The Summer Went TOO quick!

I know that I don't have kids in school yet, but it's crazy that all of the kids are going back to school. Here is the picture of Phillip and Lily before their first day of pre-school. I liked Phillip's face. He doesn't do very well with 'posed' pictures.

We've started some fun projects. We are already working on some of our Christmas and Halloween light show items. I think we are a little bit different than most people. We went to the Dollar store to see what Halloween stuff they had. While we were there there was a lady that saw the Halloween stuff and said, "Gaah... Halloween isn't for another 2 months!"

We had a pretty good garage sale yesterday and last week. I got an exercise ball, some clothes for Lily and the baby. Pete got a bunch of tools and even a witches weather vain. I think the problem with us and garage sales is that most people would see a witches weather vain and think 'junk.' For us it is a GREAT find. :-)

Here is my current project. Hopefully it will help justify our garage saling habit. Selling stuff on Ebay. These are a few items that Pete picked up at DI (except for the dental tools). Maybe I can put some of the money towards our new favorite product we saw on TV. HA!! I saw the commercial and thought it was the funniest thing!

Anywho, just trying to get some projects done and not get too big. (it's kind of hard when you get fried cheese curds from A&W once a week). :-)

Summer Recap

Well, It has been a while since I posted an update. I seem to be getting more tired and bigger by the day. It's funny how I don't seem to be as much of a shutter bug when I'm pregnant.

Here's a recap of our summer highlights:

Lagoon:
We got Lagoon passes this year. I've gone with just me and the kids a few times. We've also gone as a family a bunch of times. I think it was worth the investment as we have already gone 7 times and still have the last few weeks of Summer and then Frightmares.

Phillip's favorite ride is the "Terror Ride." He doesn't get scared. I guess he kind of likes the thrill of the scary figures. Phillip really likes the big rides. He went on Tidal wave and the Red Dragon ride. Next year it will be fun to go on the big rides with him when I'm not pregnant.

Fireworks:















We got to watch some good firework shows for the 4th of July and Pioneer day. Good Food, Fireworks, glowsticks, and sparklers :-)

Parades:
We did the Centerville kids parade for the 3rd of July. Phillip loved riding his trike in the Parade. We also went to the Bountiful parade for Pioneer day. Phillip thought that he was going to ride his trike again. I think the Bountiful parade was the hottest I was ALL summer. It was well above 100. Luckily we were in the shade :-)

Basement Project

Main Room Before:


















Main Room After:












Toy Room
Before:














During: See the following picture of Pete working on the newly cut window.

After:













Kitchen Before:














Kitchen After:







We are on the home stretch with our basement remodel. We have new carpet which has made the BIGGEST difference. We chose a low pile pattern carpet and the carpet guy said that we should probably remove the linolium tile that was underneath the old carpet. WOW! What a job! There were 3 layers of linolium to pull up. Once that was up, it exposed this black tar that was originally used to glue on the linolium. Needless to say, while we were painting the walls and trim we ended up getting tar stuck to our feet and legs. I showed up to church one sunday with paint and tar all over my legs without knowing it!

I have to say, eventhough it has been stressful, I am glad we did it. I didn't take many pictures along the way. I dug up some pictures that I took during our walk through of the house. It's amazing how much brighter everything is.

The kitchen is still in progress. We saved the bar stools and will have a bar with the stools secured into the floor. I found the table set on KSL last weekend. It's in great condition and the red matches the little red side chairs that gave me the diner kitchen inspiration.

Boating & Swimming

We have gone swimming a few times and did go boating with Pete's family. I have had the hardest time with Lily. Her skin is so sensitive, that I either miss a spot and she gets sunburned, or I go crazy and she gets sunblock in her eyes. FYI, the "TearFree" sunblock label should be used with a grain of salt. Lily started crying after rubbing in some sunblock in her eyes.

Summer Fun!!

We've had a busy summer of projects but are still having time for fun.  The Trampoline has been GREAT!! Phillip LOVES to jump on the trampoline.  Lily loves it too.  She makes me nervous when she runs straight to the edge and sits on the bum right before she gets to the edge.  Phillip loves to do tricks.  Here is a picture of him doing a 'kung-fu panda' move.

Lily is showing off her love of shoes.  Here she is in one of my 4 inch heals and some BCBG flats.  She'll go and play in her play house with her babies, cookie cutter bracelets and wear my shoes.  I keep buying shoes for her at garage sales because she seems to have a talent for hiding her little shoes around the house.  

We haven't gone swimming much this summer.. the weather and projects seem to get in the way.  It doesn't mean we aren't ready.  :-)

I was telling Pete, "I don't know what's with me this summer.  Last summer I had tons of barbecue parties, and play-dates, etc.  This summer I haven't done anything and I'm still tired."

He said, "yeah, you're pregnant."  Ha!  So far so good!  

Saturday Morning Ritual: Garage Sales

Well, this morning we were out the door with both kids at 8:00 AM.  We usually start south in North Salt Lake and make our way north to Centerville.  There is a girl in my neighborhood who goes garage sale shopping every week too, and we usually see her.  On our way to Bountiful we will stop at the Corner 22 gas station and get a fountain drink and some treats for us and the kids.  

Because of other plans and Pete working, we haven't been able to go garage sale shopping for a long time.  We definitely made up for it today!!

My favorite finds:

• American girl bitty baby doll with a carrier and outfits ($10).  Lily was reaching for it and I let her hold it for a little bit.  When we were leaving I had to take it away from her and she had a FIT!! I realized it was an American girl doll, and then I probably wanted it more than Lily.  I'm saving it to give to her before the baby comes.
  
• Trampoline ($50) - It's a pretty big one and was in really good shape.  The kids are a little young now, but I'm sure they will like it!
  
• Little table and chairs ($5) - I really like the colors even though it's a little worn.  I debating whether or not to paint it into a little girl table.  
  
• Animated Scripture Series ($10) - I was about to buy the same thing at a garage sale for $70 a few weeks ago, but couldn't justify it.  I saw it again and bought it.  It wasn't a complete collection but was glad to have most of the videos.  We then saw another garage sale that was selling them for 25 cents a piece and I was able to complete my collections. Even-though it's VHS, I'm glad to have them.  
• A sled - free - I wanted to go sledding with the kids last January and couldn't find one at the store.  Now we have one for next year.

Pete's favorite finds:

• Weedwacker - He got 2 for $2.  He got two in case there were missing parts and he needed to fix it.  This is something we were going to go out and buy
  
• A animated nativity music box - We both love christmas stuff!  We tried it out and it has all of the pieces and Phillip was fascinated with it.
  

We got even more stuff from Pete's sister's garage sale: Bike kid seat, extra car seat, and some baby toys.  I also bought some little toys, spider-man t-shirts, a chicken salt-and-pepper shakers (something EVERYONE needs) and a pair of shoes for Lily.

Wow! what a day!  

Our Backyard Surprise

Pete came home the other day and saw a family of deer grazing in our backyard. Scroll down to see a picture.


































Ha!! Pete played the same joke on me and I thought I would try it in our blog. We picked up 3 more reindeer at DI. We now have 9 reindeer, ha! Enough for Santa's Sleigh. We may have to display them in our backyard until our basement is finished. I think they look pretty classy :-) I thought it would be nice to send some power to the deer so they light up at night. Christmas in June. Maybe our neighbors will want to replace the chain-linked fence. HA!!

Here's Phillip, their cousin Brinklee, and Lily sitting by another Christmas find. We had some time before my Mom's birthday party so we drove around their neighborhood. They had the 'Spring Cleaning' trash day and we found a home-made light-up christmas tree and candycane on the side of the road. Pete knocked on the door and asked if it's o.k. if we took it home. It turns out they are friends of my parents. Ha! Someone's trash is another person's treasure!

Lily seems to be more like a little girl than a baby lately. She LOVES her babies and tries to take them everywhere. She LOVES shoes and is always wearing mine or Pete's shoes around the house. She even says, "sh.." for shoe. Her new favorite thing to do is to get cookie cutters out of the drawer and wear them as brecelets.



















Phillip is funny as usual. I can't seem to get good pictures of him lately. I say, "Smile" and he looks at the floor. I say, "Look at the Camera" and he looks at the sky. ha! I guess I have to be satisfied with candid shots. Phillip got some new sandals and always wants to go on walks. He said, "Mommy lets go bumping." I asked what was 'bumping?' I turns out 'bumping' is jogging because it makes your body go bumping up and down.

Honey Teriyaki Chicken

Well, I am at the half-way mark for the pregnancy and feeling good. I wanted to get better at grilling this summer. I finally figured out how to grill without the outside getting too burned ... still learning though. :-)

This is a Tyler Florence recipe for grilled teriyaki chicken. It turned out really good. I think it would be easier to buy a bunch of wings or drumsticks. That way you don't have to worry about cutting up the chicken breast and leg quarters. We added some red peppers to the grill to have some vegetables.

Bountiful High Pre-School Triathalon

We had a fun school activity yesterday. They had planned a triathlon for the kids. They started with a water balloon toss (which counted for the swimming). The kids then rode their bikes around the track one lap and ran around the track another lap. Pete got a good action shot of me and Phillip running. It's funny how we both have the same running gate ... ha! no wonder Phillip is always running into things. Below are pictures of the kids and all of their loot from the race. They got t-shirts, a running number, a hat, a water bottle, and a medal. So much fun! Phillip is enjoying a piece of watermelon after his half mile of exercise.

A Relaxy Taxi Weekend

A lot of people thought it was sad that we didn't end up going to Hawaii. (we had buddy passes and the flight on Thursday didn't look good). But, it was actually really relaxing to take a break from work, home projects, and even a few days without the kids.

We ended up staying at Zermatt resort in Midway. They have a deal now that if you buy a room for $120 they give you $100 credit to spend at the resort. We had a breakfast buffet, I got a manicure, we got room service and even ordered a movie in the hotel room. It was a lot of fun without having to travel far.

We drove up to Cascade Springs. It was really pretty. I want to go up again so I can get some pictures with the flowers in bloom.


Before:




This was one of the more tedious endevours for our basement project. The cement cutters came on Monday to cut a window in our basement. But they left the whole thing intact. Pete had to push away cinderblocks and bricks from the outside in order to push the slab into the room. Now we had a 2 ton piece of cement in the basement, so Pete had to rent a jack-hammer to break it into pieces. Whew! Good job Pete!









After:

Here are some pictures I took at Cascade Springs.

It's a Girl!

We went to get our ultrasound today. It's a girl! Everything looks good so far.

We asked phillip what name we should give her and he said, "I don't know. Let's go to the store and get one."

Here are some of our ideas:

Philberta Roylene (named after two grandpas)

MerMary Henlouise (named after two grandmas)

Parpenny Paigilee (named after pete's sisters)

Emichermar Alsuecca Julitina (named after 8 sisters)

Ghygi Lee

Sunrise Moonshine

Mary Kate 'n' Ashley Olsen

ha! yeah, we will have to figure out a name for a girl.

A Lot Going on :-)

We have had a busy few weeks. Phillip and Lily are having fun playing outside in the good weather. It's nice that they can play together buy themselves. I was able to plant my flowers and my potted vegetable garden. Pete has been busy with our basement projects.

We are sad to say that Mater got hit by a car. Luckily he didn't have to suffer too much. He just started chasing cars the past week. We were trying to be more careful about keeping him penned in. Well, we will miss the little guy even though we only had him for a few months.

Phillip has said some funny things lately. I was telling Lily 'no,' and Phillip said, 'Mommy, I'm mad to you that you say that." I tried to explain that I was teaching her right and wrong.. "just like I taught you right and wrong." Phillip said, "I teach myself right and wrong." ha! I asked him, "are you doing a good job?" He answered with an emphatic YES.

Lily's new thing is to wear my shoes around the house. She even gets upset when I'm wearing a pair of shoes that she likes. I took her to payless and she went crazy. She kept wanting to try on really sparkly shoes and she would walk to the mirror and spin around.


Here's one of my recipes that turned out good. I made BBQ chicken pizza. BBQ sauce, and chicken with a mixture of Gouda and mozzarella cheese. Toppings: red peppers, red onions, cilantro (add after baking).

A fun Play Date

We had a fun day with Becca and her kids at Thanksgiving point. Here's some more pics at Becca's blog. We didn't get dressed up, but the pictures I think turned out great.

Anywho, everyone is doing well. Still busy with the basement remodel and these crazy kids!

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.