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Monday, August 30, 2010

Tony & I teach the "four turning five" primary class now, and I just had to post the song that makes it impossible for me to make it through singing time without bawling:

Saturday, August 28, 2010

third day of Tony's vacation

On Wednesday through Friday we continued our "staycation" with the Salt Lake Connect Pass.  We got ours when they had a "three days for the price of two" special going on, so they were $36 for adults and $30 for kids.  It includes a whole bunch of attractions plus $10 toward dinner at the Lion House Pantry.  I told my sister Joy about the deal, and she wanted to do it with her family, too.  It even worked out to visit the attractions together!

Wednesday morning we started out with breakfast at the kids' favorite--Mc Donalds.

Then we drove up the canyon above Sandy to Snowbird ski resort and got to ride the tram up the mountain.

It was even cooler than I thought it would be!  The view from up there is amazing and the kids loved every minute of the ride and exploring at the top.  Joy even fed them peaches and blueberries.

Next, we drove down the canyon and to the Living Planet Aquarium.  Tony had taken the kids two years before when I was at the Shakespearean festival to wean Buddy :'( but I'd never been there before.  It is AWESOME!

One of our favorite things were the jellyfish.  I wish they would have photographed better!

Christian was afraid to pet the stingrays at first, then he couldn't get enough.

I loved all the touchable sea creatures.

While Joy and her family stayed for story time at the aquarium and headed over to the dino museum early, we took an extra trip into Utah county for our favorite Spanish Fork activities.  You know we have to make it there once or twice a year. We ate at Hickory Kist,

and fed the ducks at the industrial park.

After getting those in, we headed back to Thanksgiving Point Museum of Ancient Life.  I know the kids and I went not long ago, but they were itching to go back and really wanted to show it to their dad.  The sand and water table was a big hit again.  (I love how Lily is trying to climb into it in this picture.)


Even the big guys had to play!

We loved the exhibits, especially the scary ones:



And played in the sand.

At the end, we got to check out a special science lab that wasn't open last time we visited.  It had a bunch of experiments with light.  We learned so much and had so much fun!  This one had three colors of light, so therefore three colors of shadows.

This was a special wall that you stood against, struck a pose, and turned on the bright lights.  After several seconds, you turned the light off and your shadow was "stuck" to the wall.  Love those crazy poses!

On our way home we had to find a Dollar Tree store in Salt Lake to visit because we promised the kids they could pick two items there.  This was after Christian threw a gigantic fit at the aquarium in the gift shop.  We thought the promise would keep that from reoccurring at the museum, but Buddy was tired and ended up screaming at the door because they had closed.  Guess you can't win them all, but it was an amazing day!

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Early July and Tony's first two days off

We spent July 4th mostly hanging out at home and then celebrating with a barbecue at Tony's parents'.  The Monday afterward, we went to Toy Story 3 and then watched the Layton City fireworks.  We parked just off Main street, got out our chairs, and watched from there.  Great view and quick exit! 

Because I'm a terrible mother, Faith loves Lady Gaga.  Here is the outfit and makeup she came up with to lip sync a music video.

Christian has gotten much better at drawing figures.  Here is his self portrait done on a dry erase Micky Mouse learning book I got on clearance at WalMart.

On the 16th I got to go to lunch at the Olive Garden with my friend Ann while her husband Mike watched the kids.  He made them a giant slip-n-slide!  They had tons of fun, but I think the moms enjoyed their time even more!!

I sold the majority of my baby stuff on KSL classifieds and made over a hundred bucks!  Hopefully I won't need any of it in the future. . .

On Monday the 19th Tony started his summer week off work and we headed up to the Uintahs for some camping and fishing.  I'm not sure what's happening in this picture.  Apparently, Faith's a tree-hugger and Christian is up to heaven-only-knows-what.

Buddy was much more of a firebug this year.

Faith was obsessed with fishing!

That first afternoon we hiked around to the opposite side of Butterfly lake from where we were camping.  We were having fun fishing even though we weren't lucky enough to get a bite, that is, until a massive swarm of mosquitoes descended upon us and ATE US ALIVE. 

I knew it was time to go when I swatted Faith's calf and squished six of those buggers in one slap (that was a gross, bloody mess). I had doused the kids with repellent and used super "most deet  allowable by law" spray on myself (I don't use that kind on the kids for fear that it will cause them to grow cancerous tumors or a second head). Mine did an okay job even though mosquitoes tend to love me more than anyone, but Faith's was a total fail and she apparently inherited tasting awesome from me.  Tony, on the other hand, was annoyed by the bugs biting him, but didn't get any itchy bumps out of the ordeal!  Christian got some, but didn't fare too badly.

After reapplying bug spray in a big way, we went back to fishing, but closer to our camp.  Tony caught one and let Christian reel it in.  Buddy loved that thing and told me "I not want you to dead it!"  He came around after it was cooked and enjoyed eating him, but shed a tear the next morning because "him family will miss him!"

The other tragedy besides Faith being made into a giant, itchy lump (I have never seen so many mosquito bites on one person before) was that I forgot the marshmallows.  We brought plenty of treats, though, so the kids were somewhat satisfied by sticking anything else that they could think of in the fire.

The next morning I had to cook our breakfast directly on the campfire because the new mini propane tank that we brought to hook up to our camp stove was a dud and the metal grate was broken off our fire pit.  I thought our plastic handled frying pan was done for, but it survived!

Right next to our camp parking spot, we spotted this nest of baby robins directly at eye level.  We kept checking on them and even got to see the mother feed them.  We really needed some baby birds in our lives to heal our hearts after the satellite dish nest incident earlier this spring.

That morning even before breakfast (but after applying half a tube of anti-itch ointment), Faith headed down to the lake, by herself, to fish.  Our campsite was practically on the lake, so we could keep a good eye on her.  She didn't catch anything until coming back after breakfast, but then--success!

Tony removed the fish from her line, and on her very next cast out, she immediately caught another one!

And what, do you ask, was Buddy up to while Faith and Tony were fishing? 
And let me tell you, he got waaayyy muddier than that!  I had to strip him down and wash him in the cold spigot outside the outhouse.  Hopefully the fun was worth it!

Here is how great Baby is at casting this year:


Faith went on to catch two more before we left later that afternoon, and Tony only managed to reel five nearly onto shore and then lose them.  Tony's ego was a bit crushed because he loves a good competition (and you should hear Faith trash talk, by the way), but he sure was proud of his little girl!  We ate these guys for dinner at home on Tuesday, not too shabby, huh?  Way to go Baby Faith!!!

We were thinking about watching a video that night, but we were just plumb exhausted.  Tony and I learned that we are far too old to sleep on the ground in a tent anymore!

Saturday, August 14, 2010

White Bean Chicken Chili


This recipe is absolutely amazing.  It was introduced to me by my friend Kim Nelson at girls' night last fall and I've craved it on a regular basis ever since!  I wanted my parents to try it, so I made a crock pot of it for them one day to share with my grandparents.  My sister, Joy, happened to be over there just as it was ready and gave it a taste.  She loved it so much that she immediately called me from their house to get the recipe so she could make it that night for dinner!

White Bean Chicken Chili

1 Tbs. olive oil
1 & 1/2 lbs. chicken, cut in small pieces
     OR the meat from a rotisserie chicken (my favorite way to go)
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely minced

Cook the above together in a skillet until chicken is cooked through and the onions are translucent.  (If using rotisserie chicken, just cook onion & garlic.  Also, I like to cook the onions untill they start to brown.)  Add this to crockpot along with:

2 (15 oz.) cans great northern beans
1 (14.5 oz.) can chicken broth
1 (4 oz.) can diced green chiles
1/2 tsp. tobasco
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. oregano
1 tsp. cumin

Stir to combine and cook at least three hours on low.  Just before serving, mix in:

1/2 cup heavy cream
1 cup sour cream

Enjoy!  Makes 4-6 servings

Saturday, August 7, 2010

Twilight Eclipse Party!!!

On June 29th we had the most awesome Eclipse party evah!  Faith really wanted to make the movie premire a big event, so we threw this soiree two nights before we went to the movie.  We looked at a bunch of party ideas online and picked our favorites that we could copy on an extremely limited budget (I think we did the whole thing for under $25! That's including decorations, food, games, & favors.)

Faith loved all the homemade signs we saw all over the internets, so I made our own versions:  this one reads, "For your safety and the comfort of our other guests, please cover any cuts with a band-aid.  Thank you."  It has a picture of Jasper (who nearly ate Bella in New Moon because she got a papercut) and some band-aids attached.

I told Faith to hang the signs with masking tape so that the paint wouldn't be damaged.  I didn't realize that she would slap it onto the front :)

I had everyone bring a food item for our buffet, so I thought this line of James' from the first movie was fitting:

We just thought this Edward line would be funny, but Christian really did start about six hours before the party asking how long until everyone would arrive!

Faith decorated with red crepe paper streamers reminiscent of the Eclipse book cover's red ribbon.  Also, it's cheap.

We also decorated with mini Christmas lights which, thanks to Tony's obsession, we have a zillion of.  We were going for a "Twilight prom gazebo" kind of look:
Uncanny!  (It really was more impressive in person.)

Now, on to the food.  I made little tags to make things more fun, and this one reads "We made Italliano for you" (In Twilight Renee tells Bella they're making Italliano for her).  There was a choice of pasta - mini farfalle, penne rigate, or linguine; and choice of sauce - marinara or my homemade alfredo.

"Anti-vamp garlic bread"

Here's the island with the majority of the food.  We decorated with fake red rose petals (from the dollar store), clear glass gem scatters (that Tina gave Faith from her wedding centerpiece years ago), plus a mini pine tree.  We were going to get more creative with decorating and just ran out of time.  Some snacks that aren't individually pictured are - "cold vampire kisses" (Hershey's kisses in a bowl over ice), "wolf pack treats" (graham cookies in the shape of dog biscuits, Nabisco's Scooby Snacks), and "blood suckers" (red vines liccorice in a crystal vase).  We used our china to eat on, but had Edward and Jacob desert plates.

"Warewolf Chow" (muddy buddies Chex mix) & "Cullen bite cupcakes"

"White as Edward fruit dip" (my favorite, just whip together a block of cream cheese and a small jar of marshmallow fluff)

"Rosalie's smashing salad" (Because Rosalie crushes the salad bowl in Twilight when she finds out that Bella's not hungry enough to enjoy the meal she helped prepare.)  Faith really wanted us to get one of those bowls that looks like crackled glass, but I couldn't find one. 

"Blood punch"
Thank you so much to all of our guests for bringing food assignments--you guys rock!

We enjoyed a great dinner together . . .



Then we did some games!  While still at the table we did a get-to-know-you game, an alphabet game and filled in words for a mad-lib.  Next, I had everyone cut and paste their own bingo card.  Here's what I made up:
Twilight Bingo
I just cut the character squares out of mine and used them to call the game.  Our budget didn't have room for decent prizes, so we kind of did without!  It was still a lot of fun.

Our next game was "pin the kiss on Jacob".  We thought about having Edward there, and maybe Bella for the boys, but we stuck to just getting Faith's favorite.  We told everyone in advance to bring their lipstick, so we had them apply, pucker up, and kiss some lip-shaped papers!  Here's my mom and Faith's cousins, Celeste & Alaura, with their game pieces ready.
Chelsea & Tina
Buddy!
I put plastic over the top to keep Jake safe.
Tammy & Lana
Go Tam!

Next, we played "Alice's Visions" which was just Pictionary with Twilight inspired clues, but we thought it brought to mind how Alice drew her vision in the first movie where Bella recognized her childhood ballet studio.  Faith's card was "cliff diving":
Christian's card was "apple":

We also had a game of quotes (where you guess who said it and what book/movie it was from) and a trivia game.  Christian managed to poop his underwear twice and have a huge tantrum where he ended up hitting me, but even his drama wasn't enough to ruin my good time!(He was really, really tired)  I think everyone really loved the party.  Faith couldn't even settle down enough to go to bed, so she stayed up designating everyone "Team Jacob", "Team Edward", "Team Jake-ward", and so forth on the dry erase board.

Two nights later we went to Eclipse with Tina, Chelsea, Lana, and Tammy.  We first ate at Union Grill where Faith picked the salmon entrĂ©e and shared it with me.


Tony couldn't make it in time for dinner, but he got there for the movie!  He crashed our girls' night because I put all the Twilight books on his iPod (somewhat against his will, but he ended up listening to them!) and now he's a fan, too.  We all LOVED the movie and can't wait to see it agan!!!  I'm just sad that we forgot to have someone take our picture at the theater like we did last time :(   You would have gotten to see Faith's new Jacob shirt (she had a "diva costume change" after dinner), my new Jacob shirt, and even Tony's Bella shirt that he had me make for him.  Here is the picture I photoshopped, printed onto an iron-on transfer, and put on a dark grey heathered shirt:
His requirements were that the shirt said "Team Bella", that it had Bella as a vampire (with red eyes), and that she was wearing something sexy.  This is the original I decided to alter, I think I made it fit the bill!

We took the kids to see "Toy Story 3" on July 4th, but it was sold out.  Instead, we got tickets for Monday since Tony was off work for the holiday and got pics with Jacob and Edward!


We completed the party favors a little late, so we delivered them on Sunday.  I think they came out so cute!  We used Hershey's miniatures and Dove Dark Promises.
This is what all the backs looked like:

If you would like the game and answer sheets, posters, food tags, or chocolate wrappers, you can download them HERE!  They would have been better, but my computer had a catastrophic failure the week before and it took me all week just to fix my puter and restore my files.  I'm pretty proud of myself that I got all this done in a few hours the day of the party!