All My Time

The kids have both been marathon nappers lately so I have had a surprising amount of "me" time. Here's what I've done:

1) Made an apron for Heidi's birthday and I'm sending it off to her in the morning (I'll let Heid post a pic of the final product if she wants to :)





2) Read the book These Is My Words and loved it. Those frontier women were some seriously tough girls. I love the main character in the book and her candor, wit, and courage. Plus, there is nothing like a good love story :)







3) Made this yummy recipe--it's easy and tastes very good.

Bruschetta Chicken Bake:

1 can (14 1/2 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained
1 pkg (6 oz) Stove Top Stuffing Mix for Chicken
1/2 C water
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts,
cut into bite-sized pieces
1 tsp dried basil leaves
1 C mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place tomatoes with their liquid in medium bowl. Add stuffing mix, water and garlic. Stir just until stuffing mix is moistened. Set aside. Place chicken in 13x9-inch baking dish. Sprinkle with the basil and cheese. Top with the stuffing mixture. Bake for 30 min. or until chicken is cooked through. Makes 6 servings.

4) Watched all the great shows that are back on TV. Can I just say once again that I heart 30 Rock. Funniest show ever. Plus, The Office was pretty funny this week (and cute!) and I am loving The Bachelor as always--yay, I get to watch it tonight! Can't wait for new episodes of Lost and Grey's Anatomy on Thursday night.

5) Wrote a letter and an email to Marshall. And if there's any way he gets a chance to check out blogs again I am posting some random cute kids pictures from good old Hawaii :) We love you Marsh!!
Here's to another productive week right?!

Playday at Gateway

Another cold day yesterday=finding new ways to entertain our busy children:

An early lunch at CPK--classic Bentley face :)The 3 big boys: Ethan and Will can say almost anything and Bentley will laugh at it.

Sesame Street Bodies exhibit at Discovery Gateway

Sweet--the boys' favorite, silly word displayed all over the place! The kids got a huge kick out of the "gooey insides" part of the exhibit (OK--I did too. I don't have a picture of the Count's Organ Organ but each key played a little song about a specific organ and each was pretty clever--just something about ending a verse in "pee" or "poo" that will always be funny :)

Grover's Dance Party

My kids' favorite DVDs these days: Elmo's World

And finally the construction zone in the main discovery museum. This was by far Bentley's favorite spot and has been since our first visit there last year. He loves to ask me when we're going to "freestyle" so he can play on the construction crane. Don't ask me why he thinks that Discovery Gateway translates to "freestyle..."

We came home, made a delicious dinner (for once this week!) of zucchini bread and bruschetta chicken, and then Bentley had his very first tee-ball practice. I sent Joseph with both of the kids so I could clean up dinner and get some stuff done around the house. We all went to bed exhausted and even Bentley slept in until just before 8:00 am (that is late for him!) All in all--a good, busy day.

Ode to the Subaru

It's long overdue. But we have officially been without that little blue car for 2 months now so it's time to pay my respects. Don't get me wrong--I am very happy to have a shiny, new, leak-free vehicle in my garage but "Subie" had been a part of my life for over 10 years. Man that car brings back a lot of memories.

I first got the Subaru just days before I moved down to BYU as a freshman. I proudly showed it off to my girlfriends and had no idea what that car had in store for it. It was certainly a witness to tons of teenage drama during those first few years I owned it :) It was also a link to my big sis who shared it with me a few days a week so she could commute to work in SLC and then pick me up in Provo afterward so we could hit Gold's Gym together. It was also the vehicle of my very first road trip down to St George with tons of college friends freshman year, and the vehicle which took groups of friends to the cabin for sleepovers and on camping trips that summer. Subie witnessed several kisses, tears like crazy, spying on boys with Alyson, Emily, and Angela, singing at the top of my lungs, and many glorious 'mini-fights' with my brand-new husband (something about the Provo to SLC commute that just brought out our issues...don't worry--we got over them...mostly :)

The Subaru moved to Phoenix with us and Joseph and I shared it for a year before purchasing an additional car. That's when I pulled a mean trick and made Joseph drive it while I got the new car since his commute to work was about 2 miles and mine, to ASU, was about 20. He willingly obliged and for the past 6 years he put up with it as its condition worsened with time and all the mileage packed on from road trips between Provo and SLC, Phoenix and SLC, and Phoenix and Lake Powell.

It was a good little car and sustained some serious beatings: from one of the rocks near the driveway of the LeBaron's old Holladay house (let's just say I was driving away in haste when Joseph made me mad during our dating days :), from a curb at the end of my parent's street when Heidi borrowed the car as a newly licensed driver, from the non-stop Arizona sunshine while parked at ASU, Catapult, and CPA Market, from a huge tree splitting apart during a classic AZ monsoon and falling smack dab onto the Subaru's hood and windshield, and lastly, a 'renegade' trailer-hitch (ask Joseph...)

So many good times. Anyone else want to share a favorite memory of "Subie?"

Bentley's First Post

Funny little Bentley--he has been asking and asking very sweetly today if I could help him work on a blog. Mostly he just wants to sit in front of my laptop and type on the keyboard but I'll see if he has any 'real' words he want to share too :) So here goes (I'll note that Cares helped us with some very swift typing of her own but it is hard to distinguish from Bentley's typing--except that he holds his hands over the keys just like a skilled adult and then fires away--Cares' is certainly more random)


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I like firemen and fire trucks, they rescue people from the fires. I wish Caresie could get rid of her cold. She's crying really super hard. Diego rescue show is really super fun. At the park today, all of my friends went on the slide--Ethan, Elijah, Sisi and Kai. Caresie is my friend too. Fire pumps, cars and Sarge are things I really love. I want to be all done with my blog.

A Good Cry

Last spring, Cec told me about a blog that had captured her heart. As she told me of the darling family she'd been reading about, and mom in particular (the writer of the blog), her eyes filled with tears. She went on to explain that the mother was dealing with the sudden loss of her "superprincess" daughter while still filling the roles of mommy to 3 other kids and wife to her dear husband. I knew I wanted to read that blog and as soon as my kids were asleep that day, I found it and dove in. I cried for an hour, not only because the posts were heart-breaking, but because they were so real, so beautifully written, and so full of raw emotion. The woman who writes the blog just also happens to be a stellar photographer so her words combined with her images really spoke to me.

Just this week I realized I hadn't seen that blog in ages and I wanted to check in again. And here I am, crying again because the latest entries are as tender and heartfelt as ever. If any of you have a chance, I recommend reading this lovely little blog. Be prepared--you may need some tissues and you may need an hour or 2 to read on and on if you can but I think your spirit will feel more full and more grateful because you did so. I love good writing that can remind me how lucky I am to be a mommy and have the chance every day to kiss my children's heads and feel their wild hair on my face, smell their freshly bathed bodies, dress my lady like a little princess and cuddle with my sweet boy when he is cold in the mornings, and tell them both, face to face, that I love them as they sit perched in my lap. Click here to read this fabulous blog and scroll way down until the Feb. 16th, 2007 entry to see where it all begins. Happy reading :) and let me know what you think...

Winter in April

I feel sad when I look outside and see this in April. Boo. It is no longer welcome. Rain I can take. Rain is even very pretty and very spring-like. But snow is not. In fact, from the time I took this photo, uploaded it and then started writing this entry, things look even worse outside and the grass is slowly fading under the huge blanket of white flakes. Argh. Is it really spring anywhere right now? Maybe in Reno, St George, Phoenix, Virginia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania?

This forecast is all that is keeping me from seriously going crazy. Well, that and my 2 little kids who are both sleeping soundly right now on this freezing, blizzarding day allowing me to blog and email and wash/iron fabric for my newest sewing projects. They're pretty much partners in crime these days and like to do everything together or in the same way. I love how Cares was just resting her little leg on Bentley in this picture while they watched a show and he didn't even mind. Cute.

Once the snow stops I am definitely taking/posting another picture just to document this ridiculous storm. Is it just at my house or is everyone getting hit hard with snow?


***the end result of the storm although I can't complain too much--most of it has already melted away.

Princess Parenting Tips

Yesterday, Cares and I were exploring a fun website while "IMing" with Joseph. We told him we were checking out disneyprincess.com and watching an Aurora music video from her Enchanted Tales movie. He checked out the link and told us he thought the "parenting tips" section was pretty funny. I asked him what it said since we hadn't ever looked at it and so he filled us in:

1. Never make your daughter do all the chores while you go to a ball.

2. Never tell your daughter you're ashamed of her, unless she steals your armor and goes off to war.

3. Never invent so many stupid things that you end up getting stranded and locked in a beast's castle, forcing you to sell your daughter for your own freedom.

4. If you are the king of the ocean, never trade your all powerful trident to the sea witch...for anything. Especially if you already have the power to turn your daughter into a human in the first place.

5. Never betrothe your daughter to anyone named "Jafar." "Jeffrey" is ok, but still questionable.

I bet my hubby could have gone on and on but these made my day yesterday so I thought I'd share them. It is quite fabulous to be married to a man who can make me laugh every day. Thanks for the silliness babe :)