Apparently the links for A's picture expire. So if you missed them, sorry about that. Perhaps you'll appreciate the video I caught of her. It is not exactly the very first, but it is one of the first. A keeper for the virtual baby book.
Friday, October 1, 2010
Monday, September 20, 2010
A's First Photo Shoot
Angel Smiles
Image Center - Olan Mills Portrait Studios
Image Center - Olan Mills Portrait Studios
The Poutty Face
Minnie Mouse
High Fives
Lady A: Cowgirl
Almost on the Move
Bye Bye
Monday, September 6, 2010
M's Recycled Wedding Crafts
Here is what the dress looked like before:


Here are all the fun things we were able to make from it:
Flower Girl, Baptism, or confirmation dress
Ring Bear pillow, with a special pocket... it could become a tooth fairy pillow

Clutch or purse
Up next: We'll try and make a guest book from the main bodice piece and then maybe a slip from the inside crinoline. Who knew a wedding dress could become so many things? At least something so beautiful didn't have to go completely to waist!
Sunday, August 1, 2010
10 Weeks
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Miracle Tomatoes
These are the last three of the tomatoes that grew in our garden this summer.
We planted them last summer, after one of J’s coworkers had given us the starter plant. She said it was a variety she had a lot of success with. Of course she knew more than we did (most people do when it comes to gardening) so we planted them with high hopes.
Then all we got from our garden last summer was eggplant. I hinted at my disappointment on this blog. When I tore all the plants out of the garden this winter, I somehow decided to leave this one tomato plant.
Later, I went out to the garden one spring morning and unexpectedly saw about 10 big green tomatoes.
That week, I went to church later and asked the children in sharing time to draw a picture to finish the sentence, “I am grateful for the Savior because _____.” One child drew tomatoes. After the child described his drawing, I was able to truthfully respond that the Lord had given me tomatoes that week and I was grateful for them.
Walking away from the conversation I realized how amazing it was that I had been able to respond to this child in that way. My gift suddenly seemed much more important. Somehow it represented the love of God, the intricacies in which He performs His work, and His ability to take my token efforts (which is all that my garden really amounts to) and to turn them into something much better than I could produce on my own. I proudly showed off my tomatoes to everybody who came over.
I don’t think I’ve ever had tomatoes that tasted so good!
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Super Hero, Princess, or Daddy's Little Girl
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Thursday, May 13, 2010
The Solar is Up and Running
Sunday, April 25, 2010
An Epic battle of Good vs Weevil
I was able to get off work a couple of hours early and we headed down to Borrow Grandpa M's HUGE pickup truck. I was a little nervous about driving it since my previous experience with driving the truck kinda felt like riding a bear. You give it some direction but it pretty much goes where it wants. As a result we decided to drive only city streets when driving the truck to keep the speeds low so the stopping distance wouldn't be an issue.
After a quick stop with Grandpa and Grandma M. We headed off leaving them with the red convertible sports car. They raced us for a little while, but eventually had to stop for food.
Upon arrival at the Cannery we purchased 1251 lbs of grains (give or take a pound). I wasn't looking forward to putting all that into the 4 foot high truck bed, so I asked if they minded if I backed the truck up to put it in. They said that was OK and that I could move a barrel. I am strong believer in the work smarter not harder camp, so I decided to do one better then move a barrel and back up I backed up to the truck ramp so I could use gravity and kinetic energy as my friend :). While this isn't what they had suggested they seemed OK with it and things went quickly and relatively painlessly. Not having a lot of experience with the truck I was very pleased with my backing job as I was able to get within 2 inches of the ramp.
We then headed home taking care to stay on the streets, and getting a little more comfortable with the handling of the portable living room that my Father-in-Law calls his pickup truck. To make things more exciting it turned out that the side street that we had chosen was under construction, so I got to go slalom in the truck.
After a pleasantly uneventful trip, we arrived home, and dumped all the the grains off. Since this IS date night we decided to finish off the evening by picking up and sharing some Krispy Kremes with G&G M. (thanks for staying up)
The next morning we carefully arranged all the grains and buckets and then went to buy the dry ice. (did you know you have to be 18 to buy dry ice?) After getting home we carefully measured 5 ounces of dry ice into each of the 35 buckets and labeled them and then after a couple hours we went out to put the lids on and complete the project.
Unfortunately, that's when we learned that dry ice has many times the cooling (staying) power of regular ice. As the lids continued to bulge and time continued on, It became apparent that we had a significant time commitment with managing the gas.
My limited science says that since co2 is heavier then oxygen, so putting the dry ice in the bottom slowly pushes all the oxygen out of the pail, making each pail it's own little toxic environment. This prevents Weevils from hatching and eating our food storage. I'm quite certain that we generated enough co2 based on how many times I had to burp the pails. I'm not saying it took forever, but I did have enough time to catch up on the 16 episodes of Astro boy I had been meaning to get too.....
When all was said and done we finally got them into closet at about 8:30. But we both feel a little better knowing that we have a food storage that finally is somewhat close to what is recommended.
As a little side note, when I went back to the garage to check on the other pails that hadn't yet been closed off and didn't yet need burping I found many dead insects on the lid. This made me think for a second, and I realized that all of the pails were putting off toxic fumes, needless to say I ended up opening the windows in the house after that. (and had a killer headache that night).
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Beautiful Baby Shower
Monday, February 15, 2010
Valentine's Dinner
I love it when holidays fall on Sunday. It usually means instead of a restaurant meal (although M was treated to one of her favorites, Mi Amigos, on Friday) we plan and prepare a "fun" meal at home.
Cooking with J is one of my favorite things. Here was the menu:
Tederloin stake with sauteed mushrooms
Ceasar salad with olives and tomatoes
Thanksgiving Green bean casserole
Home baked French Frys with gravy (our attempt to remake a favorite treat from J's childhood)
It all tasted wonderful, and the company was superb. We're not gourmets, but the dinner tasted better than any we've had at a restaurant. It was almost too good to be true... but then I turned around and remembered one big advantage of eating at a restaurant:
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Healthy Breakfast????
*Pleas note that J got the self-timer portrait to work on the camera*
*Don't note at how much effort M puts into her hair on a Saturday morning*
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Birthday Project
Things were going pretty smoothly until M moved the parts around that J had set aside to await assembly. When she did it a second time, M decided her "helping" wasn't helping much and she headed out to pick up a gift for a family birthday party. J stayed behind to finish the job.
This is what M found when she returned home:
M loves her birthday shelves and her birthday roses!
Thanks Dad, for your helping hands. Thanks J, for the great gift and for all your patience.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Our Big Announcement!
The ultrasound tech only took seconds to figure out "it" or "the symbiod" as I have been affectionately referring to our upcoming addition is, in fact, a "she." She weighs 15 oz and is coming sometime in mid May. We are so excited!

I think her profile looks like J :)
The tech also said she is very active. That must be where all of M's energy has gone. Dad J made sure to count all the limbs and the fingers and toes. He was pleased to find all the pieces and the baby was happy to show them off!
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