Italian Restaurant, "Tratorria Reggiano." Jason and Melinda had wood-fired pizza with pepperoni and fancy Italian olives. I had tortellini alfredo - imagine it - tortellini stuffed with cheese in a cheese sauce, with MORE CHEESE sprinkled on top!! Lane had linguine carbonara, which is linguine in a bacon and cheese sauce. We all sampled each others', and they were all excellent. We were too stuffed to have any dessert, so we headed back to the Planet Hollywood casino, where we went to see the show "V." It's a variety show with lots of different (family friendly!) acts, such as juggling, acrobatics, comedians, etc. It was really good. On Monday, Jason and I went down to the hotel gym in the morning to work off all the heavy food! Then we all went for lunch at Earl of Sandwich, and then Jason and I headed home. We were really happy to see our girls, and they were happy to see us, although they had a fantastic time at Grandma's - she took them to the zoo, and the library, and wore them out good!

Lizzy's Haircut

2010-08-25T12:36:00.000-06:00

We cut Lizzy's hair today (well, Great Clips did it). She and I were both sick of snarls and crying, and so, the long long hair went bye bye. It was probably 5-6 inches of hair we cut off. She looks cute, though, and she loves it.

It used to be down to the middle of her back! This is so much shorter!

Congratulations Carrie!

2010-08-17T18:20:00.002-06:00

My sister in law, Carrie, successfully delivered two beautiful twin baby girls! They are so precious! Named Chloe and Dominique, both are about 5 lbs. Congratulations Carrie! Awesome job!

The hats, by the way, are hand made by Carrie, and she sells them (and other incredibly cute crochet items) on etsy. See her link in my links to the right.

Lizzy's First Talk

2010-08-15T17:43:00.000-06:00

Lizzy gave her first talk in church today. She did a really good job! Her topic was, "Heavenly Father is a God of Miracles." I videotaped a portion of her talk while we were practicing it this morning. She did better during the real talk than she does in the video.

Christmas Meadows

2010-08-11T09:04:00.002-06:00

My mom, her boyfriend, John, and my sister, Angela, all went camping this weekend at Christmas Meadows in the Unitas. The girls and I joined them for part of the trip, and had a really fun time hiking, and hanging out. It rained on and off, but luckily, we had my dad's big hexagonal screen room, which we were all able to sit under and play some games while the rain went over.

Rachel by the picnic table.

My sister, Angela, in her camp chair by the fire.

Lizzy playing in the trees at the edge of the campsite.

The girls enjoying cups of chee-tos by the tent.

In the screen house to get out of the rain!

Angela and Lizzy, and John in the background.

Eating dinner at the picnic table. John grilled us up some yummy Bratwurst!

Happy Birthday Rachel!

2010-07-26T11:50:00.002-06:00

My sweet baby Rachel turned 2 yesterday! I can't believe we've had her for so long already, but it also seems like she's been with us forever! We couldn't imagine our lives without her! She is so precious and we love her so much!

I made her a "Princess and the Frog" ice cream cake. It was oreo cookie crust with layers of mint chocolate chip and chocolate ice cream, and whipped cream on top. The writing and frogs were done in chocolate and dyed white chocolate. As we were serving it to her, I realized I forgot to cross the T in "Birthday!" Oh well. We also had turkey burgers for dinner, with baked beans, grilled yellow CSA squash, and CSA salad. I put the recipe for making your own ice cream cake on my recipe blog: http://sarahsfavrecipies.blogspot.com

Here's Rachel preparing to blow out her candles!

Here she is, opening her presents! She got lots of fun presents: a little swimming pool from Grandma and Grandpa Gale, "Princess and the Frog" movie from Lizzy, "Toy Story 2" and the game Hi-Ho Cherry-O from Mom and Dad, a sippy cup with her name on it from Aunt Katrina, and the Toy Story 2 Barbie and Ken with some extra outfits from Grandma Sue. Rachel loved them all, except for the Ken, which she said was scary, and gave him to Lizzy, who was thrilled.

A video of Rachel the morning of her birthday!

Rachel did such a good job blowing out her candles!

Also, we had Rachel's 2 year old checkup today at the doctor. She did very well, and only cried during the shots. She only had to get 2 shots, so that wasn't so bad. She is 33 inches tall, and weighs 22 pounds, which puts her at 10th percentile for weight and 80th percentile for height. She's really healthy, and right on track developmentally!

Lizzy's Writing

2010-07-26T08:20:00.000-06:00

Lizzy is getting better and better at writing; and she loves it! She's always asking me or Jason how things are spelled so she can write them. She knows several words by heart, and writes them often. Both girls love to color with crayons on their easel! They're so cute, and growing up so fast!

So Proud!

2010-07-18T20:24:00.000-06:00

I went in to the kids' bedroom today to make their beds, and here is what I found:

Lizzy had made her bed... all by herself! She was so proud, and so was I! Rachel also tried to make her bed, but she's too little, and the covers were too heavy for her to pull up. Anyway, I will hold on to this precious moment when my children actually WANTED to do housework!

Day at the Pool

2010-07-06T16:21:00.000-06:00

My sisters, Angela, and Katrina, and my cousin, Barbara, came up to visit us today and we went to the Roy Aquatic Center with the kids. It was lots of fun:

My sisters, cousin, and children!

Lizzy in the pool in her new innertube.

Rachel walking around the shallow play area pool with Barbara and Angela.

Sarah preparing to go down the "speed slide!"

Sarah splashes down at the bottom of the speed slide... and gets a giant wedgie for her bravery.

Here is a video of my sister, Angela, going down the speed slide. I love the scream!

Happy 4th of July!

2010-07-05T08:16:00.000-06:00

The kids had a super fun time this 4th of July! It was on a Sunday, and I was asked to fill in for the music leader in sacrament meeting, so the kids and I sat on the stand behind the piano, and, it was so cute, every time I got up to lead the music, Lizzy and Rachel would come up too, and stand next to me, waving their arms like they were leading too. I got a bunch of comments about how cute they were up there, and how well behaved they were when we weren't singing. (Thanks to the story books and coloring books I brought!) Anyway, after Jason got home from work, we ate dinner, and then went outside to do fireworks. I had bought a small (non-scary) pack of LEGAL fireworks, and a box of sparklers. The girls had so much fun doing sparklers and watching daddy set of the little fireworks. The neighbors down the street had much more exciting fireworks than us, and the kids enjoyed seeing theirs from a distance too. The only sad thing was, I tried a technique I saw on a cooking show for dry-aging my own steak... we ended up with rotten steak instead. Bummer. Lizzy was really upset when I threw it out. She cried for a good 10 minutes, "I want to eat steak!!" I'll have to get more steak this week and cook it for her, minus the "dry aging" process.

Doing sparklers in the driveway! Right after this was taken, when Lizzy's sparkler went out, she threw it to the ground, but threw it a little too hard, because it landed on my skirt and burned a small hole in my new dress!

A video of the kids watching a firework go off.

A Story for Lizzy

2010-07-01T09:55:00.000-06:00

Lizzy is always asking me to tell her stories... mostly she likes ones about mermaids, Jesse and Bulls-eye (from toy story) and of course about herself. But yesterday, I made up a story about a barnyard, and I thought it ended up being really cute, so here it is in case any of you want to share it with your kids. Lizzy laughed like crazy while I was telling it, and wanted me to tell it over and over, so I thought it must be good!

Follow this link to go to a printable PDF version of the story: http://www.box.net/shared/n99dv572d8

It would be super fun if anyone is good at illustrating and would like to illustrate the book!

Lizzy's Dance Recital

2010-06-23T08:48:00.000-06:00

Lizzy had her first dance recital last night! She's been taking classes since January at Syracuse Dance Academy. She danced to the song, "Baby Take a Bow." She did a really good job! At the dress rehearsal, many of the little girls were scared to go on stage, and were crying, and holding on to their moms, but Lizzy was just really excited. She shooed me off the stage, saying, "Go away, mommy, this is MY dance!"

We put Lizzy's hair in curlers the night before... she was thrilled!

The morning of... all ready for the dress rehearsal. She LOVED wearing makeup!

Of course, Rachel had to get her make-up done too, and pose the same as Lizzy!

On stage at dress rehearsal! Lizzy is the 3rd little girl, looking at the girl holding her mom's hand.

After the performance. It's 9:00 pm, and Lizzy is visibly VERY tired.

She was really happy because her cousin, Madi, got to come see her dance!

They didn't let you take any pictures or video at the actual performance, but I took some at dress rehearsal, however the video of the dance is too long to upload on here... however, anyone who REALLY wants to see it can come to my house! :)

Matching Hair; CSA

2010-06-15T17:05:00.000-06:00

Rachel's hair is finally long enough to do some more exciting hairstyles! So, this week, for the very first time, Lizzy and Rachel got to have matching hairstyles! So cute! Rachel wouldn't smile, though!

Also, this week was the first week of the CSA. If you've read last year's posts, you know that CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture, and it's where we pay a farmer for a share in his crop. We use East Farms, and at the beginning of the year, we pay a lump sum, about $250, and then from June through October, every week we get a box of vegetables, fresh picked that day from the farm. East Farms is an organic farm, so we're getting lots of delicious, fresh organic vegetables, and the farmer gets paid directly, which means it's cheaper for us, but he makes more money than if he went through a middleman to sell. Also, our veggies are local, so we're not contributing to using up our fossil fuels by having our produce shipped thousands of miles to reach us. I'm going to put all further CSA posts, including recipes for what to do with the veggies on my fitness blog: http://realfoodfitness.blogspot.com

This week, we got (starting in the back, from left to right) red radishes, white radishes, spring garlic, green leaf lettuce, rainbow chard, and spinach.

Sauteed Spinach with Spring Garlic

1 Tbl extra virgin olive oil
1 bulb spring garlic, minced
3 cups spinach leaves, trimmed
pinch nutmeg
salt and pepper

Heat the olive oil over medium high heat in a large nonstick skillet until smoking. Add the garlic and sauté until fragrant, 30-45 seconds. Add spinach leaves and toss until wilted, 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat and sprinkle with nutmeg, salt, and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.

The rainbow chard can be prepared the same way. Cut the stems off the rainbow chard and chop the stems into bite-size pieces. Sautee the stems first, for 2-3 minutes, then add the garlic, 30-45 seconds, and then wilt in the leaves, 2-3 more minutes. Add the nutmeg, salt, and pepper, and serve.

Spinach Pesto

2 cups packed spinach leaves
1 bulb spring garlic
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 ounces fresh parmesiano-reggiano, rind removed and cut into 1 inch cubes
salt and pepper

Place parmesan cubes in food processor fitted with blade, and process 1-2 minutes until the cheese is finely grated. Remove to a small bowl. Place spinach and garlic in the food processor and process 1 minute until smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. With machine running, drizzle in the olive oil and process 30 more seconds to emulsify. Remove to a medium bowl, and stir in 1/2 cup grated parmesan. Salt and pepper to taste. Spread over grilled chicken breasts, grilled salmon, or toss with 1 pound hot cooked linguine.

Lizzy's First Writing

2010-05-19T09:54:00.000-06:00

Lizzy wrote her name this morning on the magna-doodle, all by herself! She's tried before, but this is the first time it's really been legible!

Zoo Day

2010-05-19T09:53:00.000-06:00

The whole family had a really fun day at the zoo on Monday! Lizzy and Rachel really loved seeing all the animals and riding on the train and carousel. We were able to see lots of animals up close, and the weather was perfect!

As we were getting out of the car, this family of geese walked right by. So cute!

Lizzy and Rachel were thrilled to see this monkey right up close.

How do Lizzy and Rachel compare to the Orangutans?

Riding the carousel. Lizzy decided it was too scary to ride on any animals that go up and down.

Sitting on the lions. They were kind of hot, so Lizzy didn't want her legs to touch it.

Jason and Lizzy riding the train.

Mommy and Rachel riding the train.

Cute Singing Girls

2010-05-13T08:57:00.002-06:00

Family Music Night

2010-05-13T08:55:00.000-06:00

Every year at Musikgarten, where Lizzy and Rachel take "Family Music" class, we have a "Family Music Night" where grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc. can come and watch the kids do their songs. This year, my cousin Barbara graduated from the U of U, and so her father and grandmother came out from Virginia to see her graduate. So, they also got to come to family music night, along with my sister, Michelle, and my mom. The kids had a really good time, as always!

Why Do Mommies Always Do the Hair?

2010-04-24T21:48:00.002-06:00

Because when Daddy does the hair, this is what happens:

Moab!!

2010-04-18T09:39:00.000-06:00

We have had lots of fun vacationing in Moab! We left Thursday afternoon and met my mom and her boyfriend, John at the condo we rented. We just went out to dinner and got settled in to the condo that first night. Friday, Jason and John rode the Masaback (not sure on the spelling here) bike trail, and one of Jason's bike pedals broke, so it was not a very fun ride. After lunch, we all went up to Arches National Park and did a bunch of hiking.

Grandma and Rachel hiking the Park Avenue trail.

Sarah on a rock, Lizzy and the 3 Gossips in the background.

Grandma and the girls at the Balanced Rock trail.

At Delicate Arch. You can see Rachel is still in the backpack, because this spot is quite dangerous, so we didn't want the girls to run around.

Cute girls in Arches! We hiked a total of 6 miles; the girls hiked 2 of them all by themselves, and rode in the backpacks for the other 4. Pretty impressive! Lizzy's favorite part was balanced rock. Rachel loved climbing under double arch.

Saturday, John and Mom rode the Gemini Bridges bike trail in the morning, and then Jason and I rode it in the afternoon, so we could take turns with the kids. Mountain biking terrifies me... especially when there's lots of big hills with loose sand and rocks, and you slip all over the place. So, Jason had a nice, leisurely ride thorugh the countryside, and I had a harrowing near-death-panick-attack experience. We brought the camera, but I was too stressed out to remember it, and we didn't take any photos! However, my T-shirt rode up on my back during the ride, and so, afterward, Jason commented that I sunburned my lower back, and I said, "Yeah, I was trying to burn off my love-handles."

Today, Sunday, is our last day here, we check out tomorrow morning. The boys are riding the Porcupine bike trail, which will take them most of the day (the trail guidebook says it's a 6 hour ride!). Grandma, the girls, and I will have a fun hanging out at the condo, and going to the pool and park.

Family History Mystery

2010-04-09T08:47:00.000-06:00

For years and years my dad knew only his grandfather's name, John Tobin Wall, and that he died in New York in 1922. He searched and searched and could never find anything else about him. I searched for him too, and even had people help me look through microfilms and stuff to try and find him, with no success. And then... I've been watching the TV show "Who Do You Think You Are?" which is a show where celebrities work with experts to find out about their family history. (It is an amazing show, I highly recommend it - channel 5 on Fridays at 7:00 pm.) Anyway, the show is sponsored by this new website, ancestry.com, and they show the celebrities using it on the program. It has worldwide records from censuses, military records, social security records... all kinds of stuff. So, I went on there and typed in my great grandfather's name... and... I FOUND HIM! He was born in Ireland in 1891, and his wife, Elizabeth Lange, was from Pennsylvania. He immigrated to the US when he was 18 years old, and his parents, who stayed in Ireland, are William Wall and Ellen Tobin. IN-CRED-IB-LE. So... the cool thing of it all is, my dad and I now know that we are part Irish! In fact, both of my dad's grandfathers, paternal and maternal immigrated... maternal from England. So, my dad is only 2 generations away from immigrant heritage, and I am only 3. On my mom's side, you have to go back 5 generations before reaching Switzerland on her father's side, and 5 generations to Germany and Scotland on her mother's side, where we are in the Wallace family line - remember William Wallace in Braveheart? Cool, right! Anyway, my mom and I were really excited because our ancestors lived in Scotland at the time of "Bonnie Prince Charlie" and the Culloden war against England... which is the topic of one of her and my favorite book series, "Outlander" by Diana Gabaldon. Furthermore, one of the characters in that book is named Ellen MacKenzie, and we have an Ellen May McKenzie in our family!! Is that wild, or what.

Happy Easter!

2010-04-05T09:14:00.000-06:00

We had a really fun Easter this year! The girls woke up and found that the Easter Bunny had left them baskets full of CANDY!! They were really excited, and decided to eat chocolate cadbury eggs in lieu of scrambled eggs for breakfast. After watching conference together, we got in our minivan and started down to my mom's house. We got to Farmington, and Jason noticed that the car felt like it was driving funny. He pulled over and... the rear tire was flat! We were near a gas station, so he filled the tire up with air and drove home on the back roads. The tire stayed inflated all the way home, thankfully. We switched the kids and all our stuff (I was bringing a homemade berry pie and some salad dressing to the Easter dinner), and headed back down to my mom's in Jason's car. We made it to mom's and enjoyed a delicious Easter dinner, with grilled lamb, a vegetable gratin casserole, rolls, salad, and berry pie. It was a good dinner, and everyone had a really fun time! After dinner, we left my mom's and headed over to Jason's parents. We had a fun time hanging out with them, and catching up on the family news. We dressed the girls in their pajamas and headed home, where we went to bed. Happy Easter everyone!

Updates on the Family

2010-03-25T09:41:00.000-06:00

With my zeroed-in focus on my diet and exercise, I have neglected to post the cute pictures I have taken recently! So, here are some updates!

Here's poor Rachel, so tired, she just fell asleep right on the couch watching Sesame Street!

And here she is enjoying a beater from (pre-diet) brownie making! Yum!

I put the dress on Rachel for church... and she put everything else on herself, including the polka-dot stretch pants, the green skirt underneath, the slipper socks, the shoes, and the hat! Fashionista!

We went to Arctic Circle for lunch, and in the kids meals, they had these cute little Easter bunnies. Well, the girls LOVE them. They slept with them at night, and had them sit by them at the dinner table and at breakfast... they haven't let them go since we got them.

My dad got Jason this home water carbonator and soda maker for Christmas... it just came in now, so it's a very late Christmas present, but anyway, now we can make our own soda. It's really quite fun! One of Jason's favorite drinks is plain soda water with lime. He's thrilled to have this! We made our first bottle of soda last night, and had soda water with lime at dinner. I also made Jason a liter bottle of flavored soda (using the syrup pictured) for him to take to work. How many other husbands can take homemade soda to work?

New Blog

2010-03-25T09:11:00.000-06:00

I have decided to create a new blog, about my health and fitness journey. 3 Girls and a Guy is supposed to be my family blog, with stuff about my kids, that I can make into scrapbook stuff later. And so, I have moved all my health and fitness related posts to my new blog: "Real Food, Real Fitness" http://realfoodfitness.blogspot.com/
So, if you want to continue to follow my weight loss journey, please bookmark that blog and check it often!

Thanks everyone!

Happy Superbowl!

2010-02-07T11:29:00.002-07:00

I made these peanut butter cookie footballs to celebrate the superbowl... and to lure my choir members into coming to choir practice today after church!!

Some Pictures

2010-02-03T14:36:00.001-07:00

Here are some pictures to go along with my last post... one of Rachel (who I noticed after I put the picture on the computer that she has some cereal in her mouth!) and one of Lizzy with her completed potty training chart and the toy she received for going potty each time.

Potty Training and 18 Month Checkup

2010-02-01T09:26:00.002-07:00

Hooray! Lizzy is potty trained! We spent 3 days at home doing nothing but potty training, and she is now an independent toileter. I started off with a "Go, Diego, Go" potty chart, some smiley face stickers, and a promise of a new toy if the chart got filled, 16 pairs of "Dora" underwear, and lots of spray cleaner and rags for cleaning up accidents! The first two days, there were many accidents. She made it to the potty only 50% of the time, and the first day she just peed wherever she was sitting half the time. The second day, she tried to make it to the potty ever time, but peed on the way 50% of the time. The third day, she had one accident on the way to the potty in the morning, and then no more accidents the rest of the day, and the fourth day was perfect. The other fun thing we did for the first day, we had my mom and Jason in on it, and they pretended to be Dora and Diego, respectively, and Lizzy got to call one of them after each successful potty venture and tell them what she did. Thanks to both Grandma and Jason for using goofball voices on the phone in front of their co-workers!

In other news, Rachel had her 18 month checkup. She is very healthy! She weighs 19 pounds and is 31 inches long, which puts her at 3rd percentile for weight and 50th for height. She's smaller than Lizzy was at her 18 month, but not by much! The doctor said her language skills were amazing, since she can speak in 2 and 3 word sentences, and she really impressed him by singing the "ABC" song! She still suffers from eczema, but we keep her lathered in Eucerin, which usually controls it really well. That's all for now from the Gale family!

Health Care Crisis?

2010-01-29T11:10:00.002-07:00

Below is a letter written by a young physician by the name of Dr. Starner Jones. His short two-paragraph letter to the editor of his newspaper in Jackson , Mississippi accurately puts the blame on a "Culture Crisis" instead of a "Health Care Crisis". It's worth a quick read:

Dear Mr. President:

During my shift in the Emergency Room last night, I had the pleasure of evaluating a patient whose smile revealed an expensive shiny gold tooth, whose body was adorned with a wide assortment of elaborate and costly tattoos, who wore a very expensive brand of tennis shoes and who chatted on a new cellular telephone equipped with a popular R&B ringtone.
While glancing over her patient chart, I happened to notice that her payer status was listed as "Medicaid"! During my examination of her, the patient informed me that she smokes more than one costly pack of cigarettes every day and somehow still has money to buy pretzels and beer.
And, you and our Congress expect me to pay for this woman's health care? I contend that our nation's "health care crisis" is not the result of a shortage of quality hospitals, doctors or nurses. Rather, it is the result of a "crisis of culture", a culture in which it is perfectly acceptable to spend money on luxuries and vices while refusing to take care of oneself, or, heaven forbid, purchase health insurance. It is a culture based on the irresponsible credo that "I can do whatever I want, because someone else will always take care of me".
Once you fix this "culture crisis" that rewards irresponsibility and dependency, you'll be amazed at how quickly our nation's health care difficulties will disappear.

Respectfully,

STARNER JONES, MD

I saw this exact same thing with the students at the high school where I taught math. They couldn’t afford a calculator and the school bought them breakfast and lunch each day but they still all had cell phones, ipods and bought sodas and candy bars every day.

Hair Curling Video

2010-01-26T09:32:00.003-07:00

Here is a video I shot of curling Lizzy's hair with a straight iron. I didn't understand the description of how to do it when I read it on the hair website, and wasn't able to do it myself until the hairdresser showed me how. So, here is the video.

Curly Girls and Vacuuming

2010-01-24T12:42:00.003-07:00

I got my hair cut recently, and while I was there I asked the stylist if she knew how to make spiral curls using a flat iron. I had read on a hair website with little girls' hairstyles that you can quickly and easily make spiral curls with a flat iron, and it's safer than holding a burning hot curling iron right next to their scalp for 15 seconds for each curl. The stylist did know how, and she showed me... it is easy and fast, and so I did it on Lizzy's hair today for church! Doesn't it look gorgeous! For those interested, you take a section of hair, clamp it at the top with the flat iron, just as if you are going to straighten the hair, and then wrap the hair down and around the flat iron. Then, twist the flat iron in a downward direction until the hair is coming out of the center of the flat iron and pointing out towards you. Slide the iron down the hair, and voila! Instant spiral curl.

Also attached are some videos of the kids... been a while since I posted any of those. The first one is of Rachel face-planting on our bed, and the second is one of the reasons I LOVE my swivel sweeper... because Lizzy can use it to sweep up her messes!

CSA Time Again!

2010-01-18T08:28:00.003-07:00

It is time to sign up for a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). For the uninitiated, this is a fantastic program where you buy a share in a local farmer's crop, and then all throughout the harvest season (June through October, in Utah), you receive a shipment of freshly picked organic vegetables. Eating "local" this way helps save our precious natural resources, as the vegetables you buy from the grocery store have usually been shipped long distances to get here (remember the ads for fresh vegetables from Chile at Smith's?). Plus, the taste of vegetables grown to ripeness and picked that same day is unbelievable. If you have a horribly black thumb, as I do, and would like to integrate more vegetables into your family's diet, as well as help save the environment... then, sign up for CSA this year! I use East Farms, and I get a half share, which was a ridiculous amount of vegetables for our family of 4! You can sign up here: http://www.eastfarms.net and if you want to see a sample, I blogged every week last year about what I received from them, with pictures and recipes... so check it out, starting in June of 2009.

Merry Christmas!

2010-01-05T09:36:00.002-07:00

We had an incredibly busy holiday season this year. It all started on December 23, when my sister Michelle got married. The wedding was at the Layton courthouse, and then afterward, my family and her husband's family all came over to our house for a celebration. My mom brought champagne and sparkling cider, and we all had a fun time toasting and watching football. Then, on Christmas Eve, Jason's family came over (except for one brother, who was at his in-law's) and we had a lovely dinner and gift-opening. In the picture, you can see all the grandkids in the hats that Jason's mom made for them all. After our kids went to bed on Christmas Eve, Jason and I set up the Thomas train set we got for Lizzy and Rachel on the living room floor, so it would be the first thing they'd see when they came out in the morning. Lizzy was SO excited about it, she didn't want to open any other presents, and she didn't want to go to my mom's house, either! Jason had to work on Christmas, so we opened presents with the girls before he left, and then the girls and I got ready and headed over to my mom's house. We opened presents with my mom, sisters, step-dad, cousin, and uncle, and then had a delicious Christmas dinner. The day after Christmas, we went to my dad's house to open presents and have yet another delicious holiday dinner with him and my stepmom, and her family. The next day, the 27th, was my 30th birthday... and by this time, I was ready to change my birthday to another month... but, we still had a fun time with my family, eating some more extremely unhealthy food, and opening awesome presents. Unfortunately, by the afternoon, Rachel had had enough holiday fun, and she developed a fever, and was sick for the next 24 hours. That meant we did not attend my sister's birthday party (the one who got married) on the 29th. Then, on new year's eve, we went to our friends' house to party with them. Unfortunately, Lizzy got the fever and threw up on their kitchen floor. She was quite miserable, and we left at 8:30! She had the fever and felt awful for 24 hours, just like Rachel, and then it was 2010 and the holidays were over. Whew.

Souffle!!

2009-12-16T12:56:00.002-07:00

Voila, souffle au fromage! Yes, I am a master chef (wink). Here is a picture of my first ever attempt at a souffle. I am very pleased with the results. Looks good, and tastes amazing! The recipe is from "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" by Julia Child, the book from the movie "Julie and Julia." I have actually not yet seen the movie, but my mom did, and she realized that she actually owned that book from early in her marriage! She never cooked out of it, because the recipes were too difficult, but she knew I'd love it, and I do! So, thanks mom! Also, Rachel's hair is now long enough to put in to these adorable pig tails! I just love it! Lizzy has been signed up to start beginning ballet and tap class in January. We got her leotard and tap shoes the other day, and she is SO excited! She picked out the yellow leotard herself. It was her favorite!

Las Vegas!

2009-12-14T08:04:00.002-07:00

We went on a small trip to Las Vegas last week. Jason had a pharmacy conference there that his work was paying him to go to, so the girls and I tagged along. The girls did fantastic on the drive down, even when our windshield wiper fluid froze up and we had to stop at a firestone so they could thaw, drain, and refill our tank with non-freezing stuff. (Coincidentally, we determined that the reason it froze was because the firestone we went to for an oil change in the summer had filled our tank with normal fluid, which of course we didn't use up by the time winter rolled around.) While we waited we had a very disappointing lunch at Goodwood BBQ company (Holy Smoke BBQ RULES!) and then we were back on the road. We made it to our hotel later in the evening, so we just watched TV and went to bed. Jason had to go to the conference early to check in, so we all went to the Venetian (where the conference was being held), and Jason checked in. Then we had some time before his first meeting started, so we wandered around the strip. I got an awesome pair of $80 jeans on sale for $30 at Banana Republic! We ate lunch (I can't remember where, so it must not have been memorable!), and then the girls and I went back to the hotel. We stayed at the Tahiti Village resort, the same one we stayed at a few months ago. Rachel had her afternoon nap, and Lizzy and I watched "Elmo In Grouchland." After Rachel's nap, it was only 50 degrees outside, and somewhat overcast, so I took the girls down to the hot tub to play. They really loved that! It's a large kidney-bean shaped hot tub with a bench seat all around the edge. The girls had fun walking around and around the edge, singing "pop goes the weasel". Even Rachel's pretty good at that one... she sings "pop...eeeesuuul"! We picked Jason up from the conference at 5:00 and came back to the hotel where we ate dinner. The next day, Jason had meetings all day. We dropped him off at 8:00 am, and then the girls and I just hung out at our resort again. We played in the hot tub, and on their fake sand beach, and played with the toys we brought at the hotel. At 3:00, after Rachel woke up from her nap, I packed the girls into the car and we drove over to the venetian. With Lizzy in the stroller, and Rachel in the mai-tai carrier, I'm sure we looked out of place in Vegas! But, the girls and I had a ton of fun walking around the canal shops and the adjoining palazzo shops. We got to see a little free show in the "town square" in the center of the canal shops, with jugglers, singers, etc. Lizzy really liked that a lot! She got to shake hands with several of the performers afterward, who thought she was really cute! At 5:00, we met up with Jason, and one of his friends who was also attending the conference, and his wife, and we went to dinner at "Trattoria Reggiano", an Italian restaurant in the Venetian that Jason and I discovered on our last trip. It is a fantastic restaurant. I had lobster ravioli, and Jason had chicken marsala. Both were delicious. Then we went back to our hotel, and watched The Biggest Loser finale. The third day, Jason didn't have to be at the conference until 2:00, so we slept in, and then went down to the strip mid-morning. We walked around the Paris hotel, and ended up eating lunch at the restaurant at the top of the Eiffel Tower, "Eiffel Tower Restaurant." It turned out to be the best restaurant we have ever eaten in! If you ever go to Vegas, we HIGHLY recommend this place... although, be sure to go there for lunch - I found out you have to make reservations MONTHS in advance for dinner, and even still, there is a long long wait to get in. At lunch, there were only 3 or 4 other parties in the restaurant. The best part... we ordered an appetizer, two entrees, and a dessert, and the meal was only $60! We had a blue cheese souffle (it was not strong, like you'd think... just AMAZING texture, flavor...so good!) on top of greens, drizzled with balsamic vinegar and walnuts. Then, I had something called "crab toast" which turned out to be like French toast stuffed with crab, although that description hardly does it justice. It was melt in your mouth delicious. Jason ordered a steak sandwich. The steak was so tender, you didn't hardly have to chew it, and it had a roquefort and horseradish sauce, and onion relish. None of the flavors were overpowering, it was just perfectly balanced flavor and texture... he said it was the best sandwich he'd ever eaten. For dessert, we got my favorite dessert of all time, creme brulee. It was SO good... just outrageous. And then the bill came... $60... we were so happy, we could have cried! Meanwhile, our table was right by the window, at the top of the Eiffel tower, overlooking the beautiful Bellagio fountains. Yeah, it was a fully amazing experience. After we got home, we were kind of sick of Vegas being so cold (after the first day being 50, it dropped down into the low 40's and high 30's, and it was too cold for even the hot tub that third day), and Jason had picked up a cold, and was feeling quite miserable, so we decided to call it a trip, and we drove back home in the middle of the night while the girls slept. We got home at 3:00 am, and went to bed. It was a pretty good trip. There are no pictures, because I could not find the camera! On the drive home, I noticed it was in the pocket of the door in the car. Oh well!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-30T10:26:00.005-07:00

We had a really fun Thanksgiving! For the first time, I made a Thanksgiving dinner! I made turkey, stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, rolls, salad, sparkling apple cider, pumpkin pie, and cherry pie with whipped cream. Everything turned out great, except for the mashed potatoes! Those were the last thing I made, and all the other food was ready... they were taking longer to cook than I wanted, and due to other things also taking longer to cook than planned, we were already eating an hour or two behind schedule! So, I got impatient and undercooked the potatoes (slightly) and then I didn't have a clean measuring cup available, and I eyeballed the milk and got in way too much! So, our potatoes were lumpy and runny... yuck! But, oh well. The funny thing is, the mashed potatoes were the simplest recipe I made! My mom, sisters, cousin, and my cousin's roommate all came to the dinner, so we had 10 people total... 9 women and 1 man (Jason!). Poor guy! We watched the football game, of course, and had a lot of fun. Everyone helped out with the cooking, too, which was also fun! The best dish was the sweet potato casserole, which I have posted the recipe for on my recipe blog, so check that out if you want to make an amazing side dish for your next holiday party! I was very excited, because Jason gave me my Christmas present early just for Thanksgiving dinner... service for 12 china set and serving dishes. They were very beautiful, just plain off-white with a platinum border on the edge. It made our table very elegant! I was also able to wear my new blue and brown apron that Jason's sister's friend made for me... she sells the aprons on her etsy website if any of you want one... see the link on the side for "polka dots and posies." Anyway, I hope everyone else had such a good Thanksgiving! We certainly have a lot to be thankful for!

3 Year Check Up

2009-11-19T08:58:00.002-07:00

Lizzy had her 3 year check up at the doctor on Monday. We planned ahead of time that if she got upset, we would tell her we would take her to Arctic Circle afterward to play on the playland and get an ice cream. It half worked... she was still really terrified. When she gets really scared of something, she does this shivering cry, and her whole body shakes. Even though she was crying and shivering, though, she still opened her mouth to say "aah" and let Dr. Sigg look in her eyes and ears. After all the poking and prodding was done, and Dr. Sigg was just asking us general questions about her health and development, she stopped crying and suddenly said, "Dr. Sigg isn't scary, he's really nice!" Then she was happy, and talking to him. Then, of course, after he was done with the examination, the nurse came in with her flu shot... and then she was crying again, and is once more afraid of the doctor. The first time she ever freaked out at the doctor was at her 9 month appointment, and she's been terrified of doctor's offices and hospitals ever since. The other day I had to pick up a prescription from the Tanner Clinic pharmacy. I pulled into the parking lot with the girls, and got them out of the car. Lizzy took one look at the building and started crying, "I don't want to go to the doctor! I'm scared of the doctor!" I told her we were just going to the store, not to the doctor, and the inside of the pharmacy looked enough like a store to appease her. What amazes me is, she's never been to the Tanner Clinic, so how she knew it was a doctor's office, I'll never know. Anyway, Lizzy is very healthy, and right on track developmentally. She weighs 31 pounds and is 3 feet 2 inches tall. That puts her at 75th percentile for height and 45th percentile for weight.

Sewing Fun

2009-11-15T11:26:00.002-07:00

On the "Hair Today" blog that I have linked here on my blog, the author posted a how-to for a simple but cute "Twirly Skirt" for little girls. I thought it looked intriguing, so I got some fabric and made these skirts yesterday for my girls to wear to church today. I was excited... they came out really cute. Just as the website advertised, the skirts were super easy, and I made both in about an hour. Their shirts don't match... this was at 8 pm, and so I just threw the skirts on with the shirts they were wearing for the day... dirty with dinner and everything! Click on the picture to see it larger. This morning I made a mini version of the skirt out of leftover fabric for Lizzy's new Barbie doll.

Happy Birthday Lizzy!

2009-11-14T10:24:00.004-07:00

My sweet little baby Lizzy turned 3 yesterday! She had a really fun birthday! She is presently in her room, where she took all her new toys and then closed the door so Rachel cannot play with them! She woke up this morning at 7:00, and the first thing she said was, "Can I play with my dollhouse now?" Her new dollhouse from Grandma and Grandpa Gale is definitely her favorite present, but she loves all her other presents at a close second! She got a doll stroller from my mom, and a doll to go in it from my step-dad. My sisters gave her a new outfit, and Jason and I got her a barbie doll with outfits and a carrying bag, and the new Tinkerbell movie. She has seen too many commercials for the Tinkerbell movie, because she unwrapped it, and said, "Oh! It's "Tinkerbell and the Lost Treasure!" That made everyone laugh! I made her a red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting, decorated with Tinkerbell, as you can see in the pictures, and we also had her favorite "Cowboy" pizza from papa murphy's. What's really funny is, before everyone showed up for the party, Lizzy kept saying she was still 2, and it was not her birthday yet. She wouldn't say it was her birthday until everyone came... I guess she thinks the birthday party is the actual birthday! So... does this mean that if I don't have a party I never actually turn 30??? Ha ha ha. You can see in the pictures that my little sister, Angela, desperately needs a barbie doll for Christmas, as she thoroughly enjoyed playing with Lizzy's. On a side note: if anyone is interested in the technique for how I made the tinkerbell, I put directions for it on my recipe blog: http://sarahsfavrecipies.blogspot.com

Mopping

2009-11-09T15:54:00.002-07:00

So, my homemaker battle has been floor cleanliness. Jason's pet peeve is dirty floors. He doesn't care if the beds aren't made, or if the dishes aren't done... but he HATES dirty floors. Of course, I have an almost-3 year old and a 15 month old, so they dirty my floors at least 3 times a day, and sometimes I just don't have the energy to sweep and mop one more time before Jason gets home from work! Anyway, I am a big informercial watcher (it's a secret vise that happened when I was up doing middle of the night infant feedings and care) and I got 2 WONDERFUL things off of informercials that I actually found worth sharing with all of you in the internet world. The first one is the swivel sweeper. The thing is AMAZING. Lizzy can use it, it is so easy! It swivels, like it says, and picks up stuff with rotating brushes in all 4 directions and on the corners. It also lies flat, so you can get it under stuff really easily. It is terrific for every day after meal touch ups. It works on both hard floors AND carpets, so when Rachel gets a hold of the kleenex box while I'm in the shower, and shreds 50 kleenexes all over the living room floor, it's no problem to clean up. The other wonderful invention that I got today is the shark steam pocket mop. Now this one is cool. I have tried traditional rag mops, the squeegee mops, and microfiber mops... they have all been terrible. We have travertine floors, and they have a marbled appearance, and are VERY hard to clean. I would often end up on my hands and knees scrubbing my huge expanse of tile floor by hand. When we first bought the house, the travertine looked beautiful, with a matte finish, but with a sheen to it. No matter how hard or much I mopped or scrubbed by hand, my travertine would be matte, with no sheen. In addition, I had to wait to mop until Rachel was napping, because otherwise, she'd follow me around, slipping on the wet spots and banging her head on the floor, or else crying behind the wall of chairs I made to block off the kitchen... it was just no fun. SOOOO, I saw that they had the steam mop at Costco, so I went for it. I mopped my floor with it today and WOW. It is amazing! It got everything up off the floor, and the sheen is back! It looks SO beautiful. I can't wait for Jason to get home and see my amazing floors! It's especially nice, because it dries almost immediately, so Rachel did not slip around on the floor. I also used it on our hardwood floor in the study, and regular tile floors in the bathrooms. They all came out gorgeous. Then, because I saw them do it on the informercial, I lifted the thing up and steam cleaned my granite countertops. Now that was cool! I also was able to steam clean the fireplace stones at the base of the fireplace, which were coated in nastiness from the kids, and have always been really hard to get clean. Anyway, enough informercial from me... if any of you are hating your constant cleaning the floor battle, I highly recommend these products!

New Recipes

2009-11-06T08:36:00.002-07:00

I've just posted two amazing new recipes on my recipe blog: Spaghetti Bolognese (meat sauce), and chocolate chip cookie bars. Go check them out: http://sarahsfavrecipies.blogspot.com

The cookie bars are soft, chewy, thick and wonderful - I think they're even better than eating cookies! The meat sauce comes out full of meat flavor, with really tender meat. It is a great meal because it makes a TON of food, but the ingredients are very cheap to buy! I paired the spaghetti bolognese with some ciabatta bread and spinach sauteed with garlic and a pinch of nutmeg. Try it out with your family!

Happy Halloween!

2009-11-01T15:06:00.003-07:00

We had a really fun Halloween! Jason's friend, Lane, came over to visit and watched the U of U football game with us. We grilled bratwurst sausages with peppers and onions, and they were really good football-watching "man food." I had bought some wings, a skirt, and a wand for Lizzy who had requested a Tinkerbell costume, and Rachel was going to wear the pumpkin outfit that Lizzy wore at Rachel's age, but Lizzy saw the princess costume that she had worn last year in the closet, and suddenly she wanted to wear that! So, Lizzy was a princess again, and Rachel wore the Tinkerbell costume! Jason took the girls out trick or treating, and I gave out candy. The girls really enjoyed trick or treating, although Lizzy was a little scared of some of the other kids' costumes! Here are some pictures of the girls in their costumes; with the pumpkins we carved; and a picture of Rachel with her first pigtails!

Phone Pictures

2009-10-16T08:39:00.005-06:00

We took the girls to Gardener Village with Grandma and Grandpa Gale... here they are sitting with Grandma Gale... I mean, a witch.

Also here: Lizzy went "poo poo" in the potty for the first time ever!

Lizzy was so tired one night, she fell asleep at the counter while I was making dinner!

Lizzy and Rachel climbing trees at Grandma Susan's house.

Lizzy at the zoo.

The girls being naughty at church.

At Last!

2009-10-10T07:25:00.002-06:00

It is a special day today... Rachel has just slept through the night for the first time IN HER LIFE. Which means, for the first time in 15 months... I SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT. She has been a terrible sleeper... waking up to nurse anywhere from 2 to 8 times during the night. Letting her cry doesn't work... she just ends up waking up Lizzy, and making Jason mad because then he is up too, and she wouldn't ever accept a substitute such as a pacifier or bottle. She would forcefully throw those to the side and demand "nuss! nuss!" However, she is now at the age where I weaned Lizzy, because Lizzy stopped nursing except for nighttime, and Rachel has just started this too. Also, my milk really dried up when Lizzy stopped nursing during the day, and the same thing has happened this time. When Lizzy dried me up, I layed in bed with her the night I stopped nursing her and just cuddled with her and told her the milk was "all gone." She whimpered and cried a sad cry, but then went to sleep after 15 minutes, and never nursed again. Rachel, I did the same thing last night, and she cried a MAD cry for 30 minutes. Boy, was she angry! We'll see how she does tomorrow... but this could be it! After 3 years and 9 months of being continuously pregnant, nursing, or both(!!) I am so ready to be done.

Last Week of CSA

2009-10-09T08:15:00.003-06:00

Sadly, this week was the last week of the CSA. We received a letter with our boxes telling us that it was the end. I have had a really fun time experimenting with all these fantastic fresh veggies, and I hope I have inspired some of you to either join a CSA or grow a garden, and enjoy the variety at its best. This week, we got onions, potatoes, corn on the cob, spaghetti squash, acorn squash, cabbage, and jalapeno peppers. My friend, Celia, gave me some tomatoes from her garden, and so I was able to make some homemade salsa, fish tacos, and some freezer tomato sauce. (Click the links to access the recipes.) A week from Saturday, we get to go to East Farms (it's in Layton) and pick our own pumpkins (one per family member) from their pumpkin patch! So that will be fun.

CSA week 17

2009-09-29T14:18:00.003-06:00

Tomatillos! I've never worked with them before... I'll have to look up what to do with them on Cook's Illustrated! Everything else is the usual: corn, tomatoes, potatoes, onions, and an assortment of peppers and chilies. Fun stuff! It should be getting down to the end soon... bummer! Last year (according to my friend who convinced me to join the East Farms CSA) they received shipments until the last week of October.

Acorn Squash

2009-09-28T08:35:00.002-06:00

One of the things we got this week from the CSA was an acorn squash that weighed one ounce shy of 2 pounds. Jason and I have never cared for winter squash when served by our parents in the past, and so I put off making it. But, I didn't want to waste it, so I looked up "acorn squash" on my favorite food website, Cook's Illustrated, and found their method of cooking it. (Cook's Illustrated is like the Consumer Reports of food - you have to pay for a subscription to their website; $25 a year; and they do recipe testing, equipment testing, and product testing that is all unbiased and really reliable.) Anyway, the acorn squash was a big hit. It tasted so delicious, and was wonderfully textured. Here is the article and recipe from Cook's Illustrated:

Tired of mealy, stringy squash that takes an hour to bake? We wanted it faster and better.

The Problem

After what seems like eons in the oven, it often lands on the table with little flavor and a dry, grainy texture.

The Goal

At its rare best, it is characterized by a sweet, almost nutty taste and moist, smooth flesh - a result that should not take hours.

The Solution

Believe it or not, microwaving took first place in cooking methods, presenting a squash that was tender and silky smooth, with nary a trace of dryness or stringiness. Hammering out the details was easy: Microwave on high power for 20 minutes, and the squash is perfectly cooked. It was best to halve and seed the squash before cooking; whole pierced squash cooked unevenly. Last, I learned that when added before cooking, salt seemed to better permeate the squash. Filling in the only remaining gap, equal portions of butter and dark brown sugar gave the squash ample - not excessive - sweetness. And for a smooth, cohesive filling mixture, combining the butter and sugar with a pinch of salt and briefly broiling the final product eliminated the nagging sticky glaze problem.

Squash smaller than 1 1/2 pounds will likely cook a little faster than the recipe indicates, so begin checking for doneness a few minutes early. Conversely, larger squash will take slightly longer to cook. However, keep in mind that the cooking time is largely dependent on the microwave. If microwaving the squash in Pyrex, the manufacturer recommends adding water to the dish (or bowl) prior to cooking. To avoid a steam burn when uncovering the cooked squash, peel back the plastic wrap very carefully, starting from the side that is farthest away from you.

Ingredients

2	acorn squash (about 1 1/2 pounds each), halved pole to pole and seeded
	table salt
3	tablespoons unsalted butter
3	tablespoons dark brown sugar

Instructions

Sprinkle squash halves with salt and place halves cut-sides down in 13- by 9-inch microwave-safe baking dish. If using Pyrex, add 1/4 cup water to dish. Cover tightly with plastic wrap, using multiple sheets, if necessary; with paring knife, poke about 4 steam vents in plastic wrap. Microwave on high power until squash is very tender and offers no resistance when pierced with paring knife, 15 to 25 minutes. Using potholders, remove baking dish or bowl from oven and set on clean, dry surface (avoid damp or cold surfaces).
While squash is cooking, adjust oven rack to uppermost position (about 6 inches from heating element); heat broiler. Melt butter, brown sugar, and 1/8 teaspoon salt in small saucepan over low heat, whisking occasionally, until combined.
When squash is cooked, carefully pull back plastic wrap from side farthest from you. Using tongs, transfer cooked squash cut-side up to rimmed baking sheet. Spoon portion of butter/sugar mixture onto each squash half. Broil until brown and caramelized, 5 to 8 minutes, rotating baking sheet as necessary and removing squash halves as they are done. Set squash halves on individual plates and serve immediately.

Count Chocula

2009-09-25T08:13:00.002-06:00

My kids are dead silent at the breakfast table this morning because of.... Count Chocula! Usually they eat cheerios, or oatmeal, or whole wheat toast, but at the grocery store I saw that they had (for Halloween) Count Chocula... ah the childhood memories. So I bought a box, and served it to the kids this morning. Chocolate cereal with chocolate marshmallows. What more could a kid ask for? I ate a bowl myself... it was delicious. Its only redeeming quality is that it only has 110 calories per serving! But the kids are LOVING it. Lizzy already told me it was "so delicious"! And I've never seen Rachel eat so much instead of throwing it on the floor. On a side note: I got the yogurt burst cheerios last week, and Rachel would pick out all the pink yogurt covered cheerios and eat them, and throw the regular cheerios on the floor! Anyway, here's to letting the kids eat junk every once in a while!