December Photos

Quinn's  scrapped chin from falling down stairs at Grandma's house.

All the Aunt's trying to get Quinn to come to them, but just scaring him.

Christmas morning in front of the tree.

Quinn loved Aunt Misty.

Thurm's birthday pampering. Though, from the grimace on his face, he might not have thought an all natural mask was the way to get pampered.  But he also got a bubble bath and a back massage.

Quinn's first night in a big boy bed. Over Christmas vacation, he learned how to get out of any and all cribs that he slept in.  He's on his 3rd or 4th night and it's great!  He hasn't fallen out since.

Latest Crafting

This is a mirror that was left in our house. It is super heavy and was bolted to the wall.  It was covered in a hideous fabric that I ripped off. I had been contemplating what to do with it, cover it with new fabric, frame it, etc. But then I had the idea to modge podge a Pooh book over it. It was the easiest and cheapest solution, the one I usually choose.  Quinn has an accidental Pooh theme in his room. He kept getting pooh gifts, but I haven't fully committed his room to any style.  

This is a stuffed owl I started making a year ago. I just bought stuffing today and finished it. I made it from a pair of Thurm's old pants.

We made Valentine's ornaments tonight to hang on my door wreath.  Thurm sewed this one... pretty good!

I had a realization yesterday.  I have always wondered why mothers always seem to have so much confidence. More than once, I have ran into a high school friend with three kids and they are so outgoing and friendly and seem to exude so much confidence.  I alway thought "why do I feel so intimidated by them? I have my degree, a career, I've traveled the world."  BUT I realized yesterday its not so much confidence as it is desperation to talk to another adult! I saw a friend in Ikea yesterday and I was so excited to talk to someone besides my baby and husband that I chatted her ear off for 15 minutes.

We went to get-together with my college roommates a couple weeks ago and while we there my friend's husband, Scott,  gave us a gift that was one of the most special, amazing gifts I've ever gotten. Heather and Scott had come to our temple wedding and he took notes during the ceremony of what the sealer talked about. I was so excited about getting married that I couldn't remember a thing about what was said during our sealing. And I thought I'd never know and had wished a few different times that I could remember even a little bit of what was said.  Scott had taken notes and then right after wrote down word for word what he could remember. He typed it up, put a picture of the Salt Lake temple behind it and framed it for us.  How amazing!  I tear up just thinking about how thoughtful that was.

2004 Pictures

I've been looking through all my old disks of pictures in a search and keep coming across gems.  These are all from 2004 when I lived in SLC and worked for FNB and was in my single girl prime.

Below are pictures of a night of snowman building at 2 am.  Bryan had a great idea to build a firing squad of snowmen.

This is my adorable niece, Elise, back when I was the favorite aunt and took her to things like "Disney's Princesses on Ice" and rode on Trax to get there.  Oh how they wish I was still that cool.

Halloween 2004: Bryan & Sara Banker. I believe Bryan was a dude from Jersey and Sara a football fan, which they are in real life, so it wasn't much of a stretch.

Danalin, a sad clown. Me, a devil, I was being ironic.

Michelle, Abby, Monica, Me, Sara, Bryan, Bryan's girlfriend of the year.

Monica

Isabell- CUTEST 3 year old in the world.

Sleding with Janey & Monica in Sugarhouse park (I have no idea who's pink coat that is).

Elise, Chase, Aidan and Uncle Nate....somewhere?

Monica & I at a raging concert.

A friend of my mom's was recently in the news, she fell to her death from the Angel's Landing hike in Zions Park. I was trying to explain how the trails were to my mom and how skinny they are at points and how it could easily happen.  I ran across these pictures today while looking for some others.  I didn't have any pictures of the narrow trails.  The one of me is on the lower landing.  The picture above is the trail you take to the top. It isn't as skinny as I remember, but I do remember using my hands a lot to get up the trail and looking over the edge that was a foot from me.   

We went to our ward Christmas party last night. It was a night in Bethlehem.  They had us wear robes and clothes that maybe they wore in the time of Jesus. We were taxed a can of food to come into the city.  We were given eight gold shillings to pay for our food that we bought from street vendors.  Dinner was pita bread with hummus, meat, cucumbers, tomatoes, & avocado.  They also had olives and dates.  We ate on the floor on blankets and listened to the scripture story of Joseph and Mary.  It was such a great idea and we had a good time.

This picture doesn't do the mess justice.  Quinn got spaghetti sauce on every surface available except the ceiling, thank goodness.

This is a typical picture of the "day in the life of Quinn."  He has been a movie maniac lately.  We specifically choose not to have a TV so we don't waste our lives in front of it.  However, its hard for me say no to watching a movie when I know it will keep him out of my hair and stop the whining for a little while. We can't wait for summer so we can get out of the house!

This is an awesome tent that was my oldest brothers at one point.  Its gone through all of my siblings and some of their kids.  Quinn takes his blanket in there and pretends to go "night-night."

SNOW DAY!

Our sister-in-law, Rachel, and her kids came to visit us in November and while they were here it snowed.  Cool Uncle Thurm took the kids outside and made a sweet fort and igloo.  They are  a really fun family and we were SO glad they came to visit!

Quick Update

I feel obligated to update my blog occasionally just for the fact that it is my journal, scrapbook, and only record of my life.  Lets pray the World Wide Web never crashes!

Thanksgiving was great. I'm still full. Seriously.  I don't know if I'll ever been able to eat yams again.  The thoughts of them makes me sick to my stomach.  I made a delicious new yam recipe this year, but I don't think I'll ever want to make it again.  Maybe I should fast for a few days.

We came home early from our vacation because Thurm's cousin died in a caving accident. The funeral was really uplifting and made me love the family so much for their positive and spiritual attitudes.

We came home to our renters moving in. They've been really great so far.  However, we can hear everything they do and I'm sure they can hear us too.  So we've decided that maybe our attic might be the new hang out.  We are going to get a couch and TV to put up there and make it a little more cosy.

I've been really bored the last couple weeks because I haven't been working on the house and there is only so much cleaning and cooking a girl can do. And I haven't felt motivated to do much else. Tooele doesn't have much in the way of entertainment.  I have been thinking about babysitting again lately.  A little extra money would be nice but it would be so great for Quinn to have someone to play with. He gets so bored with me! And it would give me something to do.  However, we will soon be fixing our roof, insulating, and building a master bedroom upstairs, so I know the boredum won't last much longer.

Quinn is a little bookworm. He would read books all day long if I had the patience.  He is constantly bringing me a book to read to him.  He has also been into watching Disney movies. He doesn't have the attention span for longer than 20 mins at a time, but he asks to watch it a few times a day.  His vocabulary is expanding. His latest words are "cheese, teeth, and crocs (shoes)".  He understands pretty much everything.  His latest trick, which got rave reviews over Thanksgiving, is pulling his sleeve over his hand and saying "eh, eh, eh" until someone asks "where's your hand" and then he whips it out like a magic trick and a huge smile on his face.  He came up with that all on his own. Cutie.  He eats pretty much anything I give him. He doesn't really like bread, but loves fruits and vegis.

PS what happened to spellcheck on blogger?

Asian Recipies

We made some Asian food for some friends the other day and she asked for the recipes. So here they are. Sorry they are very "free-style" but I never measure things.

Lettuce Wraps

3TB oil

1 lb small diced meat (I always use chicken)

1 can water chestnuts, diced

1 bunch green onions, diced

Optional veggies-green pepper, carrot, onion, mushrooms

1 head lettuce

5 TBS stir fry sauce (I have to use House of Tsang--so good!!!)

Heat oil in wok, brown meat, add stir fry sauce and cook till meat is done.

Add a little water and simmer for a few minutes.

Add veggies- just cook them till they are heated through.

Serve a few spoonfuls in a lettuce leaf with peanut sauce.

**Key is to dice everything really small. And I always just use whatever veggies I have. And I usually use way more stir fry sauce than it calls for. I like it saucy.

Peanut Sauce

1/2 c peanut butter

1/2 c water

1/4 c sugar

1 tsp pepper flakes

1/2 tsp chopped ginger

1/2 tsp garlic

Bring boil, let simmer 3 mins.

***I almost always just use the first three ingredients***

Teriyaki Stir Fry

**warning- I never measure anything, so just throw in whatever amounts you have***

Chicken

Veggies-broccoli, onion, celery, carrot, whatever else you want to use.

Stir fry the chicken in some oil and water. Add veggies, steam fry them till tender crisp. Pour sauce over top, stir and serve.

Sauce:

1/3 Soy Sauce

1/3 Water

1/3 Sugar

I'm guessing on those measurements because I have no idea. It's different every time. Just taste it.

Bring to boil, thicken with corn starch.

Curry (Red, Yellow & Green)

***I'd follow the directions on your curry paste, they are all a bit different. But this is the gist.

1 can Coconut milk

Curry paste to taste

2 breasts chicken chunked

2 potato diced

2 carrots sliced

Simmer till potatoes are soft.

Drove around the valley the other day taking pictures of all the temples. I drove up a hill to get a higher picture of the Draper Temple and this was at the end of the road. This gluttonous mansion. Unless nine families are living in this, or its a hotel, its ridiculous!

Just noticed that Quinn is somehow watching "Enchanted" in the Spanish version. Funny.

Surprisingly Good Wheat Bread

Found this recipe on a ZOOM box. I bought Zoom a long time ago (sort of like creamed wheat, but gross) and needed to get rid of it. It's just cracked wheat, but you find it in the cereal isle. Took it out of the cupboard and saw a honey wheat bread recipe on the side. Its really good.

2 TBS oil
2 TBS honey
1 1/4 cups warm water
2 tsp active dry yeast
3/4 c zoom (or cracked wheat)
1/2 c whole wheat flour
1 tsp salt
2-3 cups flour

Blend oil, honey, water in mixer. Sprinkle yeast, let raise 3 mins. Stir in zoom, wheat flour, and salt. Mix. Stir in 1 1/4 c flour and mix for 1 minute. Add enough remaining flour to make an easy to handle dough. Cover with cloth, let raise till double. Punch down. Shape into loaf. Let raise again till double. Bake 375 for 35-45 mins.

Quinn as his Dada

We laughed and laughed, and are still laughing over how clever we are for dressing Quinn up as Thurm for Halloween ; )

Vintage Christmas Balls

Found these original 50's satin ornaments and added ribbon. I want to sell them on Etsy but am not sure how much people would pay for them. Do they look retro enough? Or just "found them in my mom's basement?" How much could I price them for?