Morning Ride

There were a few mornings recently that we drove daddy to work.  One of those mornings I had Al's "bike" with us and we went for a ride on that walking path around the local park. He was loving it. I thought he was cute and all and I enjoyed seeing him enjoy himself, but I was hoping it would a bit more exercise for me. Instead of being exercise for me it was more of trying to help Al learn how to ride his "bike".
All in all it was good to be out and we'll have to try it again so Al can get more practice ridding.

Do you have Horns?

I found myself teasingly asking my son this last week "do you have horns?"  The first few times his answer was "no mama just ears". Then he realized I was teasing him about his rug burn scabs and he would cry "no horns".
I need to remember the "no just ears" for the next someone asks me if Mormons have horns or if as a Mormon I have horns.
Al got his "horns" by playing with the girls while they were sitting in a doorway bouncer. He was crawling under them and gave himself a rug burn on his forehead. The scabs fell off a few days later, They never bled but they did blister right at first. Poor kiddo, I hope he now has learned what happens when you rub against the carpet like that.

We have Climbers

Nothing is safe. At this point in order to baby-proof our house any further it would involve moving chair and tables out of the reach of my daughters. Al was never really a climber. He started to climb on the counter to get into the kitchen around the time the girls were born but after getting in heaps of trouble for doing it, he moved past it.
But these girls are climbers and they have no fear. I am constantly turning around to find them on the couch or in this case the table (she had climbed out of her high chair onto the table). The biggest problem is they haven't figured out the climbing down thing yet.
Oh my what am I going to do with them. I'm in trouble now.

Grandma's Sewing Machine

I want to point out that this machine is not new. I guess its no longer new to me either. I inherited it back in 2007. In this photo its missing a piece, I haven't lost it, that piece just hasn't made it into my bedroom where its new home is.


Back story (and the whole reason I decided to blog about it):
I love to sew. I received a sewing machine, a brand new one with all the bangs and whistles for my High School Graduation present. When it broke, died, and I realized new sewing machines are pieces of junk and I now needed a new sewing machine, my Grandma told me I could have her new sewing machine when she passed away. I told her thank-you and how grateful I was but in the back of my mind I was thinking "new sewing machines are a piece of junk, I want your old sewing machine" but beggars can't be choosers.
So when the time came along that I was to receive her sewing machine I was given the above shown sewing machine. A Singer series 500A, made in the early 1960's. I told my mother there was so mistake, that Grandma had told me I was to have her "new sewing machine", I was thinking that at this point this one couldn't possibly be for me, and that someone else was to get this gem of a machine. My mom laughed a little and told me that this was her "new" machine. She called it that because it was new compared to the black Featherweight that she had been given by her mother. All those years I debated finding and buying a new-to-me sewing machine. I'd watch things like ebay and craig's list waiting for the perfect "old" machine to make mine. Worrying about getting the "new" one from my Grandma. All all that time, the perfect "old" machine I wanted was my Grandma's "new" machine.

Oh the Mischief you do

We rearranged our master bedroom. There are more rooms in the planing to be rearranged but we haven't got there yet. Before rearranging our room the girls were interested in our room but rarely ventured to the far side of the bedroom. NOW they make a beeline for daddy's side: the book shelf, daddy's shoes, his nightstand. Apparently everything fun about the room is on daddy's side. I pick everything up and put it back at least twice a day. I am looking forward for this to get old and they get board of it. 

All Babies Sleeping

I was in the kitchen making cookies. Al was watching Curious George and the girls were crawling around and playing on the floor. 

I get done (took me about 10 minutes) and I turn around to find all my children passed out right where they were. 

Its always nice to get all my children to take a nap at the same time.

But its very odd and rare when they all do it, and do it on their own with out me trying. 

It was already after dinner. I put all my children and hoped they would stay asleep all night. Al did sleep all through the night. The girls woke up about an hour later and I had to try to get them to go back to sleep.

Under the Bed

My husband and I finally rearranged the furniture in our bedroom.
I had been reluctant but finally gave in.

Now under the bed is all clear and the girls are getting a kick out of crawling under it to the other side. Oh to be so small again. They won't be able to do it for too much longer. Not just due to size, but because soon my boxes of fabric will go under the bed.

What's for dinner- Not beef

Oh my beef is expensive these days at the grocery store. I haven't found a really decent price on beef- ground, chuck, steaks - in a long time. 

I have started making more meals with chicken. I don't hate chicken. Its just.... not my favorite. Beef is my favorite. I love beef.

What is your favorite meat? 

What changes have you made to your meal planing with the high price for beef?

I posted on my food blog wwptcooking how we're using chicken in different ways. Check it out.

We're also using pork more. Unless it was pork chops I was always afraid of cooking pork. I didn't know what to do with it. We purchased a kitchen aid attachment meat grinder. Now we grind chicken and pork so that I have ground meats for those ground meat meals we love so much. Many of them I can straight substitute ground meats. If you season your meats while cooking the texture and taste is just like the ground beef. I have also learned to do shredded chicken and shredded pork (pulled). I am feeling good about the expansion of my culinary skills.

July 4th celebration

Happy Independence Day.

Every year our ward has a 4th of July Pancake Breakfast.

(We bring our own sugar free syrup to use)

We were there early. My husband's calling is now with the 11 year old scouts. They had the color guard duty.

They did a great job. All in uniform and they were trying so hard.

The whole time our darling girls were passed around being held by everyone.

Our son got a snow cone (in a cup) orange-ish flavored, he was thrilled with it. Who doesn't want a snow cone (in a cup) for breakfast. 

Our girls were so cute. Nellie has the navy headband on and Rose has a red one. We didn't buy these outfits for the holiday. We were just looking for something patriotic colored for them to ware, and I remembered that we had these outfits in the 12 months clothes box (they are only wearing 9 months right now). But it wasn't too big on us.

At the end of the morning our girls needed a nap. Aren't they just the cutest.

I made my "Guilt Free chocolate chip cookies" to take to our friends for dinner. Traditionally I make homemade ice cream. I look forward to this every year. I made us register on our wedding registry an awesome ice cream maker. This year I used...

the Kitchen aid ice cream maker attachment that runs about $100 new and I found it at a yard sale for $20. When my husband learned I bought another ice cream maker he wasn't happy I spent the money, but I told him I was going to buy it eventually (I love kitchen aid attachments). I could spend $100 or the $20. I made plain vanilla this year. Normally I try to get fancy but I decided to try to stay simple this year. Although it was NOT a calorie friendly ice cream. Yummy but not calorie lite.

We went up to town, sat in our car with it drizzling around us, watching the AWESOME firework show the city puts on.

After all our children were in bed I watched clips from 1776.

This is a tradition I miss. Growing up we'd watch the fireworks, and then come home and watch our horribly ghetto-taped-off-the-TV VHS version of this movie. I love the music and the singing and dancing and the acting, oh and the funny lines. I own a DVD of it but we recently re-did our room's furniture around and I can't our DVD. So to try to keep with tradition and get my 1776 musical fix, I watched clips of the movie and play versions on youtube.

Happy Independence Day. Thank-you to all those today and in history who has made it possible for us to have ideas, dreams, and freedoms to worship, work, and relax as we each see fit. I am so grateful to live in the Country and have such blessings.

DBacks Rubber Duck

 Rubber ducky you're the one you make life so much fun, rubber ducky I am fond of you.
My in-laws bought this rubber duck for me while at the Dbacks game we went to a few weeks ago  now. I had seen it in the store window and was admiring it when my mother-in-law said to my father-in-law, "go in there and buy the girl a duck" I love my in-laws!

I've been looking for a professional photo online, or it in an online store to post a good photo of it but I haven't been able to find one. So I had to take my duck for a photo shoot.

Where do you take a rubber duck for a photo shoot? Wind can't blow through its feathers. I decided to take it to the bathroom. In our shower. Now I'm not one who normally bathes with my ducks. If you want your ducks to have a long life it is hard to do so when they are bath duckies.

Word to take care of your duck: after every water time, make sure you squeeze every drop out of the duck that you can. Place duck on a dry towel and make sure it is is a dry place.

This Diamondbacks Rubber Duck is just awesome and makes a wonderful addition to my rubber duck collection. Thank-you my awesome in-laws.

YW's camp Video- Awesome ONE take

The boys of Mesa Arizona Citrus Heights and surrounding stakes made an all-in-one-take music video for the girl's at young womens' camp. It was shown the last night of camp and the girls loved seeing their peers singing about how they think the girls are beautiful the way they are. The cool thing it ... they got a helicopter to film it. 

Check it out:

Use the following like to take you to YOUTUBE to watch the video there.
like, share, and leave comments

http://youtu.be/qgGbIstzMV4

"It was a complete surprise," said Jayme Bawden, the stake young women's president, "the girls went crazy for it! They absolutely loved seeing the boys from their schools and wards." 

"My wife is our ward's camp director and she said it was awesome! Apparently the girls at camp watched it 4 or 5 times over and over and were upset when the leaders said no more," Jono Schnepf.

The video was made to show that the girls are beautiful as they are and not when they follow the world's standards. The Video editor also hid things in the video like Waldo from the popular Where's Waldo books.

This is the second year my brothers have been involved in making a video like this for this stake's YW girls camp. Last year they did the song SMILE. It turned out so good last year the stake wanted to do another this year on a larger scale.

Check it out and show it to your daughters and YW.

Job Search and other news

The photo was taken on Friday movie night. We were watching "Disney's Emperor's New Groove" for movie night. Al fell asleep on daddy's lap before the movie was even half way over.
Job Searching: Daddy has a job. Its not in his field but its a job. Its a contractor job. The contract ends in September. We should be find out if the contract is being renewed. So if it is renewed we won't be in a hurry to find a new job, but we aren't looking at keeping this job for the long haul. 

good morning sunshines

Our girls are so happy every morning. Rose is on the left and Nellie on the right. some days they look so different, but other days I spend the whole day trying to remember what outfit I put on who.

Weekend in Mesa over

We went up to Mesa to see the family and go to the dbacks game.

When it was time to go home, Rose wanted to help daddy put the crib away.

Diamondbacks Game

It was our men's father's day gift to get to go to the Diamondbacks verses the Chicago Cubs.

The Diamondbacks won 5-10. It was a great game to watch. We had dinner at the TGIfriday's in the park. It wasn't any more expensive than any other TGIfriday's. Once the game started it was easy to get in and it was a fun space to watch the game. A reminder that its open all year round and you don't need a ticket to the game to go have dinner there. You're not going to be seated out on the balcony without a ticket (even with a ticket those are $100 each sold the day 30 minutes before starts). 

These are the things we brought home with us. The bobble heads of Ian Kennedy were the giveaway for the first 20,000 people into the park. The hat was for filling out a survey for a Chevy car dealership. And my in-laws bought me the Dbacks rubber duck.

Great date night, great evening, great game, great day!!!!

Biosphere 2 Family Trip

I found on GroupON a great deal to tour the Biosphere2. We went as a family, bringing my sister and her two children, and my parents.

I wasn't sure how well the children would handle the tour, but they all did great.

The last time I had gone I was in junior high and a tour consisted of walking around the outside of the buildings and standing in the sun. 

When I learned that the tours now take you around inside, I knew that we were going this summer. The picture above is of my father and Nellie. In the wind tunnel Nellie was laughing and thought it was great fun.

It was great fun. 

We'd totally recommend going. If you find a good deal. GroupOn has had it on a few times now. Next time it comes up pick it up.