Family + Pizza = Fun

My darling mum has been here helping my sister with her cute little brood for a few weeks after Evelyn's birth. The time came for Mom to go home and my dad came to fetch her. We enjoyed a traditional family dinner at a local favorite pizzaria.

We celebrated some April birthdays with a giant sucker in the middle of ice cream, whipped cream and rainbow sprinkles. An interesting substitute for a good old-fashioned cookie or brownie, but the recipients thought it delightful.

The happy newlyweds.

One last "I love you" before the girls drove away.

Full and happy.

Tidbits

This is all that is left of St. Patrick's Day. We did not, I'm afraid, have a whiz bang, blow out green breakfast or lunch or dinner. In my busy haste I managed to pick up some mini cupcakes sprinkled with clover sprinkles and I called it good for this year.
When I was younger my mom and her sister planned a big green dinner/party and everything we ate was green. There was green milk, green veggie dip, green butter, green jello, etc... I wish I could remember it all. I'll have to ask my mom what she remembers of the menu. It sounds really fun now, but we never did it again, at least to that great extent, because we kids would NOT eat most of the green food. I believe the green milk and butter were the greatest trauma. I think it will be great fun to see how my kids react!

At BYU, we don't have a Spring Break and Winter Semester can get pretty monotonous. I have found that if I give myself one day of "Spring Break" I do much better the last month and a half of school.

Last Monday afternoon I got done with one class, ate lunch and was on my way to the next class when I inexplicably walked out the closest doors of the Wilkinson Center and found myself headed home! Apparently, I had decided that today was to be my spring break. I headed to Bed, Bath and Beyond to get some air-tight containers for storing staple foods and with my stack of "5 dollars off $15 or more" coupons I walked out with a few more things. The clearance sections were thick with fun and ridiculous items! I'll have to remember to bring my camera with me next time. But I did walk out with some very cute apothecary jars and a few bags of Yankee Candle potpurri that seemed to be made expressly for display.

I'm not sure where I am going to put this big one yet. It came with the most HIDEOUS filler, though I can use the pinecones. At the moment I have filled it with easter eggs and it's sitting on my kitchen table. I love them! I have been in a very "decorating" mood lately.

These are the beautiful lillies that Tylan bought me last week! Nothing better than coming home to a cute husband holding beautiful flowers "for no reason". :) He brought me a gorgeous pink gerbera daisy a few weeks ago and I am thoroughly enjoying this trend.

Well, I'm off for a delightful Easter dinner with my family. I have to remember to bring the powdered sugar with me for the cake frosting. Happy Easter!

Homemade Bagels

Last month I decided to attempt making bagels. It was fun and I enjoyed taking much longer than the recipe indicated to make them. Most of them were even tasty!
Recipe complements of Emeril Lagasse. A personal friend. I even have his cookbook.

Homemade Bagels

2 cups warm water, about 110 degrees F

2 (1/4-ounce) packets active dry yeast

3 tablespoons granulated sugar, plus 1 tablespoon

5 to 6 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons vegetable oil

2 tablespoons yellow cornmeal

Optional Toppings: 1/2 cup lightly toasted chopped onions (2 teaspoons each)

2 tablespoons poppy seeds (about 1/2 teaspoon each)
2 tablespoons sesame seeds (about 1/2 teaspoon each)
1 tablespoon kosher salt (about 1/4 teaspoon each)

Combine the water, yeast, and 3 tablespoons of the sugar in the bowl of an upright mixer fitted with a dough hook. Stir and let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. Gradually add 4 cups of the flour and the salt, and mix until the mixture comes together.

Add 1 to 1 1/2 cups additional flour 1/2 cup at a time to make a stiff dough, either stirring with the wooden spoon or working with your hands. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and no longer sticky, about 5 minutes, adding just as much flour as needed. (Dough should be heavier and stiffer than regular yeast bread dough.)

Grease a large bowl with 1 teaspoon of the oil. Place the dough in the bowl, turning to coat. Cover and let rise in a warm, draft-free spot until almost doubled, about 1 hour.

Remove from the bowl and punch down the dough. Divide into 12 equal pieces, about 2 to 3 ounces each, measuring about 4 inches across. Form each piece of dough into a ball. Roll each ball into a 4 to 6-inch log. Join the ends and place fingers through the hole and roll the ends together. Repeat with the remaining dough. Place on a lightly greased surface, cover with a clean cloth, and let rest until risen but not doubled in a draft-free spot, 20 to 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Grease a baking sheet with the remaining teaspoon of oil.

In a large, heavy pot, bring 12 cups of water and the remaining tablespoon of sugar to a boil. In batches, add the bagels to the water and boil, turning, for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Flip bagels onto the prepared sheet pan. Bake for 5 minutes, turn over and cook for another 30 to 35 minutes.
Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack.

The bagels that turned out the best were 1. cinnamon and sugar and 2. sprinkled with kosher salt. Plain and onion did not turn out for me. Twice. We'll be eating cinna-gar and salt bagels in this family.

Even though it is the only recipe I have tried as of yet, it's not my favorite. BUT, the recipe did produce bagels and it was a fun experience. And they sure looked good while rising! When I find the best and most fool-proof recipe ever, I will definitely share it.

I'm looking forward to making this:

She's Here!

My beautiful new baby niece was born last night just after 9 p.m. She has a very healthy set of lungs. Congratulations, Melanie! Evelyn is darling.

My little sister and I missed the actual birth because Evelyn came much faster than we anticipated! The hospital called about 5pm and told Melanie to mosey on over to the hospital (because they didn't have a room for her just yet). Previous babies were born after hours and hours of labor so we thought we had plenty of time. Only 4 hours later, as sissy and I were moseying over to the hospital after getting some homework done, we received the call that Evelyn couldn't wait any longer and she'd decided to make her entrance.

I have been blessed to be at the births of 2 other nieces and I am so grateful for the experience. The first time was my freshman year at college and it was scary... I literally stood at the door in case I needed to run out of the room. The thoughts running through my head were, "I am NEVER going to be able to do this! I'm going to have to adopt all of my children..." But then - the baby came. And I paused in my moment of terror and felt a moment of peace. My fear was not completely gone, but it was at that moment, finally, that I felt like - "ok, I think I can do this."

So whatever your personal feelings may be about inviting others into the delivery room, for me, it did a great deal of good. Thank you, Melanie. Now your kids will have cousins to play with. ;)

Art Projects

Among other things, I have spent the last week and a half burning LOTS of pictures and other info onto CD's and off my poor, choked up laptop. I'm very pleased at how much better it works now that it has much more than *cough* 3% free space *cough*. My computer is a lot happier now that it is mostly dejunkified. We celebrated its new freedom with a spring-y desktop picture of yellow tulips and not as many impatient scowls from me.

Now on to the fun!

"How to Dress Up White-Washed Cinderblock Walls When You Live in On-Campus Housing"

During the first few months of our marriage, I wrote fun dates and things to do on a bunch of strips of construction paper and put them into a cute box. That way, if we didn't have something planned, we could just reach in, pick a slip, and wah-lah! Instant date idea! (How do you really spell that? Oillah? Wala?) One of those ideas, which I have wanted to do for the longest time, was to go to the dollar store and pick up some of those cheap strips of watercolors and paint pictures to adorn our home. How fun is that?? I know, I know, really fun.
For Valentine's Day, I finally bought some of those watercolors and I had a blast painting my first watercolor "painting".

My husband was so impressed with my art-i-ness. I decided I needed some heavier paper and I wished for some nicer brushes than the wild-haired brush they include. I picked up some watercolor paper at the BYU bookstore (80 to 90 lb weight), but the art brushes were astronomically priced! (No wonder we call them starving artists; they have to spend all their money on paint brushes!)

I had a few errands to run at WalMart, and I decided to stop by the art supply aisle and found THIS:

A much LARGER collection of watercolors and these delectable "professional" RoseArt brushes! I had them in my hand in an instant. This is what resulted from that happy purchase. The same simple tulips and a calla lily of delight.

Watercoloring is fun to do, fun to do, to do, to do!

The next project was to recreate this adorable idea from Nicole Hill:

Half an apple and some red paint later:

A delicious kitchen decoration.

Candlelight

What a crazy weather day! This morning on the way to church the weather was beautiful and it positively felt like spring! After all of the snow we've had, I happily hopped and skipped my way to church. A quick glance out the window during Relief Society and I noticed the wind had really picked up. Sigh...it had been so beautiful, but alas, it would not last. We walked home and I could see the black clouds rolling over the mountain. Almost as soon as we got inside it started pouring! The rain eventually turned to snow and it rained and snowed off and on all afternoon and evening. Thankfully, the snow isn't sticking, though I haven't looked outside in a few hours.

The big fun was that our power went out about 5 times! The longest was for about 20 minutes and I used it as my excuse to light the candles I didn't get to use on Valentine's day! After all...we can't really just sit in the dark, right? :)

What do you do when the power goes off and the light outside is fading? Why, the only thing you want to do is read, of course!

Oops, forgot to turn off the flash. J & T were posing for me. :)

I'm glad I decided not to make dinner tonight after all . Turns out the pilot light in our gas stove runs with electricity and my dinner would have been ruined! No such excuse tomorrow night...

Valentine's Love

Ah, Valentine's Day...so much potential for a perfectly wonderful or completely crummy day.

Luckily for us, this year was happy.

I've decided that if you want something to be a big deal, then you have to make it a big deal. Eventually, people will catch on and they'll treat it that way too. I want holidays to be a big deal. I want to do something special for holidays! It doesn't matter how big or small, but you better believe that on Saint Patrick's day we'll be having green milk and green jello and other green foods that we are more likely to eat since they are naturally green! Lettuce, broccoli, spinach...kale....brussell sprouts. Mint chocolate chip ice cream. (Who wants to eat at my house??)
Ty hasn't always been a fan of Valentine's Day, so I decided I would do what I could to make it a fun and special day for us both and just be happy and work on him year by year. :)

I started off the day putting together a delicious meal and throwing it in the crockpot so I could concentrate on other things throughout the day.

Yum, roast, carrots and red potatoes! Delish!

Then I fought with my sugar cookie dough and made a little over 3 dozen for my work party that day. I tell you what, I am getting a silicone rolling pin ASAP. Tylan made a make-shift one for me by taping wax paper around my wooden pin.

I tried a brand new recipe and I don't think I'll be making it again any time soon. :) I simply re-taught myself that you don't try new things when it really matters.

(I loooove cookie cutters. Always a good gift idea! I'll show you my large collection another day).

Ah yes, I decided there should be a Valentine's Duck this year. I think he's cute!

Inches and inches of this fluffy white stuff was Nature's gift to us on Thursday. Gee....thanks Nature. Really...you shouldn't have.

I had to laugh at our presents to each other this year. We're romantic.

Tylan bought me brand new rechargable AA batteries which I needed greatly for my digital camera. One sunset I was trying to get these GREAT pictures and I kept running inside because my batteries died so fast and I would switch them and run back out hoping the light was still where I wanted it. I was VERY frustrated, but now I am very happy.

When Tylan picked me up from campus at the end of the day I found THIS in our room:

Woo hoo!! What could it be? It's so big! A new end table? A GIANT tv perfect for watching six hours of Pride & Prejiduce? A deep freeze? Diamond jewelery in an enormous box just for fun??

Nope.

But it WAS something I had my eye on that week.

A new (well, new to us) FREE desk from some random person who advertised it in the laundry room! Yes!! Thanks, honey!! Right now it is working splendidly as an extra table in the kitchen to free up some counter space. Sigh....he's so good to me. :)

Then I kicked him out of the room so I could assemble my dollar store presents.

Pop rocks, a Cars ice pack, watercolors, candy necklaces, an assortment of candy and a "horsey" brush of his own. He calls my paddle brush a horsey brush and he loves it. I couldn't find one as wide as mine at Dollar Tree, but for a dollar, it works great!

The wrapped present is my real gift to him (besides the gift of being married to me, of course). I bought him this awesome, thick, stretchy laptop cover . It fits so snugly and perfectly and he loves it! Now I want one...

We ate dinner and enjoyed Molten Chocolate Cakes with fresh whipped cream for dessert.

We did not, however, light the candles I bought at the dollar store 'cuz Tylan pointed out we signed a contract or something that said we couldn't light candles in our apartment. (But we have a gas stove...what's the difference? It seems to me the little candle flames are safer!)

And that was our Valentine's day in a nutshell! We were happy, our house was clean (that was my other big present) and we are happily in love. I know he loves me since he let me take a BAZILLION pictures of him while I was preparing my portfolio.

Our kitchen with the new microwave table and hubby making dinner. PS...long stem roses at grocery stores 2 days after Valentine's Day are 75% off. Totally worth waiting.

Birthday Wishes

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AIMEE!!

You are the greatest! I have been thinking about you a lot this weekend and about what I might write today to commemorate your birthday. So, without further ado, here are a few memories I have of the stupendous Aimee during my life.

First, Aimee was my best friend in 5th grade. We had SO much fun. I do believe she was the best elementary school best friend I ever had. She was tough, which I loved- being something of a tomboy myself- but I loved that I could be girly with her (in secret of course-- I was a tough girl!) ;)

Second, I remember her darling momma inviting me to her 7th or 8th grade surprise party. (I think it was 7th). Aimee and I hadn't really talked or seen each other in a while because we went to different junior high schools. But I remember being excited and surprised at the call and happily accepted the invitation. We got to Aimee's house early and kidnapped her from her bed. I remember that I was one of the first faces she saw as we grabbed her out of the bed and before we put a pillowcase over her head and I remember her face looking very confused to see me.... I thought that was kind of sad and I determined to try and have as much fun with her as I could and to stay friends. Again, being with Aimee was always so fun. She was so happy and full of energy.

Third, I remember a Halloween party that Aimee invited me to, probably that same year. I had also been invited to another party that night with the older girls and guys in my ward. I decided to go to that one first and then head to Aimee's when it was over. That was during the lovely years that we try to be "cool and fit in with the crowd and going to that party would definitely up my cool points.
It was SO boring and stupid. I was so surprised at the immaturity I encountered. I left way early and got to Aimee's and had a BLAST playing Bunko with her and few other friends. That taught me an important lesson - good friends are more important than "cool" friends.

Fourth, I remember that when we rekindled our friendship during high school I was so happy to have her back in my life. We used to scheme during choir to get those senior boys to notice us. Our closeness fluctuated during the years, as most friendships do, but I have so many good memories of Aimee and her awesome dance moves. ;)

and Fifth....she was a willing guinea pig in Operation Hawaii. 'Nuff said.

I love you, Aimee!! Happy Birthday!

Capturing Life

I'm kind of going photography crazy right now. A recent love is Jamie Hammond. Some of her pictures are beeeyootiful. Here are a couple of favorites:

Can you believe those gorgeous lashes?

I love creative family photos. Completely adorable and they show off personalities so much better.

Nicole Hill is a local photographer and a favorite of mine. I'm hoping to interview her for my final project in my Home-Based Women Entrepreneur class.

I'm thinking about applying for the Photography program at school. I have no idea if I'd be accepted because I'm pretty dang close to graduating, but I'm going to try anyway. The application does note that Seniors can apply, so why not? It has been SO much fun putting together my application materials and portfolio. I haven't applied for anything in such a long time that somehow it became fun! Actually, I think it is fun because it doesn't really matter if I get accepted. I'll still graduate and I'll still eventually find a teacher/ professional to teach me - it just would be AWESOME to take the classes offered at school.

The application is due on Friday, so wish me luck! :)

Feed Your Little "Chickins" Right

Found this adorable nutrition tracking board a few days ago. I don't remember where I originally read about it, but apparently it was highlighted on Rachael Ray and business has been booming ever since! I can understand why! The boards are adorable and any idea that helps your kids to be involved and interested in their own nutrition in any way is fantastic. I love the banana pudding color.

Click on the picture to go to the site. Thanks Maria for the webshot capturing tip!