I'm a Lover Not a Baker

And if you don't know that that quote I ripped off comes from a Michael Jackson duet with Paul McCartney you are lame-o. Ha! Or I am the lame one for knowing that...hmmm.
Ok, so tonight there was a baby shower for a girl in our neighborhood and I volunteered to bring a "little something. " I was happy to, especially after all the effort that went into my super cute and very fun baby shower that I had in January. But there is uno pequito problemo. There are no decent bakeries around here to pick a little something up at. So I copied Kjersten and made mini pink cupcakes.
This was the mistake. Easy to make right? Noooo..not when I thought I had 2 mini pans and only found 1. So I was baking forever. I had 2 little helpers who kept wanting to "taste test" everything. Eww....no fingers in the bowl mid project por favor! And then those sneaky taste testers kept stealing the cupcakes! They THINK I don't know, but the pink frosting on their faces were giving them away!
I need to work on my baking skills. I think everyone is either a cook or a baker. I am for sure a better cook. I find too that my recipes haven't translated that well from sea level California to higher altitude.
I wasn't planning on this, but they took on a life of their own and ended up looking like little flowers so I went with it. Not sure if they were the best things I've ever tasted, but they LOOKED good. And we all know looking good is the more important part, right?!

Eureka!

What a fun day we had at the lake! Kjersten and I packed up the kids and went for a fun picnic at the lake. The boys had a great time running and acting crazy - I love that I know they will be tired at bedtime. But it was nice to get some fresh air and enjoy the sunshine - finally!

The Easter Bunny brought Graham and Greg some magnifying glasses in their baskets and the boys put them to good use finding Fool's Gold. Graham actually yelled out "I've discovered GOLD!" They climbed on rocks, tried to throw rocks (um, no) and we ended up at the cool park down the street. Thankfully Lauren let her brothers get some energy out and she took a nap in the stroller the entire time!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter! I hope everyone had a wonderful day! We woke up bright and early to see what the Easter Bunny had brought us and then went crazy trying to get ready for 9:00 a.m. church. I was so happy to be there though - I hadn't been since January and it was Lauren's first time going to church today so that was exciting.
Dan and I each got a nap in this afternoon and then we went to my mom and dad's for a yummy dinner. It was a lovely day, the boys enjoyed the egg hunts, I enjoyed hearing Graham and Greg try to say the word "Resurrection" when talking about Jesus (no where close for Greg) and I just felt happy and blessed today to be with my little family. You know that feeling? When you just think "Life is good!" Today was like that!

So Long, Farewell!

Goodbye beautiful blue "ippy cup!" We are done with you!
I know you were sad when you heard Dan ask the boys "Pick a day of the week." Graham replied "Wednesday." So on Wednesday, we packed you and all your other "ippy cups" friends away.
Drinks to Graham and Greg still do not taste the same and they do ask for you at bedtime. They miss you, but you simply aren't needed anymore. So while two sweet boys carry fond memories of you, their mom and dad are happy to not search the house for a certain color, under beds, inside toys, or worse - left on mommy's new quilt.
Don't let the lid hit you on the way out!

*Ok, seriously, Greg was so attached to this blue cup that he started refusing to drink from anything else. No way kiddo - I'm not even starting that, the Lightening McQueen shirt (only worn on "stay home days" and the doggie blanket at bedtime was routine and comfort enough. I'm not adding a blue cup to the list!

A New Little One!

My brother Mike and wife Kelly welcomed a new southern belle, Katherine Rose into their family yesterday! What a lucky girl to have such great parents and cute big sister, Meg! We are so excited to meet her this summer and so glad she is here safe and sound!

My Fifty

I copied Natalie! Graham is in a phase where he asks me to stay upstairs with him while he falls asleep. So I've been writing this over the past few nights while I waited for him to go nightie-night!

1.I grew up in Southern California, and have also lived in Idaho, Washington, Utah and England.
2.I have been engaged five times. I saved the best guy for last of course!
3.I have been kissed on top of the Eiffel Tower – ooh la LA!!! It was some random cute Italian guy but it’s cool to say I’ve done it!
4.My brother, Mike and I have the same birthday, April 11^th, just 2 years apart. So I’m the best present he has ever gotten and my birthday still feels a bit lonely and “not right” without him.
5.It took me forever to finish college, but I finally got my PR degree from the University of Utah.
6.I was scared of boys till I was 18. I swear I was so shy around guys I could barely talk to them. I think I went on 1 or 2 dates in high school. I made up for it my freshman year of college though! lol
7.My first car was a maroon 2 door Oldsmobile and the hood would flip on me randomly when driving. So that was soon replaced by a super cute Toyota Camry.
8.I love to play tennis and wish I could play more often and had been more serious about it when I was younger. I think I could’ve been really great at it. Still time I guess!
9.I will make up a random “special occasion” as an excuse to buy shoes. But flip flops will always be my first choice to wear!
10.I went on a BYU Study Abroad to London, England in 1994. Sooo fun. And I never went to BYU.
11.My senior year of high school a group of us had Friday Fun Nights where we would drive around in my friend Greg and Chris’ homemade convertible and have bonfires at the beach. We all had bowling names – mine was Lolita.
12.I love flowers. I am a certified florist from a design school in Portland, Oregon. My favorite flowers are pink peonies and gardenias.
13.I had a stalker in high school. He sent me roses everyday for weeks and would sit in his car watching my house from down the street. Creeeeepy. I let all my friends read the letters he would write to me and we would make fun of him – so mean.
14.I was voted Best Actress in one of my Mass Comm Media classes at the U – “I would like to thank the Academy…”
15.I got my first kiss on the Haunted Mansion ride at Disneyland.
16. I have been best friends with Danielle since I was 2 and Kjersten since I was 7. I am lucky to have great friends who love me in spite of me and for so long!
17.My brother and I would have contests to see how fast we could name the song title and artist of music on the radio. I was really good at that. And I can sing most songs I hear word for word after only hearing them once.
18.I love Yosemite. We went there camping every summer as I was growing up.
19.I am not a fan of games. Like bridal and baby shower games. Ugh – I think they are dumb.
20.I think my kids are super cute. I thought 4 would be a good number but 3 are perfect!
21.My dad and I both cannot stand it if a straw is too tall for a glass. I thought I was alone in this till 2 years ago when we discovered we had this in common. It’s a glass/straw ratio thing. Weird I know.
22.I used to drive fast before I had kids. Some people in my hometown nicknamed me “Flat Out Fink” after a motorcycle riding/camping trip we took in the desert in high school. Fast motorcycles, bonfire, Bon Jovi – good times.
23.I’ve met a lot of celebrities – Heather Locklear, Kelsey Grammar, Rick James, Tommy Lee to name a few. Oh, and Lacey Chabert (sp?) from Mean Girls was in my kickboxing class at my gym in Westlake, CA.
24.I love reality shows. The Bachelor, The Hills, Newport Harbor…they are all my guilty pleasures.
25.I refuse to sit anywhere in a restaurant where I can see the kitchen. If I see the people cooking the food or where they prepare it I want to throw up.
26.I sleep with a ton of pillows. If I don’t have at least 3 I can’t sleep. My grandmother was the same way.
27.I love to swim. I love being tan. I love tanning and swimming. J
28.One of my favorite things to do is go to the movies with Dan.
29.I don’t like candy. I do like chocolate from See’s. Other chocolate to me is “eh.” My favorite candy bar is a 100 Grand – frozen.
30.I cannot stand to have my toes not painted. I like getting pedicures but I don’t really love having my feet touched. It tickles. But you will never see me without color on my toes.
31.I love sparklie things. Jewelry, especially. From Tiffany preferably.
32.I can spend hours reading magazines at Barnes and Noble.
33.I LOVE finding the perfect gift for someone. I love giving gifts. I most often don’t like being acknowledged for it. I also love wrapping paper, pretty ribbons, note cards and pens. Anything pretty calls to me!
34.I’ve been told I have nice handwriting. I spent hours in jr. high practicing because I wanted to write like my mom and my friend Erika who both have amazing handwriting!
35.I like to cook and bake and try new recipes. Not saying I’m good at it, but I think its fun. I think it would be fun to have a bakery or pastry shop. But I’d be more into how things were displayed and wrapped than I would the actual product.
36.I never leave the house without make-up. Ok, I guess I have but never ever without lip gloss or mascara - EVER.
37.I like to going to garage and estate sales.
38.When I was little I used to like to look in the mirror at myself when I cried. I thought my eyes turned a pretty color when I did!
39.I got a white cockapoo dog named Bubbles when I was 5 and I used to wheel her around the neighborhood in my doll carriage.

40. My favorite breakfast is my mom's german pancakes. But most every morning I eat Light and Fit yogurt, granola with strawberries, blueberries and raspberries. MMM!!!
41. I love being a mom 99.9% of the time.
42. I hate messes and things not put back where they belong. Like toys, with small parts, that take over the house.
43. I cannot stand cats (neither can Dan, another reason I love him) Cats are annoying.
44. I'm not a center of attention "look at me, look at me" sort of girl. I'd rather sit back, watch and make catty comments. What?! It's true...
45. Children's music bothers me. I'm trying to like it in the car now that I heard that Graham can sing "Irreplaceable" and "Wind It Up."
46. I love organizing pantries, closets, etc. I'm slightly OCD that way.
47. My favorite colors are red and pink.
48. I love the smell of freshly cut grass and the smell of coffee. My grandmother lived with us when I was 12 and I woke up to her coffee brewing every morning.
49. I have to have all my hangers matching and all my clothes are color coordinated from light to dark, short sleeved to long sleeved.
50. I knew I would marry Dan on our first date. About 2 hours into the 7 hour date - I knew. It made every bad relationship and date along the way worth the wait.

Baby Sister

Graham and Greg were so cute today playing with Lauren. Except they call her "Baby Sister" more than they do Lauren. Greg tries to call her Lauren but it ends up as "Warren" since he can't say his "L's" yet.

This girl is going to get her head worn away these boys give her so many kisses. The sweetest thing is when she cries Graham loves to start singing "Twinkle, Twinkle" to her and Greg will always tell me, "Warren is crying and sad. I think she needs me." And then he will rush over to her! Both melt my heart every time!

My Latest Preoccupation

I walked through this model home up the hill from me a few months ago and it stayed on my mind so much that I made Dan go back with me this last weekend to take pictures of it. This was a really big deal since Dan and I are madly in love but we have few things in common. So him going looking at a model home when a) we already have a house with no real intentions to move right now and b) it's a Saturday = sacrifice and true love.

I think Kjersten might be the only one who catches WHY I love this house so much right away. For those who don't I love the movie "Something's Gotta Give" but love love LOVE the interior design of the set of that movie to the point where I've got set pictures saved on my computer that I found on-line. Must be the whole beach thing. I really do love all the space in the kitchen though - you can't tell from the photos that it goes into a great mud room and powder room also. Then on the other wall, a walk through butler's pantry.

So now I have this all documented for when we go to build our dream home...still warming Dan up to that idea also!

Help

I am addicted to carbs. And cake, I like cake a lot too. This is all I have to say about that. Lifestyle changes are difficult when you have to say good-bye to good friends like french bread and cake. Sigh. My replacement is Crystal Light Lemonade for when I am wanting bad things to eat. It's not the same but it will do.

I'll post "Before" pictures another time. Not "Before" as in now, more like "Before" as in how I looked "Before" 3 babies.

Is 4 weeks after giving birth too soon to be obsessing over this? Yeah - I think so too.

New Week, Another Friend

I think my little friend Kathy needs a pick me up. So I will blog a bit about my dear friend Katherine who hates to be called Kathy. I love the way I met her! I had just decided to follow a boy to the University of Utah (pathetic I know, but we had a thing going on and off for years and I needed to find out if it was "go or let go" time) I was twenty-um..well, old and serious about finishing school, moved into the dorm on campus not knowing a soul but him. I moved in and someone introduced me to Kathy who lived upstairs from me. She was mean and rude. SNIPPY if you will. Whatever.

A few days later I was in my History class and determined to make some new friends. I look across the room and I see Kathy. She had her folder open with some sort of magazine hidden behind it. So while she appeared to be intent on the class, she was really perusing People, InStyle or one of those types of things. And she had the biggest cup of Diet Coke I have ever seen in my life. I decided she was hardly snippy but more on the fabulous side and whether she liked it or not she was going to be my new friend. I went and talked to her after class and we were just instant great friends after that. Small world, she was from Southern California also and knew a guy that I had dated years earlier.


We would meet up every Tuesday night to watch "Felicity" in her room before studying (Javier being our favorite character) We've supported each other through school, laughed over really bad dates and cried over horrific break-ups together. She is the friend you want to take shopping with you - there is nothing but brutal honesty there for everything. I love that you can even tell when she doesn't give a hoot about what you may be babbling about. Almost like her face will read "Get over yourself, I'm busy." She has a great taste in music, has a thing for most vintage anything, is fun on a roadtrip, loves black clothes more than I do and has the most contagious laugh. She is unique, knows it and embraces it. I love that about her.

Here is pretty Kathy on her wedding day - to Mr. Dan in the Newport Beach Temple. Cool thing is Dan was in my very first freshman college ward at Ricks and served a mission in my hometown. Like I said, small world!

Have Ideas, Need TIME!!

I am motivated. I have been thinking a lot about my house and the many things I want to change about it. Most of those you would roll your eyes at and just say "It's easier to move Kristen." I agree. So I started looking at houses for sale. I still don't see anything I like, and what is the point of moving if I'm not moving into something better that marks all the checks off my "would love to have list?" No point at all, just a lot of hassle and stress.

So I am starting with the small things to ease my way into the bigger things of home improvement. First task at hand is de-cluttering. I have spent all week going through BINS of the boys clothes, seeing what I can give to my sweet sisters-in-law, what just needs to be thrown away and maybe sell a few things on ebay. So far I've made some great progress on this but I'm finding my time is quite limited with Lauren (she really does needs to be held a LOT. Dan says this is not true but as her mom *I* need to hold her, a LOT.) By the time evening rolls around I am often too tired to do anything "project" wise. Bedtime has been close to 10 these days, can you believe that?

Now that bins are being cleared though I am seeing more and more space in my basement. Which has led me to the next project of getting bids to possibly finish the basement. Who knows how long we will live here, but we might as well use the house as we want and like it while we are here. Another spring possibility is a deck. We would love to do that as well.

Project for today though? Having Dan take down the Christmas lights. I think anything Christmas left up too long tends to start making the neighborhood look ghetto. With it being March (!!) our roof has finally thawed enough to where Dan can climb up to take them down!

Wrongly Accused

I was in a semi-state of worry this morning that maybe the camera was going out with the garbage. So I sat the boys down on the couch, told them no one was in trouble, mommy just needed to know where her camera was and had anyone seen it?

Graham goes first. "I saw Greg take it." (great...why didn't you tell me this yesterday!)
Greg: "I took it. It's on my bed." (huh?)
Me: "Can you show mommy where it is?"

We all go upstairs, Greg walks right over to his bed and sure enough, picks up and hands me my camera. I'm going to have to keep a closer eye on that one. He looks all sweet and innocent but he's got a mix of trouble in him. Just like his mother I think!!

Anyone Seen a Camera?

I brought it upstairs to my office to download some pictures. Two days ago. Have not seen it since. Either I hid it so well from the boys that it could be anywhere or Graham or Gregory got a hold of it and it could be anywhere. I am guessing that a certain someone wanted an upgrade from his FP digital with poor quality resolution to something a bit more professional.

Examples of his raw talent at the age of 5, his composition and lighting are amazing. For sure that of a 10 year old, right?





For a brief moment I was thinking that it would cool to page your camera like I can my phone. Easier than digging through the mountain of GeoTrax and Legos to see what might have happened to the camera.

PS..Dan has made some new cd's for me to listen to in the car with the kids. I now have "We are the Dinosaurs" (marching, marching) repeatedly playing in my head. This has replaced Mylie Cyrus "See You Again" that was stuck there for weeks. I'm not sure which is worse.

A Little Sad Today

OK - I have pictures of my neighbor Cori but I won't post them since I know she can kick my butt. And would. So I won't. But I am so sad today that she is moving. A lot sad if you add in the fact that I am already hormonal. A little mad at her husband Glen for not missing a question or two in his FBI interviews or for not missing a few more 4 a.m. workouts so he didn't pass the physical. Rude.

I adore Cori. The first night we met them we brought over a "welcome to the neighborhood" treat (which everyone else got since we were ALL moving in!) and I loved that I could hear her three cute kids fighting over who was going to answer the door. It wasn't too long after that I had Greg and she came over with a gift for the baby and her kids. Graham instantly took to her daughter, Bailey and I LOVED that Cori still had the price tags on her shirt. She immediately became someone I could just be "me" around - not pretenses, no impressing to do. No "one-upping" or "teaching" - just fun conversations.

I will miss going for walks with her at night in the summer - more to get out of our houses and away from the kids for an hour than to exercise! But our walks were great for snooping on the new homes being built, getting ideas for landscaping and full of "me TOO!" conversations about our less than angelic moments in life. I will miss working on our yards together while our kids ran around raiding our freezers for popsicles and played or peeking over the fence to talk in the summer till our husbands got mad and we'd have to go.

I think it's a lot more difficult the older you get to make friends. I think women are just as friendly, (meh, sometimes) but when you are wrapped up in the coming and goings of your own little family, it's difficult to carve time out to help friendships grow. Cori and I are busy girls - and we both got that and there were no demands on it. We both have a thing for Target T-shirts, capri pants and flip-flops and we both think that "Becoming Jane" was one of the most depressing movies we have ever seen. I love that she doesn't give a crap about what anyone thinks of her and she never shows up anywhere without a hostess gift. She knows how to take charge without taking over and makes church so much more fun. She is one of the few people I have ever laughed until I cried with - and I swear if I ever find underwear that big she is getting a pair mailed to her new home wherever that may be! (*Dan says this sounds bad, so I'll say that Cori and I had tears streaming down our faces as we laughed over the biggest pair of underwear I have ever seen and the story that went with them. To this day I think about them and still will start to giggle!)

Greg's Big Party

I'm a little behind posting these days (hmm...wonder why) but I had a 3 year old boy who had been talking about his "Cars" birthday party ever since Graham had his 5th birthday last October. Was the timing all that great? Um, not really. I had major surgery just 10 days earlier. So I tried to get as much done before Lauren came as I could. Ordered the cake, picked up the decorations. It ended up being a lot of fun with our families coming over to celebrate his big day with us. Greg was thrilled, as was Graham. After the first gift was opened he yelled out "THANK YOU!" It took a bit of convincing that the gifts were Greg's, not his!