OCD

So today I am grooving to my Twilight soundtrack! Thank you ANDI! My girls are now official twilight geeks-thanks to me I guess. Or as I heard them called-- tweaks (twilight geeks). This music really gets me going, as well as the tracks from the making of the books, thanks again Andi. They have been a life saver. This weekend at church I was made aware that a good friend of mine is having major OCD withdrawls. That is --Obsessive Cullen Disorder. HA HA Thanks, Jen for the fun! I still gotta see your scrapbook. though, and we need to make our golden onion...

The girls are now all over the Twilight movie. They're fun to talk about it with. I have still withheld the books because they're a bit young. The movie was benign so I thought it would be ok. In a few years they can read the books. I made Brynlee wait because once you start reading you will want to read them all. Let's leave some fun for when she's 15. It'll be ok!! :) But it's hilarious to see them talk about Edward and check out the movie paraphenalia!

I need to give a shout out to Robert for going out at midnight to get me the movie, to only come home to a wife who is passed out on the bed. When awoken ,I just crawl into bed, at that point it's all I could think of. I guess my age is starting to show! He took it in good stride though!

Bumbo- Fehrenbacker style!

Gavin, 6 months old.

Alexa, getting ready to kiss Gavin's hand.

The other day Gavin was a bit fussy so Robert plopped him into this box to keep him busy. HE LOVES IT! it's small enough that if I give him a toy he will just sit in it and play. The kids will also push him around the living room. He likes that too. The hardwood floors make it easy for the kids to push him around. I've always wanted a Bumbo, but maybe we'll forgo the expense, after all we have a CHILI box! :) I'm off to the dentist today. Jade and Ian are having teeth pulled. It's preparation for orthodontia work. Hopefully it will minimize what Ian will have to have done. I'm always hoping!

On another note, Robert's work is doing fairly well. Robert informed me that this week 2 other architecture firms in the area have laid off most of the employees and that another one still in business is not offering ANY benefits -at all. So I am feeling the blessings today. We did take a pay cut. But we have a solid job. We have our medical insurance still and a 401 (k). It's not much but I'm very, very grateful for it today. Besides I think it will be a matter of time before we get things back again. Robert has found out that they have some major projects in the works. I AM VERY HOPEFUL!!

Have a great day everyone!

bundt cake

I wanted to do something pretty exciting for St. Patrick's day. The kids had an Engineering night at the school and I was running one of the booths. So we were really busy all day. ( I had to go early to learn how to run the exhibit) I put in a crockpot meal one that I got from Jenna's blog. She's from my Hometown and has some good recipe ideas. This one is a corn chowder recipe. We liked it, but I would add more salt and pepper, maybe even cayenne. We like things HOT! anyway. In honor or St. Paddy's day I made a bundt cake from bakerella! This was so amazingly good! no frosting required! the kids loved it. Now I have to tell you that I didn't have the matcha (tea) that she had so I just put in green food coloring and some peppermint extract. It really was very good. the kids loved it. I love the tip of using the cocoa powder instead of the flour when dusting your greased pan before baking. Amazing tip. It made the cake super dark. Very nice. No white flour dusting MY cake. So go ahead. This one is very user friendly.

and GOOD Luck!!

Ms. Alexa's birthday

Yup. She's big. My baby is a whopping 3 today! She's so cute. I could eat her. I mean really, really eat her. She even tastes good, trust me. Anyway, I love her puppy dog eyes. I love her laughter and concern for Gavin. Also, I can't get enough of her talk. She has a cute 3 year old voice with a take on language that only 3 year old's do. I love it!! All she wanted for her birthday is pink. Not something pink-just pink. I think she'll be happy. I made a funfetti cake. It will have pink frosting with sprinkles. Who doesn't love sprinkles. I mean what can be better for a 3 year old? We're also having pizza. I am the bomb tonight. The kids will think their Mom rocks, I'm ok with that.

I remember that she was my fastest delivery. I mean she just about delivered herself. The kid was coming -forget that the nurses/dr. may or may not have been ready. She was coming. Even though it took 11 hours of labor in the hospital. She was 9 lbs even. Which is weird because the summer before I got pregnant with her I wondered what it would be like to deliver a kid who was 'even' on their birth weight. I know weird. It's weird I was even wondering that.

You guys are getting lots of random thought today. oh, well. Alexa is headstrong. And wonderfully opinionated-just ask her. :)

Lexi girl- WE Love YOU!!

enjoy the pics...

This is the infamous thumb!

Meloncholy

I'm super homesick today. I just wish I lived by the fam. It's not that I don't like Idaho Falls, or that I want to be in Washington. -it's not that. I don't miss the land, or the places I grew up. I miss the people that infuenced my life. I miss my family all being in one place. I miss the infectious laughter of the brothers chuckling about something. I like the late night games. I love it that my siblings are hard working, funny, Not shallow at all. Kind of people.

My Dad was released from the hospital last night. His recovery has been speedy because it's only been a week since his 'emergency surgery'. But now he is in a hotel room in federal way working on his strength. Hoping that in another week they will release him to go home, truly home. I'm so grateful he's better and that they were able to 'patch' him up. I love talking to him on the phone. he sounds so much better than a week ago. Blessing are abundant. I really am grateful for that. But I wish that I could be there to support him. I wish I was able to be by my Mom's side this week. To support her. But it didn't work out. So I guess I'll just pray for the best. And hope Spring comes early this year. I think that's what I need to 'work out' this cabin fever!

14 layer cake!!

Keeping me busy!

So I like to go to the Bakerella site and just admire her stuff. I think this lady is simply amazing. She inspires me, so when I saw this cake I just HAD to do it. I even knew of the perfect family that should receive such a glorious thing. They have had a tough time of late, so I baked this think and took it over to their house, which of course we stayed and ate it with them. (I guess that was the trade off , they get cake and so they had to put up with all of my family) They didn't seem to mind though.

It's so pretty!!

We had alot of fun making this! Don't look to close, I made plenty of mistakes, but it's so worth it!

This cake tastes better over time as well!!

Snow trip

This past weekend we went on a sledding/snowmobiling trip to a lodge in the mountains! (It was with the Ward) The kids had alot of fun. It was one of the trips that I was like are you serious, you really want to go? So we packed up the kids, got all our stuff together and headed off, but not before I almost made the family turn around while we were packed up. It was so daunting. And I didn't realize that we would be trekking in on a snowmachine. It was late and freezing, but we made it. The kids had an absolute blast. We parked our car in the parking lot and the Elder's quorum was all ready to pack up our stuff on the tobagan's. They carted it all a mile in. It was fantastic. We all rode the snowmachine's in. It was amazing. The lodge was very spacious. We had our own room and the kids were right at home. They went sledding all day on Saturday and just really enjoyed themselves. So now I am glad that we made the effort to go. It is memories like this that the kids remember -right? I'm hoping so! Besides there was 5 babies up there. We weren't the only CRAZY family. one baby was 4 weeks old even. :-)