Haircuts!

I don't have any before pictures but if you scroll down you'll see some in older posts.  Abbie has an A-line cut in the back that you can't tell from her oh, so flattering picture. Savannah just got a bob-cut. The second lady asked me what I wanted while I was still having heart failure in the middle of Abbie's cut so, I backed off. This was somewhat of a last minute whim, and at one point during the process I got rather sick to my stomach thinking the girl had ruined my girls' hair but now I'm happy!

Random July Stuff

Abbie had a busy July. She finished a month's worth of swimming lessons and improved her skills dramatically. She went from asking to not have to go to swimming lessons to getting excited and jumping around when I said it was time. I consider that success.

She also participated in the Days of 47 Youth Parade that takes place the week before the Days of 47 Parade.She didn't seem too impressed with the actually parade, but the bounce house at the end was a highlight.

The best part of the last few weeks was a camping trip over the 24th of July weekend. We got up to the camp site and within minutes Savannah was covered in mud, but I couldn't blame her. There was a small stream running right next to the site and it was too inviting to ignore. It became a repository for wayward rocks, pincones and anything else the girls thought might belong there. After setting up came we went on an impromptu hike. Savannah was a really trooper and Abbie was a botenist on the about mile round trip adventure. (Note: Do not go on a hike at dinner time.)


Dinner was roasted hot dogs and marshmellows and dirt. Abbie and Savannah slept okay in the tent. But we were trying to share a queen size air mattress with our whole family and Savannah is used to flopping all over a crib so things were pretty crazy at some points. Overall however very good.

In the morning we went up to Silver Lake and were eaten alive by mosquitoes walked around. The water was so clear you could see the fish swimming around. Overall it was nice to beat the heat and escape the pressures of life for a few hours. We had a great time!

Abbie-isms

Abbie's prayer the night before last..

 "Dear Heavenly Father,
   Thank thee for this day. Please bless this food. Please bless that I don't have to get a shot. ever. I really really don't want a shot. Unless I really need one but I don't want one. Please make it not hurt.
In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."
   
 
Abbie's prayer last night.

"Dear Heavenly Father,
   Please bless this food. Please bless that I don't have to get any shots again ever. Like I've said in my last prayers. And please, please, please, don't forget. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."


Abbie saw Savannah get her two-year old vaccinations. I think she was a little traumatized.

Random Thoughts Wednesday

My kids were so dirty by 11:30 this morning that a bath was not a luxery. They were clean when they woke up. Aaaauugghh summer!

I made Curried Apple Pasta salad for my new recipe this week. Complete bust! It was from The Book. I must say that while almost all of the recipes from that book have been beyond amazing, I have not had good luck with their pasta salads.

Yesterday my girls went in for their annual well-child visits. They were testing Abbie's eyes and asking her to identify different shapes.  She called the heart an "I love you." I'm used to this but the nurse thought it was so cute. Am I the only mom who is a sucker when people think your kids are adorable? It makes up for the times when they aren't.

I'm reading The Three Weissman's of Westport. I give it three stars out of five. I just can't really develop empathy for the charecters, but I feel like I should. I feel like it is a good book that I should be enjoying more but just aren't able to.

Savannah was lucky to be alive at the end of church on Sunday.

I want to fix something delicious that is not unhealthy but tastes like it is, that wont over-heat my kitchen, and I have all the ingredients siting in my pantry......any ideas??? Please?

We went and walked around Silver Lake last Saturday (that is what these pictures are from). We saw a moose, but that wasn't nearly as interesting to the four and under crowd as the squirrels.

We are going camping this weekend and I haven't done more than think that maybe I should think about getting ready.

Happy Birthday !

Today is Savannah's birthday.  She received a tricycle from mom and dad and a Tinkerbell bag from sister. All were big hits. When we went on a walk later today she couldn't quite reach the pedals on the tricycle but thankfully we got the kind with a handle for parents to push so all was well. We celebrated by taking both of the girls to Discovery Gateway. Abbie was so excited that during her rest time this afternoon she kept talking about it. I could hear her all the way downstairs. We don't go to DG often and it was fun to see them getting so creative in what they chose to do. Savannah wanted to play in the house and cook and take care of babies. Abbie enjoyed that but she also loved going shopping in the store and building with the big blocks and the crane. It is nice to have an excuse to spend some quality time as a family doing things that we don't normally do. Tonight Russ's mom is in town so we invited her, Cooper and Cambelle over for some cake. (Cake recipe to appear later...YUM!) The cousins always had fun together and Savannah thoroughly enjoyed being the center of attention.

Savannah is my sparkler. She knows what she wants, which is usually to follow her sister around, cuddle, be read to and be tickled. I have loved seeing how her and Abbie love and depend on each other. She wants to be where everyone else is and doing what they are doing. She has a wonderful sense of humor that has really started to develop over the last year and she gets so excited when she makes someone laugh. She loves to take care of baby dolls and pretend she is cooking. Along with Abbie, she is always wanting to make me some yummy concoction with the plastic food that litters our home. She loves stories and could sit for hours being read to if I had the stamina. I love my Savannah Banana!

Roast Chicken, & 4th of July Cake

 I have kept my goal of cooking a new recipe every week. Obviously I haven't done so well at blogging about it, but I'm trying to catch up. Here are the recipes I made the last few weeks.

Roast Chicken - New Best Recipes

Why didn't I know this was so dang easy? Oh yeah my last attempt with roast chicken was a complete disaster. This time I tried a basic roast chicken and WOW easy. Although I will say that now that the temperatures are in the 90s the thought of having an oven on for an hour in my house is very unappealing, this makes for a juicy chicken with little effort. I believe the turning every 15 minutes is supposed to rotate the juices like a rotisserie chicken. All I know is I've never had such juicy breast meat. Yum. I also like this dish because it is easy on the pocket book. (Yeah like any of us carry pocket books anymore.)


1 whole chicken 3 1/2 - 4 lbs rinsed and patted dry, giblets removed
2 tablespoons butter melted
Salt and Pepper

Place a shallow roasting pan in the oven and heat to 375. Brush the chicken with the butter and sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper to taste. Remove the heated pan from the oven and set the chicken on an oiled v-rack. (I have no idea what this is so the alternative is to use balls of aluminum foil to keep the roasted chicken propped up on its side. Worked great!) Place the chicken wing-side up, roast 15 minutes. Rotated the chicken to the other wing side up. Roast 15 minutes. Then rotate the chicken breast-side up. Turn the oven to 450 degrees. Roast until an instant-read thermometer inserted in the breast registers 160 and in the thigh registers between 165-170 degrees 20-25 minutes longer. Transfer the chicken to a cutting board let rest 10 minutes. Carve and serve.

4th of July Cake - Barefoot Contessa

I got this recipe from the Pioneer Woman who got it from her Barefoot Contessa Cookbook. WOW! I've seen Contessa on TV but had no idea that her food tasted this good. This is an amazingly delicious cake that looks awesome. The only thing to remember is that don't buy raspberries too far in advance or they go moldy. I had to make a reverse flag with blue stripes and a red square because a lot of the raspberries molded. That said this sheet cake was devoured in one evening by my family up at Bear Lake. Finally, just remember that you are dividing the ingredients on a sheet cake so it isn't as unhealthy as it looks and there is fruit in it so of course it is healthy....right?

The 4th on the Lake

Over the holiday weekend we went up to Bear Lake for some much needed R & R and time with my family. Thankfully it was the same time that my brother's family made their semi-annual pilgrimage to Utah so we were able to have everyone but my brother on his mission there.(We missed you Scotty!)  And we had A LOT of fun.

We arrived Thursday midday where Abbie, Savannah and my nieces adopted all of the bears that decorate my grandparent's cabin and cuddled them, taught them, and threw them over the balcony. In between four wheeler rides with grandparents, games of ping pong, lawn bowling,  and air hockey the bears became a running theme for the girls throughout the week.

Friday was our first day at the beach and unfortunately Savannah was not feeling well so I sat on the beach and the boat and held her all day. (I think she is getting her canine teeth and not having much fun with it.) As much fun as it is to be able to cuddle my baby for hours on end it did make for a long day at the beach. It was quite windy and a little cool but despite the uncooperative weather Abbie still played in the sand and Russ wakeboarded and all was right with the world.

The day ended with a nieces vs uncles water fight over the balcony. Considering the uncles were only defensively armed they did rather well for themselves.

Saturday we took a drive up Bloomington Canyon to a glacier lake. The canyon and lake are gorgeous and worth the drive. This lake is provided with a rope swing so that in 90 degree weather you can swing out and cool off. Unfortunately, my insane brothers' felt a need to swing off and swim into glacial waters in 60 degree cloudy weather. Sometimes I prefer not to claim those who have the need to push to insanity.Russ thankfully swung but didn't jump in. At least I married someone who isn't testosterone driven.

Sunday we went to church, played Bang, made an insanely good 4th of July cake, did crafts, and just relaxed around the cabin. Until volleyball. We were ready for an all out grudge match. Well, ready in the loosest sense of the word. Despite what you might know of my amazing athletic abilities, my family is well...about the same. I think we had only a handfull of volley's in the course of three games. Thankfully though, we did have a lot of fun.

Monday we were back at the beach, and while still windy the weather had warmed up considerably. With Savannah feeling better I was ready to go out and water-ski. Let me first note that I have only gotten up on water ski's twice and that was pre-children. (Every other time we've gone up boating at the lake I've either been pregnant or just had a baby.) Needless to say my attempts were less than successful, but I 'm glad I tried and want to try again. Russ on the other hand is a natural wakeboarder and was going crazy behind the boat. It is just like my dad has said Ebert's may not be talented but we marry talent.

How Twilight Helped my Marriage

My sister-in-law's friend wrote this and it is about the most hilarious thing I have every read and perfectly describes how I feel about Twilight, if only I could write this well.

  Total Eclipse of the Heart

Random Thoughts Monday

I need to take more pictures of my girls. I wanted to put pictures on this post and the most recent ones I have are from Abbie's birthday. Oh well..

I am reading The Forgotten Garden by.....can't remember. Very good book.


I finally went to the doctor about my toe. She said it looked like a classic case of staff infection and put me on antibiotics right away. I really am grateful for modern medicine, but why does it have to come at the end of a tight month?

Russ was put in the bishopric of our ward on Sunday. Our house has been on the market for one week. I think God likes to laugh at me sometimes. Thankfully He has helped me laugh too.

I don't want to go fold my laundry.

Tonight we are going swimming as a family. Yeah!!! 

 Lately Abbie's knee has been hurting. It mysteriously develops an agonizing pain just as she is going to bed. This pain makes her get out of bed and come out to complain about it. Riiiiight.

I think Savannah has a serious milk addiction. If she doesn't like what is served to her she just supplements with milk. If I withhold the milk, the food doesn't get eaten but she does throw a screaming hissy fit, so the milk wins. Milk is healthy right?

With our house on the market it stays exceptionally clean most of the time. There are many pluses to living in a house this clean. However being the one who needs to maintain this standard is not one of them.

My Toe

Eight days ago I was having a bad day. Russ was out of town for the weekend and the girls were being tired/whiny/annoying. After one last Savannah meltdown I had had enough and I slammed the kitchen junk drawer closed. Unfortunately, our high quality cookie-cutter home was not made for emotional expression and the front of the drawer fell off. Chagrined I took the drawer out, emptied the contents and desperately tried to figure out how to fix the problem before our house went on the market in three days.

While the drawer lay propped up I proceeded to bump it again and it came crashing down and cut my toe. No big deal cuts happen. We move on. (Unless you are one of my girls in which case your life has just ended.)

Unfortunately three days later the toe became infected. It hurt to walk. It was swollen, puffy and, well a lot of grossness you don't want to read about on a blog. I started pouring hydrogen peroxide on it multiple times a day followed by neosporin.


Nothing going.

We are now on day eight. Yesterday we added soaking in hot water and Epsom salt. It still looks bad.  My mom raised four very rowdy boys and she said it was bad. (That's real expertize talking.)

Is there any other home remedy I can try before I go to the doctor? On the internet I have been told that I should immerse the wound in  bread, flax seed, and whole milk kneaded together covered in a zip-lock bag, wrap in raw bacon, and last but not least a tea bag. Honestly these solutions make me laugh but it will tell you how desperate I am that I am kind of considering them.


I really don't want to go to the doctor.

Vanilla Pudding with Strawberries

Almost everyone I know is on a diet. My parents are living the South Beach lifestyle. I have one friend doing P90X, and several friends doing Weight Watchers or the equivalent. If you are one of these people stop reading now. You will only get depressed. If you are not continue reading for the yummiest dessert ever. This pudding is the most decadent dessert I have ever had. It comes close to being a custard. (What is the exact difference between the two?) As you see from the ingredient list it is very far from being fat free but if you split it between enough people you should be fine. Right?

I got this recipe from Brenda and will bless her for the rest of my life (which has probably been shortened by eating it) for it.

Two notes: I didn't use a vanilla bean because they are $8.00 a pop at the grocery store. The dessert is still amazing but I strongly suspect it would be better with said bean. I do now have a source that is getting beans at $.85/bean if you are interested. Also, don't double this recipe for a family gathering basing that decision on who usually shows up. If you do, half the people wont be able to be there and you will have way, way, way, too big a temptation on your hands. I'm just sayin'.

Vanilla Pudding with Strawberry Sauce

Pudding Ingredients:

-4 egg yolks

-2 tablespoons cornstarch

-4 cups heavy cream

-1/2 cup sugar

-1 vanilla bean

-1 cup white chocolate chips

Coulis Ingredients:

-1 pound frozen strawberries, thawed

-1/4 cup sugar

-1/2 lemon, juiced

Directions:

In a medium-sized bowl, beat together egg yolks and cornstarch.  Set aside.  In a large saucepan bring the cream, sugar and vanilla bean (cut in open length wise) to a boil over medium heat.  Add the white chocolate chips, then reduce the heat to low.  Temper the egg yolks with a little of the cream mixture, then pour the egg yolks back into the cream.  Simmer until the mixture thickens, about 1 minute.  Remove the pan from the heat and pour the pudding into 6 (6 oz) ramekins.  Refrigerate for 2 to 3 hours.

Add the strawberries, sugar and lemon juice to a food processor and pulse until smooth.  Strain the mixture with a fine mesh strainer into a bowl.  Top the pudding with the coulis and garnish with whipped cream and fresh strawberries before serving.

Enjoy!

On the Market

Our house is officially for sale. This has been quite a process for us. We hadn't expected to put our home up for sale for a few more months. Then over the last few months and through a serious of fortunate and unfortunate events we pushed the timing up. We are not selling in a good market. We are listing our house for almost exactly the same price it was when we bought it. And now my job is to keep my house ready to show to a complete stranger every time I leave it. ( I know several of you have done this with young children and my hat goes off to you.) Needless to say things have become a little stressful around these parts. Despite all of that, I really believe that this is what we need to be doing right now, so like most things it is best to just plow forward.

Outside of the mundane stresses of the process I have a lot of mixed emotions. It is time for our family to move on, but we have made some dear friends in this area that I will miss. We also don't know where we are going or what exactly the next step will be. (Ask Russ how well I deal with uncertainty.)  There are some safe options, some exciting options, and some options I wish weren't on the table.

However it could be possible that I wont need to worry about any of these things as it took my friends 18 months to sell their house.