food trials

Nathan gave me a noodle machine for my birthday and I finally gave it a whirl. It was tricky getting the dough the right consistency and even when we did it took some trial and error to get the machine to cut it correctly. My thought during all of this time trying to get everything just right was that it takes way too much time and I don't think I'm even going to like the end result! Well, it did take a long time to get to the point where they were ready to cook, but I was surprised to find that I really did like the cooked noodles. I thought they would all stick together, but they didn't. I liked them better than dried and then cooked noodles. S liked them, too. So maybe it's just a matter of figuring out how to get the right proportions of flour and egg for the dough to reduce the time it takes to prepare them. Anyway, it was fun to try them out!

Nathan is always good to come to
my rescue in the kitchen

Some might have ended up a bit long

My second new food to try making was Irish soda bread. I've been wanting to make it for St. Patrick's Day for a few years, but it just hasn't worked out. I've even had a recipe to use. This time I actually did it! It was pretty easy and I really like how it turned out. The beaten egg spread over the top gives it a beautiful golden finish. It's a little heavier bread, but not overwhelmingly so. It's slightly sweet and the raisins give it pops of sweetness. I served it with other refreshments at my piano recital and it got eaten up, so it couldn't have been too bad ;)

Irish soda bread

drawing of our family

S drew this cute picture of our family today. She loves drawing hearts lately. She also likes drawing our family with 2 babies, one boy and one girl, because she can't decide whether she'd rather have a baby brother or a baby sister so she decided we just need one of each! (I'm sure the fact that we know 2 families who've had twins recently with one boy and one girl has had some affect on her, too 😉) She said the hearts are to show how much we would love the babies in our family. She's definitely right about that. We would LOVE any baby who came to our family a lot, lot, lot! Such a sweetie! 

Valentine's Day and other goings on

We had a good Valentine's day around our house. S helped me make sugar cookies and then we decorated them for FHE. I bought a silicone heart mold last year and we made our own peanut butter cups in them. They were pretty easy and quite delicious! S had her first Valentine's party at preschool and I think I was actually more excited about it than she was (even after the party). I tried out making a heart in her hair and it worked pretty well. We took some Valentines around to her friends and then to the grandparents.

S's hair with a heart

Nathan and I had a progressive dinner with some friends in our neighborhood and had a fun evening visiting and eating. We also went out to eat at a thai restaurant one day for lunch and we finished off the celebration by going to a play last night. The play was, as even Nathan said, whacky. And I've been sick, but I wanted to go so I did and I hope I didn't spread my germs too much. I tried to keep track of them ;). 

Us at the progressive dinner

 We had another fun FHE recently. But it didn't start out fun. S was in charge of the activity and she wanted to go roller skating, but that didn't really work because it was getting late when we started. As we talked about other options she really liked the idea of going to the gym and playing with balls. We tried the church, but you really can't get in on Mondays. So we got our treat, but S wasn't deterred from her goal of playing ball and she wasn't going to be happy with any other alternatives and she let us know. I thought we should try our local rec center and, sure enough, they allowed free play in the gym that evening. So we shot some baskets. Nathan and I played horse. Then we played some dodgeball and all in all had a fun time together. I was glad it turned out so well and was something different to do. It's fun having S help with FHE. You just never know what she's going to do!

...and she dunks it!!!

You might not have heard about her,
but this is Princess Vader. I hear she's in
the next movie--lol!

Mickey Mouse al a play-doh!

Just shoveling snow

Just a little over three years ago, we saw a small shovel in a store and thought our two year old daughter would like to help Daddy shovel snow. It was super cute, and she always managed to push a tiny bit of snow around, but more than that, it was something that she looked forward to whenever Daddy went out to clear the driveway.

I would always hear about it if I was too fast doing my work and finished before she was able to join me.

More recently, it has been a good way to motivate her to eat all of her breakfast quickly, so that she could get the coat and mittens and boots on and join Daddy for some fun clearing the driveway.

More often than not, she was as much harm as help. She would trample some of the snow that I hadn't cleared yet, and I would have to scrape the driveway a few times in those spots to get all of the compacted snow up.

That was fine with me. I didn't mind a minute or two of extra work if that meant she was having fun just being there with me. Then something happened last week that I didn't expect.

We had a pretty heavy storm and ten or so inches had accumulated, so my work was harder than usual. I was only half-way down the driveway when she came out in her gear ready to do some shoveling. The snow was still coming down, so the circumstances weren't all that fun to work in. I asked her to please work on the sidewalk while I worked on the driveway.

I went back to work and I let her work on her area. I figured the usual pattern would repeat. She would work for two or three minutes, then decide it was time to play in the snow instead. By the time I got finished with the driveway and went to inspect her progress, I was shocked to see that she had done the majority of the front walk to the porch.

This was not light fluffy snow either. Much of the snow had melted to slush, but she persisted in her efforts until she turned around a moment after I had taken her picture. She informed me that she was tired of shoveling, so she was going to play in the snow now. I talked her into helping me do the last bit of the front walk because I wanted her to have the sense of accomplishment that comes from finishing a difficult task.

It was so much fun to tell Mommy about the big job she had done with only a little help from Daddy. It also changed my perspective on other things she likes to do with me. I know she loves to join me washing the cars. Maybe sometime soon she'll surprise me by getting more of the soapy water on the car than on herself.

Christmas

Well, here I am again in catch-up mode.Oh well! December was busy, with ups and downs, but we had a really nice Christmas and New Year's and I thoroughly enjoyed the downtime and change in routine.

The month started out very crazy with me helping out significantly with our church Christmas party. The bishopric wanted it to be a special evening so we went to a lot of work to make it really nice. It turned out well. There was a really good turnout and I think everyone enjoyed the evening. I felt bad that the talent show/program that I planned started going later than some people wanted and we had to cut out some of the numbers. I had a major meltdown after the whole thing was over and have vowed to never take on another ward Christmas party!

We bought S a pretty gold dress for the season and she love, love, loves it. She likes to get out her bouquet of flowers and pretend she's getting married in it. Such a cutie pie! I love this picture that Nathan captured of her.

Some of our attempts at fun Christmas traditions did not go well this year. We like to visit Temple Square and see the lights there. We pick Nathan up from work, go out to dinner, and then walk around the square. This time I realized on the way that I didn't have my cellphone. Uh oh! But after we got to City Creek I borrowed a nice woman's phone and called Nathan and we were able to meet up without too much trouble. I was having some digestive issues but decided to eat dinner anyway, and that was a mistake because then I started feeling like I was going to lose my cookies. As we got to Temple Square I wasn't sure I was going to make it! And then there was a line to the bathroom! I was ready to lay down on the floor anywhere I could find a spot, but thankfully I finally found a bench. Phew! I was not thrilled about the idea of puking in a crowd of people! So I laid there in the visitor's center while Nathan and S took maybe 20 minutes to walk around and enjoy the lights. By then I was feeling a little better, but we decided to just go home. I guess it could have been worse, but it sure didn't go like I had hoped.

my resting spot in the visitor's center

us and the lights at...City Creek :)

Another night we drove around our area to look at Christmas lights on people's houses, but S did NOT want to go and she was grouchy and angry and made the whole experience miserable for all of us. Merry Christmas.

Since S is in preschool this year, we got to have our first experience as parents at our child's Christmas program. It's one of those bust-your-buttons kinds of things ;-) It was really, really cute. They mostly sang songs, but that also included some sign language, ringing bells, and lots of actions. S made it a point to curtsy after every song (even if no one else was 😊). Santa came in at the end and each student got to sit on his lap for a picture. Very fun!

S doing a curtsy

There was also some cookie decorating at grandma's house and S made sure each of her cookies had at least one mini-peanut butter cup on it (that's my girl!).

Christmas Eve was one of the best days of the season for me. Everything just went well without rushing or hurrying and there was lots of fun in the day, too. First we had a yummy breakfast, which, for S, meant a snowman pancake with chocolate chips and some hot chocolate.

We also spent some time making graham cracker houses. I found a blogger post about a simple way to make them and it worked out really well and was a lot of fun. It was S's first time and I thought she'd really have fun doing it and she did. She kept trying out different things she'd see me or Nathan do and she stayed with it longer than I did! I think that would be a fun tradition to continue.

construction phase

S's

Nathan's - he sliced gumdrops for the roof tiles

mine

We spent the eve with my mom, sister, and brother. We had dinner, read the scriptural account of Christ's birth, and then opened some presents. 

It was fun just being together. S devoured the chocolate orange from her Uncle Mark. 

Nathan posed and strutted around in his new Darth Vader tie.

And we laughed that my mom was a fortune teller with her new fancy moo moo and her new, spherical yard ornament.

S helping open a present for Stella

Lori and her new picture of Stella

We woke to a snowy Christmas morning, which is always a beautiful way to start such a special day. We were grateful to still have church at 1pm. S was delighted with her gifts from Santa and wondered how he could know everything she wanted. At church, Nathan sang in a men's trio and I played in a flute quartet. We had a lovely, delicious dinner, again at my mom's and came home before it got too late.

Christmas dinner

Christmas family picture

My in-between holidays time was spent hiding out from responsibility and routine. I finally organized my recipes and that felt incredibly good. I also made a valance for the window in our library and I've wanted to do that for some time. I also did various other organizing and cleaning. It was great. Usually I'm ready to get back to routine life, but this time I could have hid out for a while longer, but, thankfully I've been able to just ease back into busy life and that's been a blessing.

We spent New Year's Eve with Nathan's sister, Susan, and her family. We had a great time together. We snacked and watched "Pete's Dragon." Nathan finally dropped S in her older cousins' laps and they talked to her and got her to open up. They helped her feel comfortable and she ended up having a great time, too. We actually got to bed before midnight, but the next day we clinked our Martinelli-filled wine glasses to celebrate the New Year. Fun times!

Thanksgiving

Well, this year we're joining my (Nathan's) parents and some siblings for Thanksgiving dinner. Turkey and stuffing and cranberry and YUM. We were a little late getting our sweet potatoes and apple pie in the oven. It was great watching mother and daughter making that pie together, and though apple might not be one of the traditional pumpkin favorites, who can say NO when those little blue eyes ask to make apple pie? Her daddy has a hard time for sure!

Did I say sweet potatoes?  We used the recipe from Our Best Bites (the picture was flagrantly stolen from their linked blog entry. They're amazing! They're delicious! We had a preview last Saturday and I made Lisa make another batch for today. What a good guy, huh? I did help with the cleanup and some pie pastry cutting.

Since I'm going in random order, I'll also mention morning football. We had 16 guys from the neighborhood get together and no one (that I know of) wimped out when they saw snow had fallen overnight. (: Okay one almost wimped out, but he gave in to the peer pressure. :) It seemed like everyone had a good time, everyone was a great sport, no injuries were reported (maybe a few bruised egos) (mine) and I expect some really sore legs tomorrow or the next day. I don't think I've ever played football in the snow before. I didn't have great shoes for it, my feet got soaked, but I had a great time.

So thanksgiving... I'm thankful for a wonderful family, a comfortable home, plenty to eat, a good job that keeps me engaged and gives me a comfortable living, great friends, and too many other things to count.

super COOL moon!

Amazingly, I remembered that tonight was the full moon and also a super moon, meaning the moon is as close to the earth as it has been since 1948. Because of this it appears larger and brighter. It was beautiful! If a little girl wasn't anxious to get back home, I would have enjoyed a longer time gazing at it. Nathan climbed on our roof to get some good pictures, but our camera or lenses aren't the best at night time pictures.

The super moon shortly after it appeared above the canyon

Who dat up on de' roof?

I took this shot of the moon a couple nights before it
was completely full. It was pretty in clouds.

And how about this weather?????
So gorgeous!! And these roses of mine are the best--
they bloom from spring through the end of fall.

In sad news, my lil' indian fell on her face and
scraped it up pretty badly. It shook her up a lot, but
she's doing fine now. The grossest part is that she
has been eating her scabs!!!