Lindsey

Happy Birthday to Lindsey!

(pictured here w/Sophie, who Kip helped her make - he also took this pic during her family bday party on Sunday)

You would never know it but she's pregnant!

Now for a brief look back...

The Pink Adobe Casa
(that Katie referred to)
This was Spring Break '97.
Since we couldn't go to Rocky Point, we went to Mexico in our very own Mesa. Did you know this place was really called The Buckeroo Motor Lodge?

"Modeling" Session
We didn't really think we were modeling (or did we?) but we put on our cutest clothes (that were mostly Lindsey's) or anything we could find that coordinated and took lots of pics.

Contempo Portraits Photo Session
("Come in for a FREE 8x10")

Girls Camp '94

On the back of this picture I wrote "Pooch" and "Chuck"
Ya we had cool nicknames for each-other.

Hope you had a great day!

Wish I could've shared some Mangos with you!

(pictures published without permission)

You're Invited

Please come!

p.s. Any ideas how I can make this invite a little better? Feels like it's missing something...

Seusville

Today is Dr. Seuss's birthday (103rd I believe)! This year is also the 50th anniversary of "The Cat in the Hat." Last night our local library had a birthday party to celebrate. Thing 1 and Thing 2 hosted (Thing 1 was wearing a blue wig but I didn't get a pic in time). They told stories, let the kids play with oobleck, helped everyone make their own cat hats, and then there was dancing (including the limbo) and cupcakes. Drew was totally into the dancing, it was so cute. So anyway I checked out the Dr. Seuss website seussville.com and it's so cute too! You can create an online bday card to send to the cat and for every card they receive they'll donate a book to a program they have called First Book. They'll do that up to 1,000,000 books. When we did it we were 790,000 something. Owen recommends the "One Fish Two Fish Concentration" game on the site.

This morning I tried to make green eggs and it didn't quite work. It's hard to get the green in there without scrambling them. And those eggs are definitely not scrambled in the book. I forgot to dye the waffles green (we didn't have ham). But that's what St. Patrick's Day is for!

Payday

It's payday, yay! Payday is usually a good thing. It means money...

It means candy bars...(when I worked at Rural Metro I thought I was funny by buying myself a PayDay every payday from the vending machine in the break room)


But payday also means Justin just passed gas and you better run. His friend that went on his mission to Brazil taught him that "payday" is Portuguese for tooting. I'm sure that's not even true. And if for some reason it is, I'm sure I spelled it wrong. But either way Justin thinks he's quite funny whenever he says it. And I don't! :)

The Three

Last night we were reading "Book of Mormon Stories" to Owen before bed...

And look who we found - the 3 Nephites!
So just in case you see these guys in your part of town you can say hi! :)

Dinosaurs, Bees, Beetles, and Beatles

Yesterday we went back to Raleigh so Justin could help out with the youth doing baptisms for the dead. Afterward we went to the NC Museum of Natural Sciences. Last time we went was almost a year ago, 5 days after Drew was born (my mom flew home out of the RDU airport). It was more enjoyable this time, not having a brand-new baby (and my body not aching from recovery), and also Owen being a year older could appreciate it more. As soon as he saw this dinosaur he busted out his machine gun and shot it. He wasn't scared of him at all.

But he WAS afraid of this guy. It took a lot of coaxing for him to get him w/his machine gun.

And yes, I went back to Target the day after I got Drew's cool Beatles shirt cause Owen wanted one, too ($2 remember). Don't worry, they don't wear them at the same time. So anyway here's a pic of Owen wearing a Beatles shirt standing in front of a beetle (as if that wasn't obvious).

Tacos

Much better than a pound of ground beef with a taco seasoning packet. These are delish. And the taco shells really do taste so much better when they're warmed in the oven. I got this recipe from a book called "First Meals" I checked out from the library. They're not just for kids though I promise, Justin and I both loved em. I also learned that you can freeze pancakes and warm them up in a toaster from that book. Have I been living under a rock to never have learned that? We throw away batter almost every time we make pancakes so I was excited for that little tidbit. Okay back to the tacos:

2 tsp vegetable oil
1 small onion
2 garlic cloves
1 green pepper (cored, deseeded, and finely diced)
1/2 lb lean ground beef
1 C canned chopped tomatoes
1 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
2/3 C chicken broth
1 1/4 C canned light red kidney beans
1 1/4 C canned dark red kidney beans
salt and freshly ground pepper
8 taco shells
lettuce
cheese

Heat the oil in a saucepan, add the onion and garlic, and saute for about 2 minutes. Add the peppers and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, for 3 minutes. Add the ground beef and cook, stirring until browned.
Stir in the chopped tomatoes, crushed red pepper, and chicken broth, then simmer uncovered for 15 minutes. Stir in the kidney beans and cook for 3 minutes. Season to taste.
Meanwhile, warm the taco shells in the preheated oven for 2-3 minutes. Remove from oven, spoon in the beef mixture, top with cheese and lettuce (and whatever else you so desire).

Felt

I've been obsessed with felt lately ever since Amy made me a flannel board. I made felt pieces for my Plan of Salvation sharing time a couple weeks ago and today I made different ones for Owen to play with (race car, train, dump truck (that's pink cause that's what was left), airplane, etc.). Now someone just needs to have a baby girl so I can buy these for them:

And isn't this the cutest thing ever?! A flannel cake that comes with all those different felt pieces to decorate it with. Courtesy of twinkle-kids.com. I want to play with it myself.

Drew's View

Our freezing park trip on Tuesday...

Drew only wears socks 99% of the time.
He walks like a pro in socks.
With shoes is a different story.

Our Valentine's Day

5:40 AM - Got up to make Justin's Valentine's breakfast

6:20 AM - Owen and Drew are awake, everyone's eating. Owen and Drew got their books. Every year they get a book, their first Valentine's it's a mushy love book, but how many Valentine's books does one need? Owen picked out the same exact sticker book we had just finished (the one my mom gave him when were in AZ).

10:30 AM - Made cookies for Emily and Jessica cause their husbands are in Iraq. By making cookies I mean baking Pillsbury sugar cookies. I burnt one entire package cause I forgot about them while I was on the phone.

11:00 AM - Practiced a song for Sunday with Tisha and Tanya.

Sometime After That - Drew walked off the couch, while I was sitting right there. His eye hit smack dab on the corner of the train table. Ouch. Knew I should've taken pictures first thing!

After naps - I took this picture

4:15 PM - Emily was at our house to babysit (she offered since her husband is in Iraq). Justin came home early from work with yummy chocolate for me. We left (early to beat the crowds) for our 40-minute drive to Surf City to go to Daddy Mac's Beach Grille.

5:02 PM - Arrived at Daddy Mac's. Mapquest lied, it took us 42 minutes :) We had never been to this restaurant or even to Surf City. I was excited to see somewhere new and excited that the place was cute and right on the beach. This was the view from our booth:
5:02 PM-6:15 PM - Dinner Time!
This was the hugest salad fork ever.

Neither of us love seafood, yet we keep forgetting that and order it anyway. I had crab cakes and Justin had surf and turf. He ate that whole lobster tail, well the meat inside anyway.
I tasted it but preferred the turf.

Back Deck at Daddy Mac's

7:00 PM - Home in time to play with Owen & Drew a little before bed

Good Night!

5 Nice Things

I was down on my city yesterday so I'm going to say 5 nice things about it, things that I'll miss when I live someplace else:

1. Picking fresh strawberries and blueberies at local produce farms
(right about now I wish we picked a lot more blueberries to freeze - those look good!)
(August 9, 2006 - Like that wide-open shirt collar?)

2. The Patriotism
Not that I'm super patriotic, but that first Independence Day we were here and watched the fireworks on base was pretty cool. I have to admit I felt pretty proud of Justin and proud to be an American. Another time I felt that same patriotism was when we went to New Bern and listened to the Marine Corps Band play on the back lawn of Tryon Palace.
I LOVE the gardens at that place.
(May 16, 2006)

3. No "keeping up with the Joneses"

4. Many waterways - I love looking out at water as I'm driving

4. THE BEACH
(May 29, 2006)

Wow. I really didn't think I'd be able to come up with 5. And I even thought of more... like all the military perks (tons of free activities), all the cool nearby places we get to see, and the cost of living (very affordable, especially for being so close to the beach). Cool! I feel better.

Groceries

Ever since my most recent visit to Super Target in Raleigh, I've been feeling sorry for myself for the grocery options we have here...

Piggly Wiggly... Yes that's really the store's name. It stars in the movie, "Win a Date with Tad Hamilton." And here it is GHETTO. So rarely do I go there.

The best of the worst. It's okay, just expensive. Whenever Owen sees their logo on one of our store-brand products he says, "You got this at Food Lion?"

And then Wal-Mart that I like to avoid. But sometimes it's unavoidable.
I can't do them the favor of putting their logo on my blog.

There is the commissary on base that I like but it's 20-25 minutes away and that's a trek for groceries. And I still haven't gotten over that you have to tip the bagger and the person that helps you out to your car. And they get mad if you say you don't want any help.

Is it too much to ask for a Safeway?
Preferably the nice, new one by Bethany's house with all the
fresh produce stacked perfectly.

K I'll stop feeling sorry for myself now.

A Good Day

Monday Drew's cool Beatles shirt was on clearance for two bucks at Target. And if that wasn't enough, Owen said his own line during prayer that night for the first time, "Thank you that we could do puzzles." Normally he repeats what I say (or says nothing at all). But he totally snuck that line in there. I swear I didn't almost cry. We had done puzzles that night for family night - a home-made Drew puzzle, Owen puzzle, and one of our whole family.

Temple Trip

Yesterday we went to Raleigh to go to the Temple.
Since it's a 7+ hour round trip including Temple time I feel bad asking someone to babysit.
So we bring Owen & Drew along and Justin and I rotate.
Drew is waiting right outside the entrance for Justin.
I always feel so good after going to the Temple - wish it was a lot closer!

Sleeping with a full belly of Olive Garden cheesecake on the ride home from Raleigh.
Notice the sock on his right hand... Must be real excited about those new socks! He had put his shoes on himself before we left and I assumed he had included socks. I assumed wrong. So I went to SUPER Target while Justin was in the Temple and got him some new ones.

Be Mine

Happy Valentine's Season!
Justin is not a big fan of Valentine's Day (thinks it's too commercial)
but he's nice and celebrates with me anyway.
Awwww.
You can view this and more of the strangest valentines ever at http://7deadlysinners.typepad.com/photos/vintage_valentines

The Latest Casualty

I am now down to a total of TWO pants that don't have ripped knees.
One too many crawl chases I presume.

An Experiment

Since Owen is a goat and eats everything EXCEPT food I decided to make playdough a little more eatable for him. If you look at the ingredients it really is eatable already: flour, salt water, oil, and cream of tartar. But we decided to use condiments for the coloring to give it that something extra...

Mustard, catsup and maraschino cherries. Mustard was gross, catsup was DISGUSTING, and the cherries were great! I'm referring to smell, not taste. But they all worked and once the condiments were mixed in, it was like regular playdough.

Notice his collection of worms. It got a lot bigger by the time we were done. We also had jellyfish, starfish, pancakes, cookies, a crab, and a hamburger (i.e., "crabby pattie"). Here's the recipe, it's the best home-made playdough recipe I've found (and I've tried a total of TWO recipes):

Nature's Playdough

1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
2 tablespoons cream of tartar
2 tablespoons oil
1 cup water
beet, spinach, and carrot juice (which we obviously didn't have)

Mix flour, salt, cream of tartar, and oil. Slowly add the water. Cook over medium heat, stirring until dough becomes stiff. Turn out onto wax paper and let cool. Knead the dough with your hands until of proper consistency. Use as is, or divide into balls and add a few drops of the vegetable juices to make green, pink, and orange.

The New Black

I love soup when it's cold outside and this is my current favorite. Minus the sour cream, of course. I ate it for the first time in November when my mom made it. Then was excited when Tisha had made it here for New Year's Eve. Yum.

White Chili

3 (14oz) cans white beans (drained)
1 can garbanzo beans (drained)
2 cups shredded, cooked chicken breasts (I grilled mine on George Foreman)
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 medium onion, chopped
2 (4oz) cans chopped mild green chilies
2 teaspoons ground cumin
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
1½ teaspoons dried oregano, crumbled
6 cups chicken broth
3 cups grated Monterey jack cheese
sour cream

Drain beans and rinse well. Place chicken in heavy large saucepan. Add cold water to cover and bring to simmer. Cook until tender. Drain and cool. Shred chicken or cut into cubes. Heat oil in same pot over medium-high heat. Add onions and sauté until translucent, about 10 minutes. Stir in garlic, then chilies, cumin, oregano and cayenne pepper and sauté 2 minutes. Add beans, chicken and broth and bring to a boil. At this point it can be refrigerated. If you want to make a day ahead as the flavors go through it. Next day, bring to a simmer and add cheese. Stir until cheese melts. Serve w/ sour cream.

Spilled Milk

Lara, Max's mom, gave me a copy of Marjorie Pay Hinckley's book, "Small and Simple Things" before they moved last Sunday. I've been reading it this week and that lady is so cool! I love that she says, "don't be a whiner." Usually my free second to read comes in the bathroom (sorry if that's too much info). But I'll come out all positive and ready to go! One quote I especially like is, "Find joy in your children. Don't overschedule them or yourself. You may not be able to take them on exotic vacations. It doesn't matter. When the day dawns bright and sunny, take an excursion to the canyon or the park. When it's cloudy and wet, read a book together or make something good to eat. Give them time to explore and learn about the feel of grass and the wiggliness of worms." Yesterday I got done blow-drying my hair to find Owen had dumped milk all over his Hungry, Hungry Hippos game. I freaked out. I'm pretty sure Sis Hinckley wouldn't have done that. I need to read the book a few more times...

While You Were Freezing

While everyone in AZ was busy freezing on Monday we had a high of 79. Since it was MLK Jr Day, the NC Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores was free. And since it was free it was crowded. And since it was crowded we opted for the nature trail they had outside.