• Bake 52

    by  • January 18, 2012 • 1 Comment

    I never posted about Bake 52, did I?  My friend Amanda asked if I wanted to participate in an online baking group and since I’m not much of a baker, I thought it would be a fun way to learn some new skills.  We are using America’s Test Kitchen Baking cookbook and each of us takes a turn to host and choose the recipe.  We all make it during the week, then post the results on our blogs every Wednesday.  We are three weeks in and I’ve come to realize that I have lots to learn about baking!  I’m posting over at In the Kitchen, so if you want to keep up with my disasters adventures, come on over!

    The best gift of all!

    by  • January 5, 2012 • 18 Comments

    I forgot to post about the very last gift we gave the kids (well, not really forgot, but the timing wasn’t quite right to share yesterday).

    It took them a little while to figure it out.  Initially, they thought it meant Zoey was coming back.  Then they thought maybe this was for their cousin Kamdyn (who is 3 years old, but the baby of the family, so I suppose that was their logic).  We finally had to just tell them that we are having a BABY!!  And they were SO excited!

    The big mystery has been whether it would be ONE baby or TWO (or more, Heaven help us).  Today we found out that there is….

    *

    *

    *

    *

    *

    *

    *

    *

    *

    *

    *

    *

    *

    *

    *

    *

    ONE baby!!

    I would gladly take twins again, but I admit that it was a HUGE relief to find out that there is only one little bean in there.  In fact, it was a huge relief just to see that everything is OK and on track….I feel like I can finally breath for the first time this week.   We hope that this will finally be the baby that we bring home from the hospital with us without an early delivery or stay in the NICU….or trip to the cemetary.  This is my 5th baby….I deserve that at least once, right?

    If there is one thing I learned after my pregnancy with Zoey, of which I kept very little record and have very few pictures, it’s to write down every little detail and take as many pictures as you can (even when you feel fat and ugly).  I so wish that I had more pictures of me pregnant with her.  I did much better with my next two pregnancies and plan to do the same this time.  But I know that the whole world may not want to constantly read all my updates (because the whole world reads my blog, you know), so for the time being, I will keep a seperate blog HERE that you are welcome to follow if you’d like.  I’ll probably post big updates here as well, but the nitty gritty will be on the new blog.

    Wish us luck!  I’m sared, as usual, and could use all the prayers I can get!

    Christmas 2011

    by  • January 4, 2012 • 2 Comments

    Christmas was wonderful this year!  I LOVE that I had most of my shopping and wrapping done by Thanksgiving.  Did I miss out on some deals?  Probably.  Do I care?  NO!  It’s totally worth whatever extra money I may have spent to have the entire holiday season to enjoy being with my family doing fun things.

    We decided to try something new this year with presents.  Each of the kids got 4 main presents:  Something you want, something you need, something to wear, and something to read.  We tucked in a few extra small things here and there for stockings, but aside from that, these four gifts were it…..and it was a BIG hit!  A new tradition for our family for sure.  The kids were so happy with what they got and they were never overwhelmed with too much to choose from later on when they were playing with their new toys.

    Christmas Eve was pretty relaxed.  We enjoyed a nice turkey and mashed potatoes meal and the kids opened their Christmas jammies and gifts to each other.  They were really good to go to bed when asked and fell right asleep.  My mom has been waiting forever to give Emmy a nightgown like this.  She gave one to my sister and I most Christmases when we were kids and was excited to carry on the tradition with Emmy.  When Emmy opened it, she exlaimed “It’s so beautiful!” and then danced and danced in it.


    After the kids were asleep, Joseph and I got busy playing Santa.  Ryan told Emmy and Owen this year that Santa isn’t real….I had planned to give them this one last year, but oh well.  It’s really quite nice that they know.  We still have fun with the idea of Santa, but the kids seemed so much more focused on the real meaning of Christmas this year.

    We let the kids get up pretty early this year so that we’d have time to open gifts, have breakfast, and get ready for 9 am church.  We had plans to head to my mom’s after church, so we needed to get all of our Christmasing done in the morning.   I love watching the kids’ faces when they see their piles of gifts.  At the last minute we decided to add a Pillow Pet to each pile and even though it was extra, I’m glad we did.  They’ve asked for these for 2 years and were so excited to finally get them.

    I think one of Ryan’s favorites was his new BYU hoodie!

    The Lalaloopsy doll was a totally random purchase that turned out to be the “in” toy of the year.  I had never heard of or seen them before and we were in Target in early November doing some shopping and I thought “that’s kind of a weird looking doll, but I kind of like it”.  It was on sale, so we decided to get it for Emmy’s want.  Later in December, I felt very lucky as I heard of people going to the ends of the earth trying to get their hands on one of these.  Who knew?

    Owen has been begging for “little Legos” for months, wanting to be more like Ryan.  He was really happy to get a big box of them!

    Everything turned out to be a hit!  We didn’t have to make any returns and nobody was jealous of what someone else got.  We have such great, grateful kids!

    And for my own record-keeping, here’s the list of what each child got:

    Owen

    Want: Legos
    Need: New bed quilt
    Wear: Toy Story pajamas
    Read: Monsters Don’t Like Broccoli

    Emmy

    Want: Lalaloopsie doll
    Need: Certificate for a girl’s night out with mom
    Wear: Sweater
    Read: Bedtime for Frances

    Ryan

    Want: Legos
    Need: New bed quilt
    Wear: BYU hoodie
    Read: A-Z Mysteries

    Book Reviews

    by  • December 30, 2011 • 1 Comment

    Sarah's KeySarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay

    My rating: 3 of 5 stars

    I liked Sarah’s Key. Didn’t love it, didn’t hate it. I did love that it had such short chapters….that always makes a book easier to get through for me. And switching between past and present with each chapter helped move the book along as well.

    I really struggled to get through the first little bit of the book. As the mom of a four year old boy, it was just too heartbreaking to comprehend what was/was going to take place. Once I got past that, the remainder of the book was enjoyable.

    I liked the overall storyline….I typically enjoy WWII-era stories and this was an aspect of the war that I had little knowledge of. It’s main downfall for me was that it was so incredibly predictable….and I’m not usually one to be able to predict what’s going to happen. Had that not been the case, Sarah’s Key would have been a 4-star read for me.



    Water for ElephantsWater for Elephants by Sara Gruen

    My rating: 2 of 5 stars

    I had high hopes that I’d like this book….it had such rave reviews, and the film had decent reviews as well…..but it just didn’t grab me. It wasn’t until the last 60 pages or so that I actually felt compelled to pick the book up out of a desire to find out what happens next, rather than “if I’m ever going to finish, I better keep reading”. For me, the biggest distraction was the unnessary sexual content and language. The thing that makes me most sad is that I added this book to my Amazon cart in order to put my order over $25 to get free shipping (what a smart move on Amazon’s part….sucks me in every time!), so I now own a book that I’ll never read again and don’t even feel good recommending and loaning out.



    I'd Know You AnywhereI’d Know You Anywhere by Laura Lippman

    My rating: 3 of 5 stars

    I might have given this book four stars if I’d rated it right after I finished it….but it’s been a week and I’m already having a hard time recalling the specifics of the storyline, so it obviously didn’t make a 4-star impression on me. When I picked it up, I thought it might be a little unnerving, considering it’s about a serial killer….and it was chilling at parts, but I never had a hard time turning out the light and going to sleep. I did like the book…it was gripping from the very start and I wanted to keep reading to find out what happens next. Good enough to recommend, but probably won’t go on my “read again” list.



    The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt KidThe Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson

    This book reminded me of “A Girl Named Zippy” which I thoroughly enjoyed. However, I guess I just wasn’t in the mood to read a memoir because I couldn’t make myself pick this book up after getting a few chapters in. I may give it another go sometime down the road, but for now, it’s back on the shelf.



    The Peach KeeperThe Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Allen

    My rating: 4 of 5 stars

    I really enjoyed this book. Pretty easy read, nothing too deep, but with some fun twists that keep you wondering what will happen next. The love stories are slightly “too good to be true”, but we all need a dose of that occasionally, right? Definitely worth picking up!



    View all my reviews

    Gingerbread House 2011

    by  • December 19, 2011 • 2 Comments

    I’m perpetually about a week behind getting all of our holiday activities posted.  Last Monday for FHE, we put together our gingerbread house.  I’m afraid that my cookie cutters are a bit warped and the pieces of the house did not come together very well….good thing for lots of icing!  I scaled back on the amount of candy I had this year and I think it was better for the kids….fewer items to choose from meant fewer arguments and fewer leftovers for them to get a sugar high on.

    Last year I waited until we were ready to decorate to put the house together, which meant that it was unstable because the icing wasn’t dry.  I learned my lesson and this year I put the house together earlier in the afternoon.  We started with a nice clean slate…

    And ended with a house a little less busy and crazy than last years!

    Lights at Temple Square

    by  • December 14, 2011 • 2 Comments

    Going to see the lights on Temple Square was on our to-do list this year.  We’ve never taken the kids before but felt like this year they were old enough to enjoy it and not complain too much about the cold.  My mom had a rare week off of work, and she came up for a couple of days, so we planned to take our outing while she was here.

    We decided it might be fun to hop on the commuter rail to get downtown.  Joseph determined that it was cheapest to buy two group passes rather than individual passes…..had we done our homework, we’d have known that the twins could ride free and we only needed one pass and could have saved ourselves a chunk of change.  Oh well….maybe we’ll have to ride one more time before February when they turn 5 and aren’t free anymore.  The train ride was definitely a highlight for the kids!

    Emmy particularly loves Christmas lights.  It was fun to see the kids ooh and aah over all of the lights on Temple Square.  We wandered around the south end of the Square and then headed across the street to Deseret Book to see their gingerbread factory window display.  I had heard about it on the radio and it did not disappoint!  The kids loved it and there was a free gingerbread cookie to enjoy before we headed back out into the cold.

    We enjoyed more of the lights outside, watched the Natvitiy presentation, and warmed up in front of the Christus statue in the visitor’s center.

    The kids were starting to get pretty hungry by this point, so we wrapped up our visit by taking TRAX to The Gateway to find food.  We opted for the food court so that everybody could choose what they wanted and I thought it was important to document our first experience with McDonald’s Happy Meals.  Sorry people….I think McDonald’s food is nasty, so with the exception of a couple of stops for breakfast in the last 10 years, we NEVER eat there.  My children have been brainwashed to feel about McDonald’s much the way they’ve been brainwashed to feel about WalMart.

    I felt kind of bad because when Ryan initially asked if he could eat there, I said no.  The main reason was that I didn’t want him getting a toy from a Happy Meal and the other two have nothing.  So he chose to go with Grandma to get a corndog.  Emmy and I ventured off to get pizza.  In the meantime, Owen had asked for McDonald’s and Joseph complied.  When we all got back to our table and Owen had a Happy Meal, Ryan was pretty upset.  Joseph was in a particularly giving mood, so he went and bought a Happy Meal for Ryan.  Emmy was a bit jealous, but we convinced her that pizza was way better than McDonald’s anyway, and we shared some chips with her from Subway…..she’s easy to please.  I fear that those awful red boxes have unleashed monsters in my children and they’ll be begging for the rest of their childhoods to eat at McDonald’s.

    In the end, I think the night was a success.  Emmy declared over and over “This is the best day EVER!”.  I think we’ll try to make this one a family tradition!

    Grand America

    by  • December 9, 2011 • 4 Comments

    Last Saturday we headed downtown to take pictures for this year’s Christmas cards.  To make the excursion a little more fun for the kids, we decided to do an activity while we were there.  I had heard about a free scavenger hunt at the Grand America, so we decided to check it out.  The kids loved it!  They have window displays set up all throughout the main level of the hotel.  Each display tells a bit of the story of Maurice the Penguin and you have to find a star in each window and match it up with a clue on your card.  When you figure out all the clues, you take your card to the hotel’s toy store and exchange it for a sticker.  Then, you show the sticker to the girls in the bakery and they give you a free star-shaped sugar cookie.  It took us about an hour to complete, and the the kids had a lot of fun.  The hotel is decked out in all the finest Christmas decorations, so that was fun to see as well.  And kudos to the Grand for having the final window display tell about the Nativity!  If you find yourself downtown and need a place to warm up, this is definitely worth the stop!

     

     

    Festival of Trees

    by  • December 3, 2011 • 3 Comments

    We had a really crazy weather day on Thursday….the skies were blue and the sun was shining, but the wind was howling to the point that I thought we might end up in Oz by the end of the day. The power went out shortly after I dropped Ryan off at school and stayed off all day long. I was so grateful for a gas stove so that I could at least make a warm lunch! Unlike much of our county, we made it through the storm without any damage. Thankfully, we already had plans to go to the Festival of Trees that night, so we were able to leave our cold house behind for a few hours.

    Joseph rode the train to work, so we drove down to pick him up. This was our first time seeing his new office and it was NICE! I was impressed. The kids each took a turn sitting at his desk.

    This was the first time we’ve taken the kids to the Festival of Trees and they really did quite well. We chose to go on Thursday night in hopes that it wouldn’t be super busy, and while there was still a good crowd, it really wasn’t too bad. The old man in the ticket booth tried to charge me $25 instead of $19 and then shorted me a couple of bucks on my change….I have a feeling that the Festival will come out on top with him behind the counter! Thank goodness it’s for a good cause!

    The kids oohed and ahhed over the trees, and Emmy LOVED watching all of the “little kid dancers” who were there to perform. After getting through about half of the expo center, we had to pick up the pace to keep the kids from getting bored, but we made it through most of the aisles. I wish we’d been able to see more of the gingerbread houses, but that’s where a large portion of the crowd was congregated and I just didn’t want to fight it.

    Picture-taking was tough for two reasons. First, it was hard to hold up the line behind you to stop and take a picture. And second, our kids weren’t at their most cooperative or photogenic. Case in point:

    After this one, I kicked Ryan out of the picture and got one cute one of Owen and Emmy.

    We had a lot off fun and were so happy to come home to a nice warm home with power!  I’m not sure we’ll go to this event every year, but maybe every couple of years.

    Deck the Halls

    by  • November 28, 2011 • 2 Comments

    We had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday last Thursday and then started right into the Christmas season the next day.  Over the weekend we put up all of our Christmas decorations as well as had the annual Z Family Christmas Party (pictures coming soon!).  The kids had a lot of fun decorating the tree and Joseph had even more fun changing all the burned out lightbulbs….oh, the joys of having a pre-lit tree.  I love the Christmas season and we have lots of fun activities planned over the next month.  Don’t hate us, but all of our shopping is already done and everything is already wrapped!  I’m so glad to have that stress out of the way so that we can enjoy just being together!

    Breaking Dawn

    by  • November 17, 2011 • 2 Comments

    I feel the need to add the disclaimer right at the beginning that I’m NOT a Twi-hard!  I’ve only read the books once and I’ve never seen a movie on opening night….in fact, we usually wait until it gets to the cheap theater.  However, when one of my fellow Share moms rented a theater for an early premiere of Breaking Dawn as a fundraiser for our awesome group, I decided that maybe I could brave the craziness and go with some friends.  It was for a good cause, afterall.

    The showing was at 6:00 the evening before the big midnight premeire, so it wasn’t as nuts as I thought it would be.  The movie itself….eh.  They certainly pushed the envelope this time around, probably barely scraping by with a PG-13 rating.  But the company was great!  Along with my neighbor Jen and my good friend Daniele, I was able to see lots of my Share friends and we raised almost $3500!!  SO many families will receive our wonderful services in their time of need because of this event.  Here we are showing off our check!