Boys & Bugs!!

I knew the day would come that Cayden would be interested in bugs but I don't know if I am ready:) Carlie never liked them and still doesn't (which is totally fine with me). Cayden however has found a new interest. Today he was following the bugs around our driveway and trying to drop a nickel on them to smash them! It was pretty funny to watch him waiting for just the right moment to drop the nickel on them. Luckily he doesn't have a very good aim, yet!!:)

Funny Moment..........

The other day I was talking to someone in our entryway (a complete stranger) and the phone started ringing. I asked Cayden to go find daddy and ask him to get the phone. Cayden proceeded to stand in the same spot and yell at the top of his lungs "DADDY, CAN YOU GET THE PHONE"!!!! Thanks Cayden, I could have done that!!:)

Strawberry Freezer Jam

I made freezer jam for the first time and it is so easy!!! You just have to make sure you buy the freezer jam pectin that says NO COOKING. They only had the ones you cook, with all of the canning supplies. I actually found it in the baking aisle on the very bottom shelf below all of the Jell-0 (at Walmart). All you add is the pectin, sugar and strawberries (blended). Below are the instructions that are on the back of the pectin box (Ball Fruit Jell Freezer Jam Pectin NO COOKING).

1 Stir sugar and contents of 1 package in a bowl until well blended.
2 Add 4 cups crushed fruit (for peaches, reduce to 3 1/2 cups). Stir 3 minutes.
3 Ladle jam into clean plastic (or glass)freezer jars.
4 Twist on lids and let stand until thickened, about 30 minutes.
5 Refrigerate up to 3 weeks or freeze up to 1 year.

6 NOTE: Fresh strawberries: 4 (1 lb) pkgs Frozen Strawberries: 3 (12 oz) bags.
7 Fresh Peaches: 12 medium.
8 Frozen Peaches: 3 (16 oz) bags.
9 Fresh Raspberries: 6 (6 oz) pkgs.
10 Frozen Raspberies: 3 (12 oz) bags.

If you use the above amounts of fruit and one pectin packet it makes 5 (8oz.) jars of jam. I bought pint jars instead of 8 oz. and I was able to make almost 6 full jars using 2 packets (you get 2 packets in a box of the Ball brand) of pectin and 4 (1 lb.) packages of fresh strawberries. My family loves strawberry freezer jam, that is the only kind of jam they will eat (so we go through a lot)!!!!!!

What a Surprise!!

Carlie took a bite of her hot dog tonight and out came her 3rd tooth!!! We didn't even know she had a loose tooth!! We would like it if the rest of them would come out that easy!:)

Kids first and last football game..........

For at least the next 5 years:) Today was the preview football game for the Utes. We thought it would be fun to take the kids since we don't take them when the real season starts. The team just plays against each other and whoever wants to come and watch gets in for free. We made it to half time (which is really quick when you cutout all of the time outs!!!) As far as the kids were concerned though we could have left after the first 5 minutes since all of the treats were gone!!:) At least we got to find out that the kids won't be ready to sit through a real football game for quite a while!! I don't mind, it gives Lance and I an excuse for a "date night" since those are rare!!:) We are excited for the day though when we can all go as a family and have a good time!! Carlie was not going to even get close to the mascot but Cayden couldn't wait to get his picture taken with him!! He did get a little nervous though when he put his arms around him!! He was trying to be brave but you could tell he wasn't sure whether he should be scared and cry!!! The weather was so nice today, it was nice to be able to spend the afternoon outside finally:)

What a busy weekend.......

Cayden could have played with the dough all day long if I would have let him:)

Easter sugar cookies. They are so good but so much work to make!!:)

Easter morning. Carlie looks like she has been up for hours and she probably very well was since she was so excited for the easter bunny to come. Cayden would have slept for another 2 hours if Carlie would have let him!!:)

The kids colorful easter eggs. They like putting the stickers on the eggs more than coloring them:)

Easter morning it got very quiet, which can only mean one thing!! Cayden was downstairs filtering our milk!! I asked him what he was doing and he said he wanted a drink of milk!! Of course that meant milk was everywhere (luckily the milk carton was not full)!! What is he thinking, I wish I knew sometimes!!!!!!

We tried to fit as much as we could into Easter weekend (it makes me tired thinking about it)!! Friday we made and decorated sugar cookies. That night we got to go to a birthday party for one of the cousins (we sacrificed seeing Miley for cousin Taylor's birthday party)!!:) Saturday another cousin was baptized, we went and saw the Hannah Montana Movie and decorated easter eggs. Finally on Easter we went to both parents and had the regular easter traditions. We have brunch and an easter egg hunt with Lance's family and then go to dinner at my family's. It was a fun and busy weekend but I am glad to now get back into a regular routine!!:)

Barely missed Miley!!!

We went to Target Friday afternoon and passed the movie theater along the way. There were several television stations there, we just figured they were making a big deal about the Hannah Montana movie that just opened. Carlie made the comment that Hannah Montana must be there!! About an hour later we found out Carlie was right!! Miley had made a surprise visit to the theater right by our house!!! Carlie was so sad, the thought of being right there and not getting to see her almost made her cry!!! We were planning on going to see the movie but who would have known that of all places and all movie theaters that Miley Cyrus would pick the one right by our house!!! Carlie got to go see the movie though on Saturday and of course loved it!! Maybe the next time Miley decides to come to Salt Lake we will get to see her:) The movie was really good!! Cayden was glued to his seat the whole time (which doesn't happen often) and Lance and I even liked it!! It was definately worth seeing even though we didn't get a surprise visit from Miley!!:)

The Cutest Ring Bearer Ever!!

My brother got married tonight and Cayden got the honor of being the Ring Bearer!! He was so cute and so proud to wear his little tuxedo. We had talked to him about walking down the aisle with the flower girl so much that after the ceremony he followed the flower girl around all night!!:)

9 Years Ago.........

9 Years Later

Lance and I were married in the Salt Lake Temple. Luckily the weather was a lot nicer 9 years ago on this day! I don't think back then I could have imagined all of the things we would accomplish and the places we have been able to visit!! The time has gone by so fast, sometimes I can't believe it has been as many years as it's been! We have had many fun moments over the years and some not so fun moments. In the end though we have accomplished what we have together and hopefully we will have many more years like the past nine:) Back then people did not have digital cameras so unfortunately all of my pictures are just prints. Thank goodness that is something that has changed over the years!!:)

Homemade Bread!!

If you have never made homemade bread before you have to try this easy recipe! I have never made bread before and this was so easy and it actually turned out!:) I found the recipe on a recipe blog that I love to get recipes from because they show pictures of everything they make and everything they make looks so good!! It is under my favorite links on the sidebar http://www.favfamilyrecipes.blogspot.com/ .

Honey Whole Wheat Bread

3 C. really warm water

1 1/2 T. yeast (or 2 yeast packets)

Dissolve and wait until yeast froths then add:

1/4 C. shortening

1/4 C. honey

1 T. salt

about 6 C. wheat flour

Add flour 1 C. at a time until you have soft dough. Knead and put into bowl. Cover with cloth and let raise about 1 hour or until it has about doubled in size (it raises much better if you put in front of warm window with sun shining). Knead again and place bread into baking tins and raise again for another hour. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes until brown on top. Butter top of bread while still in oven and let bake another 2 minutes. Remove and let cool about 10 minutes in pans and then turn out and cool 10 minutes before slicing. Makes 3 regular loaves or 2 large loaves.

I like the way the bigger loaf turned out so when I make it again I am going to make 2 large loaves instead of 3. I found a recipe for honey butter (just make sure you use real butter)! I only had the stuff that says it bakes like real butter and it didn't turn out the way it's supposed to be. It still tastes good but isn't as thick:)

Honey Butter

1/2 C. butter

1/2 C. honey

Mix butter with hand mixer until smooth and creamy and then slowly add honey while continuing to mix.

Picturetaking.........

Carlie thinks it is so funny to get the camera and take pictures of herself making funny faces!! These are just some of the best ones!! I never know what I am going to find on the camera when I download the pictures but they are pretty funny to look at:)

The Scary Crab Leg!!

Carlie was determined she was going to wear her shorts and flip flops no matter how cold it was (we were in St. George after all, that is usually what we wear)!

Carlie loves the Old Navy dog and always has to have her picture with it (I think she is trying to send us hints, so far it isn't working)!!!

Cayden is pointing at one of the scary pieces of crab leg that Carlie kept putting by his plate (he was not going to touch that thing no matter what you said), I didn't get his first reaction which was the best one!! You would have thought the crab leg was alive the way he reacted!!!

Cayden was terriefied and started crying histarically when he saw the "scary" crab leg on Lance's plate!

We went to St. George for the weekend. I was having this fantasy that we were going to go and sit outside by the pool and enjoy the warm sun in our summer clothes and flip flops!! That dream ended quickly when we got down there and it wasn't any warmer than home! I think the indoor pool was colder than if we would have swam outside which didn't make the kids very happy! We still had fun shopping even though Lance was wishing the whole time he was mountain biking instead of shopping!!! Friday night we decided to go to Mesquite to one of the buffets because it was Seafood night. Buffets never turn out good even though we try to convince ourselves that they are going to be amazing and it would be impossible to not find something that our kids will like! First of all I don't think when you are paying that much money that you should have to crack your own crab and peel your own shrimp!!! Maybe some people like that but I just think it is too much work and too messy!!! Then because you paid way too much to begin with, you eat way more than you should so then you just feel like crap afterwards!! You would think at a buffet that there would be something your kids would like! Not my kids, there was not one thing they would eat (once again, all I am thinking is how I paid way too much money for them to not like anything)!! I guess we paid for some really expensive ice cream! I am sure everyone was looking at us like we were crazy (and horrible parents) for bringing our kids to a place like this in the beginning! I think we were practically the only ones with little kids (I think everyone was at least 20 to 50 years older than us, maybe that was the problem)!!:) The hilarious part of the night was when Lance came back to the table with his plate of food and Cayden was terrified of the crab legs!!! He would cry if he even thought you were going to get close to him with one of those things!! I do agree, they are pretty ugly (but I guess I am not much of a seafood person)!! At least we had some fun entertainment for the evening! Carlie thought it was really fun to tease Cayden with the crab legs!! Even though it wasn't as warm as we would have hoped we still had a fun weekend:) There's always next time for the warm weather!! We do love St. George:)