Second Trimester: Feeling Better

Well, If you haven't figured out already, I'm Pregnant! (If you read between the lines I kept saying that I was feeling sick or tired) Ha! Well, I'm officially in my 2nd Trimester and everything is good so far. I'm due end of October and we'll find out what we are having in a month or so. I seemed to have a burst of energy and made Indian food for Pete's sister Penny and her family. She had a baby 2 months ago and I was feeling too tired to pull it together. I made chicken tikka masala, a vegetarian curry, rice, and naan. It turned out pretty good. I currently working on a project to put all of my favorite recipes in a word document. Right now they are all over the Internet and on scraps of paper.


On Saturday, I helped out with a wedding shower for my friend Jessica. I made a fruit tray and a veggie tray, chicken salad sandwiches, and sugar cookies. I wanted to make fruit topiaries with strawberries. I had a vision of doing a vegetable topiary as well, but I just didn't have time. Next time I would only do one, because it took 4 lbs of strawberries to fill the two half-way. ha!


On Sunday we had my parents, Pete's parents and my friend Melanie for dinner. My dad gave a fireside at our ward on the Joseph Smith leg surgery. Everyone kept saying how great it was. We took pictures after the fireside. I was able to capture this 'random combination' picture! ha! Al's son, William, my friend from Philly, Melanie, and Phillip.

Pete has been BUSY with his basement projects. Thursday he tore out all of the ceilings in the basement and any dry wall that needed to be removed. We were knee-deep in rubble and Pete and his parents worked like crazy and bagged all of the garbage. On Saturday, Pete got the jack-hammer to make room for some new drains. They also made about 10 trips to the dump!






Lily is busy as usual. She wanted to wear her cousin Gracie's baby back-pack. It was funny seeing her walk around the house wearing a baby almost as big as her. She now says, 'more' and 'please' in sign language. She can definately say, 'no' and 'dada' and doggie, (which sounds like 'dada').














Phillip has had some fun play-dates with his cousin Gracie. They entertain each other really well and we seem to get more done with the two kids together. I got all of my projects and cooking done. and Paige was able to crank out some papers and studying.

Happy Easter!

We had a fun-filled Easter Weekend!

I got really motivated and went to a cake decorating store in Salt Lake, Orson Gygi. It is my new favorite store. They have EVERYTHING!! Al gave me good advice and said, remember how all of that cooking stuff looks at a garage sale. So I stuck with the basic sugars and icing dyes. Friday night I started getting a cold, but was DETERMINED to make my cookies. I really wanted to make nice looking sugar cookies. (*TIP*) I read online that it is easier to roll out the dough after you make it and store it in the fridge in layers of parchment or wax paper. The nice thing about this is your dough is ready to cut shapes anytime. So I made the dough Friday and thought I could bake them Saturday night.

Saturday we went garage sale shopping and we scored 3 christmas reindeer and some halloween decorations for about $14. We then headed down to Mapleton. We had a fun but quick easter egg hunt in the rain. (Picture of Pete and Phillip who found a spot in Mike's kitchen and sorting out the candy). We got to sing Happy Birthday to my Dad. I gave him a dozen eggs from our chickens which started a long discussion of the responsibilities that go along with keeping chickens. (Maybe I'll have to have a seperate chicken post).

We rushed home and got the babysitter because we had planned to go to the Temple with Pete's Family. We were able to seal Pete's grandma to her parents. It was really neat. We went to Texas Roadhouse afterwards. By this time, I was feeling REALLY sick, but I still wanted to make my cookies. I had Pete give the kids a bath. Lily came out all clean and in her jammies. She fell down and I forgot that I was holding a bag of royal icing and when I turned quickly, I dumped a pile of frosting on her head. Ga'ak!! I stayed up late trying to clean up my messes, and get the kids' easter eggs and prizes ready.

I went to the last bit of church and Lily got to show off her Easter dress ($3 Garage sale find from last year). I was feeling so exhausted that I didn't even go to my parents for Easter dinner. We ended up having smoothies and grilled cheese sandwiches for Easter dinner. Ha!

In all, the cookies turned out great. The frosting is just a royal icing that has a honey-like consistency. Pete likes the taste of my other glaze icing, so next time I'll make that Icing and make the royal icing if I want to add any detail. (*TIP*) Don't try and make sugar cookies when you are sick! ha!!!

It's Spring Time!

When is it Spring Time?

When you get your pre-ordered chicks at the feed store. (Two Plymoth Bards: Titchiba, and Goody, Two Leghorns: Tweetybird, and PuttyTat)


















When it's good enough weather to store a newly demo'd wall outside. Pete got going on our basement project during conference weekend.














People are having garage sales. I got this skirt from a combined charity garage sale. Lily really liked it!


















You have enough energy to help Phillip play 'Superman.' To Phillip, Superman, BatMan, and Spiderman are his favorite and are real.













You meet for a play date at the zoo with 12 kids. Eventhough half of them had meltdowns it felt good to be in the sun.












Anywho, that's a quick re-cap of our projects and activities.

Disneyland!

Well, it's taken me a while to recover from the trip and get all of my pics organized. But we had a 'Magical' time in Disneyland. We drove down and stopped in Vegas on our way down. Phillip LOVED the M&M store. Watch out when you walk in the door ... you may spend a lot of $$ on M$M. Phillip picked out green M&Ms and they came out REALLY fast. ha!

We went to downtown LA to the Alley. It's pretty much like any china town, but with tons of stores. We found Disney towels for pretty cheap. We also got some skeleton hoodie sweatshirts which will be part of our next Halloween display. GREAT junk shopping! We spent some time with Pete's Aunt Connie and had some GREAT sushi.

We had three days at Disneyland. It was kind of nice that we had the time because the first two days we were pretty tired by 5:00 and didn't feel guilty about leaving because we could see anything we missed the next day. The best deal for lunch is in the Disneyland park called 'Plaza Inn'. (It's on the end of the street of Main Street on your right). It's cafeteria style and they serve a great 3 piece chicken meal which is plenty of food to split between two adults. You have free refills on drinks and before you leave the restaurant they give you a 'To-go' cup. We fed me, pete, his parents, & phillip, with salads desert and drinks for $50. Pretty good for in the park eating!

We stopped by Santa Monica beach. It was a little overcast which is Pete's favorite because you don't get too hot. Phillip still LOVES the beach. We were there for a little bit until Lily got sand in her eyes. We saw my brother and his family at the local Koo-ka-roo.

The drive home was a little easier because we decided to drive through the night. Pete had the hard stretch. Vegas to Bountiful from 8:30 PM to 2:30 AM.



Highlights:

• Phillip's reaction to the Monster's Inc. Ride. He thought that it was real! He went on it 5 times!
  
• Lily on It's a small world and the 'Tiki Room.' She was laughing and clapping the whole time.
• Phillip watching the Pixar Parade in California Adventure. There is a clip below that is pretty funny!
• The double stroller naps. Lily would fall asleep and Phillip would say that he wanted to lay down too. They took naps at the same time each day.
• Getting Pete's grandparent's bird bath. We stopped by their old house in San Gabriel. Pete asked the owner if he could look around the backyard. She was chinese lady that didn't speak much english. Pete somehow got her to understand that his dad and grandparents used to live there. He saw the bird bath in the corner and told her that he remembered it and asked if we could have it. She understood and helped him clean it out. Now we have a great bird bath under our pine trees. ha!
• Pete's Parents coming with us to Disneyland. It was great to get away from the kids for a little bit. We all went back to the hotel for dinner and went back to the park with the kids in the jammies to see the fireworks. IT WAS MAGICAL!!
  

Lowlights:

• Lily's warm bottles. We had to go to the espresso machines to get her milk to the right temperature. We had to listen to her scream when we were inbetween towns.
• Waiting in line. Some of the new attractions had long lines no matter what time it was.
• Lots of driving. It's a good thing we had our nice mini-van.
• A very dirty car after a long road trip. Pete and his dad detailed the car after we got home.

Phillip and Lily at Santa Monica Beach

Phillip with a "green happy" at the M&M store

Dropping like Flies

We had a fun day on Saturday with Paige's family. Phillip had a play-date with Gracie and Pete got to go snow-mobiling with Joe and Morgan. That meant I got some precious hours by myself while Lily was napping. I sometimes would wonder why I haven't been baking and cooking as much as I did in California. Now I realize that you can get a LOT done during the nap time. I got some work done, scrubbed down the bathrooms, and made enough spaghetti sauce to freeze for 4 meals. Phew! Well Phillip fell asleep on the bar stools and Pete fell asleep on the couch. It was a fun filled day and everyone was definitely ready for bed.

Phillip has been saying some funny things lately. I asked him before dinner yesterday, "What do you want?" He answered in a loud voice, "Clean Air!" Ha! I guess he's on my band wagon.

I sometimes will suggest something to eat like a banana or yogurt. Phillip will say, "How about a healthy snack instead."

Other times I will tell him to finish his chicken. Phillip has said, "I can't. It's too expensive."

Lily is starting to feel better. She had a ear infection and three teeth coming in. A perfect storm. She always has a smile even when she doesn't feel good.

This will be a busy week to get ready for our trip to California and our visit to Disneyland next week. YAY!! Phillip is really excited.

Kids for Clean Air!

We had a "Clean Air" rally today at the capital. It was a little tricky getting there with the two kids. Luckily a lady helped me with the stroller up the big steps. They stuck me in front of the steps in the Rotunda. Someone was passing out gas masks and as I said before ... my kids like to dress up. Phillip wanted to be Darth Vader. There was a gas mask for an adult and he said, "You want to be Darth Vader too?" He kept asking and asking so I put it on for a second. Then I heard all of the photographers clicking away. Someone from the Davis County Clipper and the Salt Lake Tribune asked for our names. Ha!

Here's a clip from the ksl news. It shows Phillip and me in our Gas Masks. ha!!

I met up with Al who was brave enough to bring 6 kids to the capital. Her boys made great signs. James and William got a good lesson on legislation and rallying. Thanks Al for supporting the cause!

The latest news is that the Consolidated Energy will NOT put in the petcoke plant but will use a cleaner energy source. Shows what you can do if you get enough people together. Now hopefully we can get some legislation approved that will prevent something like this to be approved in the future. Thanks everyone for all of your support. I saw a lot of your signatures on Mom's petition. :-)

Post 101: Lily's Birthday

Ha! I just noticed that my last posting was my 100th post! ha!

Well, it was Lily's Birthday on Saturday. We decided to take the kids to the zoo. I am now an official Hogle Zoo Member. So, let me know the next time you are going, because I want to get our monies worth. Phillip normally likes the Giraffes, but this time he said they were too stinky.

I wasn't feeling too good in the morning and I was worried that her birthday was going to be a flop. But, luckily Paige agreed to let Phillip have a play date and I was able to take a nap and then hit the stores. I made her cupcakes and birthday cake. I got the flowers that were on sale from Valentine day. I also got her some cute balloons.

Her main present was the pink car, which was a garage sale find that Al passed down. She really likes the car. She's a little short to ride it, but still tries to climb on top of it.

It was our first little family birthday party, and Pete said it was his favorite party. We didn't have to clean up the mess right away and just relaxed.

Lily got to eat her cake by herself. She was pretty dainty eating it and only picked off some of the icing and then got frustrated that her hands were dirty. I can't believe she is already a year old! Time flies!

My Kids Like to Dress-Up

I don't know WHY ... but Phillip and Lily sure do like to dress up.

I gave phillip the SuperMan cape for a potty prize (from D.I). He wanted to wear it over his coat around the town.

Lily put together her outfit. A pair of binoculars, a stethoscope, and one of Mom's valentine's baskets for a hat.

I guess I have encouraged it... just a little bit.

Here are my current projects:

Pottytraining Phillip - I got rid of the pull-ups. Advice welcome!
Lobbying for clean air - They have a bill drafted that could put a hold and possibly stop the PetCoke plant.
Taxes - Gaaaaah!
Sell some of our collections and junk on ebay.

Stop the Petroleum Coke Power Plant

A generated photo of the proposed PetCoke Plant

I am not typically a person to get involved with causes or political rallies, but when my friend Alison told me about the plant that is going to be built in West Bountiful I was outraged.  I went to the information meeting at the Bountiful Public Library.  They asked to interview me.  I was really nervous and my voice cracked, so they actually took my interview.  Goes to show you should always put on make-up before fighting for a cause.  Here's the link to the clip:Fox News

Here are the facts about the proposed plant:

• Petcoke, the proposed fuel-source for the plant, is a by-product of the oil refining process theat burns dirtier than coal (with a higher carbon and sulfur content than coal).
• Petcoke emissions include Hazardous Air Pollutants (HAPs) that are known cancer causers.  If permitted, the Petcoke plant will be allowed to emit 19,000 pounds of HAP emissions annually.
• The plant will also emit 800,000 pounds of PM10, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and volatile organic compounds.  This can contribute to poor air quality and can exacerbate respiratory or cardiac conditions.  Studies have shown that 16% of south davis county children have asthma, which is nearly double the state average of 8%.  We cannot afford any more pollution.
• The emissions and the delivery of the petcoke fuel could affect the entire Wasatch front.  Teh petcoke fuel is an ash-like substance and can become easily wind-borne and could cause HAPs to leech in to groundwater and agricultural products.
• This plant will be only a few blocks from Pete's work and only a few miles from our Home!!  The smoke stack will be level with our neighborhood and we will receive the brunt of the emissions!!  

So, I am using my blog to educate those who read it.  If you know anyone in Utah, Please let them know and get them involved.  If you are a Utah Resident, please sign a petition to stop this plant from going in. Please contact your elected officials.  Contact the Financial bakers of the plant, EPIC Ventures, Zions Bank.  Contact media representatives.

Follow this link for detailed contact information:Who to Contact

Follow this link if you want to get more involved and collect petition signatures: Get Involved

March to the Capital: Join me at Wednesday, February 25, 12:00 PM for a lobbying session in the Capital Rotunda

Here is a youtube video of Ohio Residents who live by a PetCoke Plant

We have a Dog!

Pete called me yesterday and said that his patient was looking for a home for her puganese dog (pug and pekanese mix). I decided that we would meet the dog. His name is 'Mater' from the movie Cars. He is REALLY cute and I had to have him. ha! He is about a year old and is a really calm dog.

Needless to say it's been a little adjustment.

Not 5 minutes after I brought him home he had an accident on the floor. I thought I should take him outside. I was stupid and forgot to check to see if the gates were closed ... and they weren't. Ga'ak! So he started running away. He was a fast runner for a little guy. It's a good thing I've been running lately. I was running in my heeled knee-high boots and work clothes. I wish I had a video of that! ha! I had to run up and down our street and up a really steep hill. Luckily a dog ran out and spooked Mater and he stopped in his tracks.

Phillip and Lily have warmed up to the dog and are starting to play with him. Phillip was pretty scared at first, but now he says that Mater is 'HIS' dog. He keeps saying that he wants to get a BIG dog too. or Mater needs to grow big.

We made our first trip to "Petco" to buy some supplies. I got succered into buy a Cezer Chevez Dog Whisperer leash. ha!! Pete bought the rest of the stuff at the dollar store. :-)



Here is Phillip's reaction to the dog. He got kind of scared when Mater tried to Lick him.




Here's Phillip with Mater. He had quickly warmed up to him and tried to share his toys and give him imaginary cookies!

Lily's a Cutie Pa-tootie

Well, by popular demand .. here is a video of Lily walking. I got her to do one of her other tricks. She likes to growl like a lion. She sometimes does it out of the blue and it kind of scares me!

She is really funny when she walks and kind of waddles around.

Milestones

Well, Lily started walking yesterday! She has been pulling herself up for a few months. A few weeks ago she started pushing around our chairs and a plastic walker. She even would walk down the hall holding onto the wall like Spiderman. Now she is taking steps and can walk a few feet at a time.

It's funny how the two can be so different and so much alike. Lily hasn't really liked bananas until I let her feed herself and take her own bites. Phillip LOVED to feed himself bananas and I found a picture of him eating one at the same age. He would inhale his bananas. Pete's sister, Paige would freak out when he would take two or three inch bites of banana at a time. ha!!

Phillip keeps us on our toes and says the funniest things. Pete was hanging up our framed quote of President Hinckley's book, "Way to Be". Phillip asked what that was and Pete listed off the different values, "Be Grateful, Be Smart, Be Involved, Be Clean, Be True, Be Positive, Be Humble, Be Still, Be Prayerful."

Phillips said, "yeah, Be Great, Be Prayerful, and stay out of the way!"

Phillip's latest thing is to act like different characters: "Three" the dog, a nice ghost, an ice cream salesman, and a baby named 'meme.' He's pretty intense when he plays make believe and it's really hard for him to break character. He even got angry with Lily because she was walking towards the spot where Pete had set down an imaginary glass of lemonade.

Home Haircuts

I was going to go to Cookie Cutters to get Phillip's Haircut.  But, last time I paid $15 and Pete didn't really like how it turned out.  Soooo... I got out the shears and scissors and was VERY careful.  Home Haircuts can be treacherous!

The last time we cut Phillip's hair was right before his birthday.  He was fighting us and moved his head so we had to give him a buzz cut.  It was so sad when he looked in the mirror.  He said, "I don't like it!" and started crying.

Well, I think I did pretty good.  I figured I need to learn how to cut his hair sooner or later.   It's not perfect but I think I got the job done :-)   

Wish me luck once I have to start dealing with Lily's hair :-)

Before

After

The Cathy Cutter Staff: Gracie, Phillip, and Lily

A Brand New Year

Here's a funny skit from Saturday Night Live. We saw it a few months ago and have saved it on our DVR. Phillip says, "I want to see 'I like chasing cars!'"  

Well, we have officially cleaned up our Christmas decorations and display. Since Pete was able to store the stuff so efficiently both Pete and I went on some Christmas Sale shopping spree. I bought a ton of christmas lights from Walmart at 60 cents a strand. Pete found a Santa sleigh and some outdoor light up figurines.  It should be fun.

Right now Lily is learning to walk.  She pushes chairs around the kitchen.  She also has a plastic walker.  She even got in trouble at church for stealing someone's walker.   There is a picture of her running with a chair below.

Phillip is doing really good on the Potty.  It will be a little while until he is fully potty trained, but he is making progress.  He got a CTR (Choose The Right) ring from his primary teacher.  He is really proud of it.  So we have been talking about good choices.  Today Phillip kept asking for apple juice and I was busy and kind of ignoring him.  He said, "Mommy you aren't listening to me!  That is not the right choice!"  

My New Years goals: Eat less, Exercise more, Watch less TV, and Paint more.  We'll see how it goes! :-)

Christmas Light Show

Here are the pictures and some video of our Christmas Light display. I had to get a video the night of New Years Eve because Pete and his dad worked most of New Years Day taking down the lights and lawn decorations. It's nice to have everything cleaned up, but I have to say I miss the crazy light display. Now we need to start shopping the after Christmas sales. For those going to garage sales, keep an eye out for solid color mini lights.

I took some pictures of our Nativity Display. Pete cut out the shapes and I painted the figures. It took a long time because we wanted the lines to be pretty sharp so that you can see it from the curb. We had lights on the nativity and had a clip from the "Merry Christmas Charlie Brown" movie where Linus reads the Nativity story from Luke Two.

A Merry Christmas Update!

Lily & Austin Christmas Day

It has been a while since my last update. It has been a BUSY Christmas season!

We celebrated our 4th Anniversary. I think I love Christmas time because it reminds me of when we got married. After 4 years of marriage we have owned 3 different houses, lived in 3 different time zones, and have two wonderful kids and four chickens. We have done a lot, but we have had a lot of fun along the way :-)

Phillip comatose from too much popcorn


Phillip and Lily opening Santa's presents

















Phillip hugging his new Woody toy


















Boathouse Row Painting




Highlights:

• Watching the Christmas Devotional with my family
• Bountiful light parade (my kind of parade that lasts for only 5 minutes)
• Bowling with Pete's work
• Taking the kids to see Santa
• Our light show (we sat in our car almost every night to watch)
• Hot chocolate party at my house
• Christmas Eve with the Olsens
• Christmas Day at Pari and Becca's House
• Sunset street party
• Going to DI or looking at Pete's finds from DI for Christmas, Easter, and birthdays (Toy storage instead of food storage :-)
• Trains - Pete got his old grandpa's train to work again. It is from the early 1900s. Now we have a train and Christmas village set up.
  
• Popcorn Tins - Phillip LOVES popcorn. We caught a picture of him sacked out on the side of one. As you can see, chedder is his favorite, then butter, then caramel.
• Getting Christmas cards - It's great to see peoples pictures and get letters. It's funny how learn stuff about my sisters in their christmas letters even though I talk to them almost everyday.
  

Low Lights

• Losing receipts - I kept on finding items that I had already bought for cheaper, but to my dismay, I couldn't find the receipt. I should tape the receipt to any item next year.
• Blowing Fuses - We kept plugging in new lights to our show and had to spend hours calibrating the amperage for each candy cane and icicle light.
• Snow Storms - We almost go stuck at Pari's house and had to sleep over at Becca's house. I guess it is kind of a highlight because I love sleepovers. :-)

Christmas Day recap -
Phillip was SOOO excited for his presents. He got a bunch of Toy Story stuff and Cars stuff and his own electric train. You can see a picture of him asleep hugging his new Woody.

Lily got some baby toys and a dolly. She loved the bouncing ball toy that I got her.

I took a picture of Pete's present with my present :-) Pete got me a Canon Rebel digital camera. I didn't need it, but I LOVE it. I need to figure out a protection solution because I don't trust myself to carry it in my purse where milk or bottles always spill.

I painted Pete a picture of Boathouse Row in Philadelphia. He has always wanted a painting of it. The miracle of Christmas is that I was able to finish it :-) I also got Pete a Star Wars light saber which is pretty awesome.

Overall it was a GREAT Christmas season. I feel so blessed to have such a great family and to be around so much family this time of year. I hope this entry finds all of you well and gearing up for one more Holiday party... New Years!

It's that Time of year!

Well, we have been busy on our Christmas decorating and getting our Christmas lights outside.   I'll post a video of the light show on another post.  I had fun decorating the house, but it was a week long project.   

I ventured out on black friday with the two kids at 8:30 am.  Most of the door busters were gone, but I found some good deals.  Above is a picture of phillip wearing his new jacket and laying on a blanket that we bought.  He was a little pooped from the shopping!   

We went to Temple Square to see the christmas lights.  Phillip loved seeing the lights and the nativity.  I said, "Isn't this pretty?" and he said, "It's not pretty, it's cool."  Phillip has been saying funny things lately.  Out of the blue one day he said, "Mommy, am I driving you crazy?"  ha!  I felt bad. I have to watch what I say to him.  Now when Lily is crying he says, "You are driving ME crazy!"

Now all I need to do is finish our Christmas cards.  I love christmas time!

Who wants a ride?

I got a new MINI VAN!! YAY!! I'm SOOO excited! Pete had to take my white car in for a check-up and test drove a mini-van. It was the color I wanted and had the DVD player. He was nervous about telling me about it because he knew that I would want to get it. It's a 2007 Honda Odyssey and is in great condition and has low milage. It was also a LOT cheaper than the new ones we looked at. Pete's Acura was on it's last leg and we thought we would take the plunge before another winter season. So now I am ROCKIN' the suburbs! Soccer car pool anyone? Need to car pool to salt lake? How about some big junk exchanges?! And as a disclaimer ... I am not pregnant. Ha! I've already had 3 people ask me if I was pregnant since we have invested in a family wagon. Phillip loves the mini-van and Lily will have a little more room once we upgrade her car seat.

It's kind of sad that we don't have the Acura anymore. I didn't have a car in Philadelphia, and that was our main car for a while. It was a great car. Pete had the car since the year before he graduated from BYU. I first met the car in 2004.

Favorite Acura memories:

1. While we were dating, Pete would drive to pick me up and drop me off in the city almost everyday. He added lots of mileage driving down Kelly drive.

2. We had an eventful road trip to Boston when I was pregnant. We thought it was silly how people fly from Philadelphia to Boston. On the map it should only take 5 maybe 6 hours. But we hit construction, and accidents and it took us 12 hours to drive to Rhode Island from Philadelphia.

3. During the aftermath storms of Katrina there was flooding on Kelly drive. We were driving on it before they closed the road. There was a stream of water coming from the hill. The water was so high that the car actually floated for a few seconds. Scary!