One of the curses of being a perfectionist that is far from perfect is having a hard time getting over things that went wrong, whether they matter much or not. Here's hoping that by blogging about my silly mistakes I can stop beating myself up about them.
I don't think I have ever done this before, and I certainly hope I don't do it again. I played the piano in RS today (not uncommon), and for three verses in a row, I played the same two measures incorrecly, all the time knowing that I was playing them incorrectly. It was one of those weird occurrences where I picked a song that I thought was fairly well-known (hymn 148), but when I started playing almost no one sang. It felt weird. And then I started playing wrong things and felt weird and embarrassed. And then I was in a rut and played the same part wrong over again. And then I thought about it all day. And now I'm over it.
Christmas Eve was delightful (more on that later) until I realized that the cheesecake I had made for all of my guests was weird. The texture was not what it should have been because the last block of cream cheese I added simply wouldn't incorporate. It just kind of cumbled into little specks of cream cheese. It had been out on the counter softening for just as long as the rest of the cream cheese had, but it wasn't as new as the others (I guess it was starting to dry out, but I don't think it was terribly old). I've never had such a thing happen in all of my years of baking cheesecakes. I don't think it was any big deal to anyone else, but, silly me, I had a hard time getting over it. But I'm over it now, because my husband still loves me, my friends still seem to like me, the last time I checked I was still capable of making edible food, and I now know never to use cream cheese that may be somewhat old when making a cheesecake.
So, perhaps I'm silly, but I think I'll sleep well tonight!
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Saturday night reflections
It’s Saturday night and Neal is on call. The ONLY thing that I wanted to do tonight after my kids were in bed was update my blog. It is now 10:36, 6 minutes past the time that I wanted to be in bed, and I am just now getting to the blog. Instead of blogging, I’ve been baking a chocolate cake and making ice cream base. Why? Because I’m crazy.
Tomorrow we are going to a family party for my brother-in-law Josh, so the cake is for him (I ALWAYS volunteer to make the cake for family birthdays, and most of the time wonder why I didn’t let someone else have a turn). I planned to make it while Austin was napping today, but instead folded two loads of laundry and made jewelry with Sally out of her pop beads (which was a ton of fun, by the way—thanks, Sarah!). I didn’t want to make the cake tomorrow after church because after reading the RS lesson for tomorrow, I’m going to try harder than I have been to avoid much cooking and baking on Sunday. So, after doing the nightly post-bed-time tidying up and odds and ends, I baked a cake.
The ice cream came into the mix because I had some heavy whipping that has been on the verge of going bad for the past few days. I’ve been meaning to turn it into ice cream for quite a while now, but never did (perhaps because I’ve been surrounded by so many desserts and sweets lately)—until the night I was supposed to blog. I figured since I was in the kitchen already, one extra recipe would be no big deal. And it wasn’t, until I burned my finger whisking hot cream into an egg yolk and realized how late it was getting.
So, what I meant to blog about will have to wait. What follows is something that I’ve been meaning to blog about for a long time. It is part 2 of “My life is good.” So, without further detail about my adventures in sweet-making, here it is:
A few months ago Neal and I were talking with some friends and were asked the question, “Are you sick of living like students yet?” I honestly didn’t know what to say. I was totally caught off-guard by the question. I never ever considered us to be living like students (what does that even mean, anyway?). I don’t remember exactly how I answered the question, but it was something to the effect that while there are things that we would like to have someday that we don’t have now, we are pretty comfortable with our lifestyle. When we got home, Neal and I shared a good laugh.
I’ve since thought a lot about the question, and the more I think about it, the more I feel that my life is good. Neal and I own a home and have lots of equity in it. The home may be small, but it is adequate, modern, and in good repair. Other than our mortgage, we have no loans of any kind. We have never had any trouble paying any of our bills (not even a large bill for an expensive ER visit during the short window of time that I had bad health insurance). We have two cars (albeit old cars) that work well (siblings, spare me your criticism of Reggie—he is a reliable machine!). We go on vacations, buy new clothes and shoes, buy the kind of food we want, eat out when we want to, buy new furniture, etc. Of course there are things that I would do differently if I had more money, but I don’t feel like I am suffering for the want of anything right now. I honestly feel like Neal and I have been incredibly blessed in our life together.
So, while some may disagree (even many who know us and know how we live), I submit that we do not live like students, but like middle-class Americans. And I’d like to think that even if we did live like students, we’d still be happy.
We’ll see what I have to say about this when we are making 10 times what we are now (which is hard for me to fathom)…
Tomorrow we are going to a family party for my brother-in-law Josh, so the cake is for him (I ALWAYS volunteer to make the cake for family birthdays, and most of the time wonder why I didn’t let someone else have a turn). I planned to make it while Austin was napping today, but instead folded two loads of laundry and made jewelry with Sally out of her pop beads (which was a ton of fun, by the way—thanks, Sarah!). I didn’t want to make the cake tomorrow after church because after reading the RS lesson for tomorrow, I’m going to try harder than I have been to avoid much cooking and baking on Sunday. So, after doing the nightly post-bed-time tidying up and odds and ends, I baked a cake.
The ice cream came into the mix because I had some heavy whipping that has been on the verge of going bad for the past few days. I’ve been meaning to turn it into ice cream for quite a while now, but never did (perhaps because I’ve been surrounded by so many desserts and sweets lately)—until the night I was supposed to blog. I figured since I was in the kitchen already, one extra recipe would be no big deal. And it wasn’t, until I burned my finger whisking hot cream into an egg yolk and realized how late it was getting.
So, what I meant to blog about will have to wait. What follows is something that I’ve been meaning to blog about for a long time. It is part 2 of “My life is good.” So, without further detail about my adventures in sweet-making, here it is:
A few months ago Neal and I were talking with some friends and were asked the question, “Are you sick of living like students yet?” I honestly didn’t know what to say. I was totally caught off-guard by the question. I never ever considered us to be living like students (what does that even mean, anyway?). I don’t remember exactly how I answered the question, but it was something to the effect that while there are things that we would like to have someday that we don’t have now, we are pretty comfortable with our lifestyle. When we got home, Neal and I shared a good laugh.
I’ve since thought a lot about the question, and the more I think about it, the more I feel that my life is good. Neal and I own a home and have lots of equity in it. The home may be small, but it is adequate, modern, and in good repair. Other than our mortgage, we have no loans of any kind. We have never had any trouble paying any of our bills (not even a large bill for an expensive ER visit during the short window of time that I had bad health insurance). We have two cars (albeit old cars) that work well (siblings, spare me your criticism of Reggie—he is a reliable machine!). We go on vacations, buy new clothes and shoes, buy the kind of food we want, eat out when we want to, buy new furniture, etc. Of course there are things that I would do differently if I had more money, but I don’t feel like I am suffering for the want of anything right now. I honestly feel like Neal and I have been incredibly blessed in our life together.
So, while some may disagree (even many who know us and know how we live), I submit that we do not live like students, but like middle-class Americans. And I’d like to think that even if we did live like students, we’d still be happy.
We’ll see what I have to say about this when we are making 10 times what we are now (which is hard for me to fathom)…
Sunday, November 28, 2010
No, I haven't given up blogging
The other day I was on the phone with Alison and told her that we had been busy. When she asked with what, I had a surprisingly hard time answering her. I have a lot going on, but I don’t always reflect on what I’m doing and have been doing, which I think is important. Life seems to be going fast lately, which is good and bad—I enjoy being up and doing and going and working, but my kids are growing up so fast and I don’t want to be so busy that I don’t fully enjoy, love, and nurture them.
So, since I’d like to pause and assess what is going on in my life right now, I may as well do it in the form of another family update. It’s been a while! So, starting with myself, here goes!
Me:
-I’m working about 7 hours a week for EMB, give and take a few hours depending on the week. I mostly work in the evenings and during Austin’s afternoon nap (I have Sally play quietly by herself for a while and then reward her with a T.V. show or library video if she keeps nicely to herself). I feel very fortunate to have such a great work opportunity, but despite what a good situation it is, I often toss around the idea of being done (or at least taking a while off). Before long Austin will stop napping in the morning, which will take away some of my one-on-one time with Sally, making it less appealing for me to work in the afternoon. I’m sure I can figure something out.
-I’m enjoying my calling as the 1st Counselor in the RS Presidency. It isn’t a terribly busy calling, but does take some of my time and energy each week. I always feel like I should be doing more, though.
-I’m teaching piano lessons. I have four students, three of which are siblings. I was approached by the mother of the three and asked if I would teach piano lessons in exchange for her watching my kids for a few hours each week. In the case of the one, I was also approached by her mother who offered to pay me more than I was willing to accept (and more than I am accepting). I don’t particularly enjoy teaching piano lessons because I don’t feel as qualified as I would like to be. While I feel like I’m a capable and competent pianist, I never learned a whole lot of music theory, and I don’t feel like I’ve been blessed with the gift of teaching. I do okay, but I have a hard time when people just don’t get something I’m trying to teach. Since the mothers of my students know my limitations and have as their objective having their children learn to play hymns, I feel okay about teaching.
-I’m trying to read more, do more to beautify my home, exercise more, and blog more--and failing miserably at all of the above. I did read a book in October, thanks to my friend Amanda recently organizing a book club, but because of being busy with work the past month, I didn’t get the book read in November. I have a list of projects I’d like to do in my home that has gone for some time without a single check-mark. Austin is now 9 months old, and I don’t know if “9 months on, 9 months off” applies to me. I haven’t been on a scale in months, but I’m pretty sure I’m a few pounds above my pre-pregnancy weight. And while I’m honestly not that worried about the number on the scale, I think I’ll have a permanent spare tire around my middle unless I can get enough motivation to really do something about it—and that does worry me. As for the blog, well, you all can see for yourselves how well I’m doing there!
-On a more positive note, I do feel like I spend a lot of quality time with my kids. I play with and read to them quite a lot, and enjoy it (most of the time). I think they can tell that I love being with them and doing activities with them—at least I hope so.
-I continue to love trying new recipes and ideas in the kitchen. I’m trying to cook simpler and more efficiently.
-I love getting together with my friends and their children. We have had a lot of fun get-togethers lately to celebrate birthdays and new babies, but usually it is just a low-key gathering over a simple lunch (sandwiches, left-overs, whatever!) with good conversation and toys for the kids.
Neal:
-Neal is busy with work (but not as busy as he was last year). After 5 months in the anesthesia program, let’s say that the honeymoon is over. During the first few months in the program, it wasn’t uncommon for him to come home around 4 (after leaving the house around 5 am). These days, it is a rare day that he is home before 6 (and then he has about half an hour of prep work to do at home for the next day). So, he works long days, but is learning a lot and getting good experience. He does get weekends off, though, unless he is on call (a 24 hour shift), which happens 3-4 times a month.
-He is also busy with church. He has had a lot of scouting activities and trainings lately. He enjoys them for the most part. I think his current calling as assistant scoutmaster/Deacon’s quorum advisor is a good fit for him.
-He has had a few projects going on recently (he loves projects and is almost always in some stage of a project): staining and installing an extra cabinet in our laundry room, building and paining a fence, and cutting down two dead trees in our yard. I was less than excited about the trees—not because I didn’t think they needed to be removed, but because the idea of Neal on a ladder near power-lines with a chain saw terrified me. It all worked out in the end, but I was admittedly ticked off at him for completely ignoring my safety concerns. I already feel like a widow a lot of the time, and that is bad enough.
Sally:
-Sally turned 3 years old on November 19. She knows enough about birthdays to be very excited about her own. I hope she wasn’t disappointed. We didn’t have a party with friends this year, but enjoyed celebrating with Neal’s family. She got a 2-wheeler with training wheels from us, and some other fun gifts from family and friends.
-She is a sweet and well-behaved young lady. She always has been, but lately her behavior has been top-notch. She has recently gotten over a phase where she didn’t like going to bed and would repeatedly come out of her room after she was put to bed, and now cooperates very nicely at bed-time. She says “please,” “thank-you,” “excuse-me,” and “I’m sorry” without having to be reminded most of the time. She is getting better at sharing with Austin and with her friends, and she often suggests kind acts to perform for people we know. I know that I’m strict with her, and I’m trying hard to lighten up.
-She loves to sing and dance, and most of the time makes up the songs she sings. She is also really into playing make-believe. She has a little people castle set that she loves, and she also loves playing “family” with her baby doll.
-She is a great eater (unless we are at someone else’s house and there are tempting toys around), and eats pretty much everything that I make (except for salad—she still isn’t a fan, but we’re trying). Her favorite food is still oatmeal, but she also loves pb&j, carrots and peas, blackberries, lasagna, homemade tomato soup and grilled cheese (what she requested for her birthday dinner), and, of course, sweets (cookies and ice cream in particular). She will eat sweets that most kids won’t touch (including me as a kid), such as dark chocolate and nuts.
-She is a lot of fun to have around and has an optimistic spirit. When I’m feeling badly about something, she’ll give me a hug and say something like “Don’t worry, Mommy!”, or “It will be alright.”
Austin:
-Poor Austin has had so little coverage on this blog! He continues to be a great baby. He is good natured and happy most of the time. Lately he has been very attached to me, which has been a challenge, because he wants me to hold him, yet still wants to be playing and moving (so he just can’t make up his mind about what he wants).
-He is a great night-time sleeper (sleeps about 12 straight hours), but is starting to grow out of his two-nap daily routine.
-He is still mostly bald on top, but has quite a bit of hair on the sides and in the back. No one is sure about what color it is. I think it is blond, but others think it is reddish.
-He has beautiful blue eyes and sweet chubby cheeks that are so fun to kiss.
-To back up a little (okay, a lot!), here are a few of his accomplishments: he rolled over at 3.5 months and started crawling at 5 months. He started pulling himself up and standing on his own at about 6 and 7 months, respectively. He is now 9.5 months and doesn’t yet walk, but is getting close. He cruises along furniture and has attempted a few steps. He likes to walk when someone is holding his hands.
-He is VERY active and into EVERYTHING. He definitely keeps me on my toes.
-He loves books, but not me reading them to him. He mostly just pulls them off of the shelf, shakes them, turns a few pages, and occasionally puts them in his mouth. There is one book that he will let me read to him all of the way through—a board book called “Where’s Nicky?”
-He babbles quite a lot and can say “Mama” and “Dada.” And I’m pretty sure he knows exactly what he is saying when he says them. He is quite loud when he wants to be and has a deep voice, which I find quite humorous (how deep it is, NOT how loud he can be).
-He is a good eater but is starting to be very picky. He has started throwing food on the floor, much to my dismay. His favorites at this point are bananas, bread, and tomato soup (oh, and a new favorite since Thanksgiving—homemade rolls).
Finally, here are some of my favorite recent pictures of the kids (in random order and largely without captions because I'm ready to be done with the computer):
So, since I’d like to pause and assess what is going on in my life right now, I may as well do it in the form of another family update. It’s been a while! So, starting with myself, here goes!
Me:
-I’m working about 7 hours a week for EMB, give and take a few hours depending on the week. I mostly work in the evenings and during Austin’s afternoon nap (I have Sally play quietly by herself for a while and then reward her with a T.V. show or library video if she keeps nicely to herself). I feel very fortunate to have such a great work opportunity, but despite what a good situation it is, I often toss around the idea of being done (or at least taking a while off). Before long Austin will stop napping in the morning, which will take away some of my one-on-one time with Sally, making it less appealing for me to work in the afternoon. I’m sure I can figure something out.
-I’m enjoying my calling as the 1st Counselor in the RS Presidency. It isn’t a terribly busy calling, but does take some of my time and energy each week. I always feel like I should be doing more, though.
-I’m teaching piano lessons. I have four students, three of which are siblings. I was approached by the mother of the three and asked if I would teach piano lessons in exchange for her watching my kids for a few hours each week. In the case of the one, I was also approached by her mother who offered to pay me more than I was willing to accept (and more than I am accepting). I don’t particularly enjoy teaching piano lessons because I don’t feel as qualified as I would like to be. While I feel like I’m a capable and competent pianist, I never learned a whole lot of music theory, and I don’t feel like I’ve been blessed with the gift of teaching. I do okay, but I have a hard time when people just don’t get something I’m trying to teach. Since the mothers of my students know my limitations and have as their objective having their children learn to play hymns, I feel okay about teaching.
-I’m trying to read more, do more to beautify my home, exercise more, and blog more--and failing miserably at all of the above. I did read a book in October, thanks to my friend Amanda recently organizing a book club, but because of being busy with work the past month, I didn’t get the book read in November. I have a list of projects I’d like to do in my home that has gone for some time without a single check-mark. Austin is now 9 months old, and I don’t know if “9 months on, 9 months off” applies to me. I haven’t been on a scale in months, but I’m pretty sure I’m a few pounds above my pre-pregnancy weight. And while I’m honestly not that worried about the number on the scale, I think I’ll have a permanent spare tire around my middle unless I can get enough motivation to really do something about it—and that does worry me. As for the blog, well, you all can see for yourselves how well I’m doing there!
-On a more positive note, I do feel like I spend a lot of quality time with my kids. I play with and read to them quite a lot, and enjoy it (most of the time). I think they can tell that I love being with them and doing activities with them—at least I hope so.
-I continue to love trying new recipes and ideas in the kitchen. I’m trying to cook simpler and more efficiently.
-I love getting together with my friends and their children. We have had a lot of fun get-togethers lately to celebrate birthdays and new babies, but usually it is just a low-key gathering over a simple lunch (sandwiches, left-overs, whatever!) with good conversation and toys for the kids.
Neal:
-Neal is busy with work (but not as busy as he was last year). After 5 months in the anesthesia program, let’s say that the honeymoon is over. During the first few months in the program, it wasn’t uncommon for him to come home around 4 (after leaving the house around 5 am). These days, it is a rare day that he is home before 6 (and then he has about half an hour of prep work to do at home for the next day). So, he works long days, but is learning a lot and getting good experience. He does get weekends off, though, unless he is on call (a 24 hour shift), which happens 3-4 times a month.
-He is also busy with church. He has had a lot of scouting activities and trainings lately. He enjoys them for the most part. I think his current calling as assistant scoutmaster/Deacon’s quorum advisor is a good fit for him.
-He has had a few projects going on recently (he loves projects and is almost always in some stage of a project): staining and installing an extra cabinet in our laundry room, building and paining a fence, and cutting down two dead trees in our yard. I was less than excited about the trees—not because I didn’t think they needed to be removed, but because the idea of Neal on a ladder near power-lines with a chain saw terrified me. It all worked out in the end, but I was admittedly ticked off at him for completely ignoring my safety concerns. I already feel like a widow a lot of the time, and that is bad enough.
Sally:
-Sally turned 3 years old on November 19. She knows enough about birthdays to be very excited about her own. I hope she wasn’t disappointed. We didn’t have a party with friends this year, but enjoyed celebrating with Neal’s family. She got a 2-wheeler with training wheels from us, and some other fun gifts from family and friends.
-She is a sweet and well-behaved young lady. She always has been, but lately her behavior has been top-notch. She has recently gotten over a phase where she didn’t like going to bed and would repeatedly come out of her room after she was put to bed, and now cooperates very nicely at bed-time. She says “please,” “thank-you,” “excuse-me,” and “I’m sorry” without having to be reminded most of the time. She is getting better at sharing with Austin and with her friends, and she often suggests kind acts to perform for people we know. I know that I’m strict with her, and I’m trying hard to lighten up.
-She loves to sing and dance, and most of the time makes up the songs she sings. She is also really into playing make-believe. She has a little people castle set that she loves, and she also loves playing “family” with her baby doll.
-She is a great eater (unless we are at someone else’s house and there are tempting toys around), and eats pretty much everything that I make (except for salad—she still isn’t a fan, but we’re trying). Her favorite food is still oatmeal, but she also loves pb&j, carrots and peas, blackberries, lasagna, homemade tomato soup and grilled cheese (what she requested for her birthday dinner), and, of course, sweets (cookies and ice cream in particular). She will eat sweets that most kids won’t touch (including me as a kid), such as dark chocolate and nuts.
-She is a lot of fun to have around and has an optimistic spirit. When I’m feeling badly about something, she’ll give me a hug and say something like “Don’t worry, Mommy!”, or “It will be alright.”
Austin:
-Poor Austin has had so little coverage on this blog! He continues to be a great baby. He is good natured and happy most of the time. Lately he has been very attached to me, which has been a challenge, because he wants me to hold him, yet still wants to be playing and moving (so he just can’t make up his mind about what he wants).
-He is a great night-time sleeper (sleeps about 12 straight hours), but is starting to grow out of his two-nap daily routine.
-He is still mostly bald on top, but has quite a bit of hair on the sides and in the back. No one is sure about what color it is. I think it is blond, but others think it is reddish.
-He has beautiful blue eyes and sweet chubby cheeks that are so fun to kiss.
-To back up a little (okay, a lot!), here are a few of his accomplishments: he rolled over at 3.5 months and started crawling at 5 months. He started pulling himself up and standing on his own at about 6 and 7 months, respectively. He is now 9.5 months and doesn’t yet walk, but is getting close. He cruises along furniture and has attempted a few steps. He likes to walk when someone is holding his hands.
-He is VERY active and into EVERYTHING. He definitely keeps me on my toes.
-He loves books, but not me reading them to him. He mostly just pulls them off of the shelf, shakes them, turns a few pages, and occasionally puts them in his mouth. There is one book that he will let me read to him all of the way through—a board book called “Where’s Nicky?”
-He babbles quite a lot and can say “Mama” and “Dada.” And I’m pretty sure he knows exactly what he is saying when he says them. He is quite loud when he wants to be and has a deep voice, which I find quite humorous (how deep it is, NOT how loud he can be).
-He is a good eater but is starting to be very picky. He has started throwing food on the floor, much to my dismay. His favorites at this point are bananas, bread, and tomato soup (oh, and a new favorite since Thanksgiving—homemade rolls).
Finally, here are some of my favorite recent pictures of the kids (in random order and largely without captions because I'm ready to be done with the computer):
So proud of himself!
I LOVE this dress, and love that fact that I got it for $10 at a consignment sale. Similar dresses I've seen run around $50 or more.
Sally has cute curly hair!
The cake was delish but didn't turn out as cute as I'd hoped. I was rushed and didn't have time for a second coat of icing. Sally loved it, though, and I guess that is what counts.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
So I don't forget...
Tonight I made a pumpkin pie for dessert. It was a bit more labor intensive than making your typical pumpkin pie because I used a pie pumpkin rather than canned pumpkin. While making my pie I was simultaneously making dinner, and it was getting a bit busy in the kitchen. To make a long story short, the pie crust wasn’t as lovely as I had envisioned, and I had a lot of pie filling left over (I think I was supposed to use a deep dish pie plate rather than a regular pie plate—just one of the details that I overlooked while multitasking). As I took the pie out of the oven, I commented to Neal: “This isn’t exactly the perfectly beautiful pumpkin pie that I had envisioned, but oh, well!” Sally then piped up: “Well,” (she commonly begins sentences that way), “I envisioned the pumpkin pie falling from the ceiling and landing in a plate of spaghetti!” What a silly girl. I don’t know where she comes up with things like this!
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Family Trip
As promised, more pictures from Utah (I'm sure you've all been on the edge of your seats!). I'm surprised and disappointed that I didn't take more pictures.
We enjoyed our recent trip to Utah. There wasn't any real occasion for our visit. We try to visit my family in Utah twice a year (occasionally over the past few years it has been more frequent due to special circumstances), and we were due for a visit. Neal was able to take some time off of work, and we got an awesome deal on plane tickets. My family was anxious to see Austin (especially those memebers of my family who had not yet met him), and I was anxious to see everyone, show off my sweet baby boy, and let Sally play with her cousins to her heart's content. All of my pestering Angie and Hyrum to go out there the same time as us paid off, and they made the trip out, as well. It was great to be together with the whole family. I'm not sure when that will happen again, since my clan will not be going to Utah during the Christmas season this year.
The trip got off to an interesting start. Sally fell asleep in the car on the way to the airport and amazingly stayed asleep all the way to the security checkpoint.
We got in to Salt Lake late Wednesday night and enjoyed a low-key day at my parent's house on Thursday. I did get away for a while to meet some friends for lunch. Amazingly I was able to get together with my the three awesome roommates that I spent 2+ years with at BYU (Lisa recently moved back to Utah, Kathryn happened to be visiting, and Sarah is living with her parents currently until she gets married in October). Anna joined us, too. It was a lot of fun.
Al and her girls came over in the afternoon so we could bake cakes and let the girls play. It was delightful to bake with my sister while Sally happily played with Ada and Kate.
Thursday night we headed down to Provo to take Neal's brother Grant out to dinner (and left the kids with my parents). It was fun to visit Provo and remember the good ol' days when I lived there. We wanted to eat at the Bombay house, but ended up at Gloria's Little Italy. I didn't regreat it. Let's just say it is a good thing that I very infrequently have the pleasure of ordering "all you care to eat" pasta, especially when one of the choices is pasta drenched in some sort of cream sauce! Despite my hearty dinner, I couldn't resist a $1 scoop of cougar creamery ice cream at Spoons and Spice on the way out of the BYU Bookstore, where cougar shirts were purchased for the entire family.
The next day we hiked Donut Falls in Big Cottonwood Canyon with my mom, Ella, Abby, and Angie and Hyrum. It was surprisingly chilly, (I was grateful that I had brought my kids' jackets), but a lot of fun. Because we had no baby carrier, I carried Austin in my arms for a good portion of the hike, with Angie and Neal taking occasional turns to give me a break. Sally was carried mostly by Neal, but enjoyed riding on Hyrum's shoulders for a good stretch. Sally loves her uncle Hyrum!
The family pictures at the top all turned out fuzzy and unfit for posting. This picture of Neal and kids is not much better. Sally had a great time on the hike, but must have been cold at this moment--she doesn't look very pleased.
That night we headed to Spencer and Korrin's house to celebrate Abby's birthday (and my Mom's birthday, which would be the next week). Al and I frosted and decorated our cake, which tasted a lot better than it looked. It was fun to make, though. Next time we'll do a crumb layer of frosting first.
It was so fun to be with the whole family. I love seeing the little girls play together, and it was fun seeing Austin interact with the family, as well.
On Saturday we went to the fair that my parents' stake put on, watched the Cougars lose to Air Force, and ate pizza and played with the family again.
Saturday night was a lot of fun--several of my best high school friends and I had dinner together at my friend Sarah's house. It was after my kids went to bed (quite a late dinner), but it was wonderful to catch up with all of my friends. Abby went along, too, and it was fun having her there. I think all of my friends like Abby better than they like me--and for good reason, she is a lot of fun! Talking with friends and a sister, eating great food, relaxing in a cozy house, not worrying a bit about what my kids are doing--for me, it doesn't get much better than that!
On Sunday before church, we enjoyed pacakes and the stories I loved as a child. It was so fun to watch Sally sit on her grandpa's lap and giggle happily at Micky and the Giant in the classic "The Brave Little Tailor." I love Sally's giggle, especially when she has a hard time stopping her giggles.
After church we enjoyed a family dinner at my grandparents' house. I love my grandparents' house and was so glad to have the chance to be there, as they are building a new home and have sold their house. It was fun to be there with them one last time. My grandma (Sally's namesake) is very sweet and make pink cupcakes with gumdrop decorations for the little girls, and her famous chocolate cake for the rest of us. Needless to say, Sally enjoyed her treat...
as did her cousins! Amazingly, the girls all stayed put for the picture and even attempted to look at the camera. I have the cupcakes to thank for keeping them glued to their seats.
Sweet little Austy had a lot of fun exploring and probably ate a fair amount of leaves while we enjoyed the evening on the deck. He also enjoyed his grandpa--almost as much as grandpa enjoyed him!
Monday came and we got ready to head home, but not before an afternoon at Alison's house. Neal had a get his Wii time in, and Sally was all excited to play with Ada and Kate's toys. Thankfully Ella and Grace joined us so the cousins could get in one last play time. Sally was in heaven in Ada's room, playing with baby dolls and dressing up as Minnie Mouse and Snow White. Here are the cute "big girls" coloring, while the "little girls" (Kate and Grace) napped. Thankfully Austin slept at Al's house, as well, so I could sneak off to lunch with Al and Angie.
All-in-all we had a great trip. I regret not making it to Al and Tyler's house for games with the rest of the siblings any of the evenings (we really missed out, but were pretty tired), and not spending more one-on-one time with Neal. At least we had our Provo trip. But I can't complain--we saw family and friends, enjoyed nice weather, and our kids were great.
We enjoyed our recent trip to Utah. There wasn't any real occasion for our visit. We try to visit my family in Utah twice a year (occasionally over the past few years it has been more frequent due to special circumstances), and we were due for a visit. Neal was able to take some time off of work, and we got an awesome deal on plane tickets. My family was anxious to see Austin (especially those memebers of my family who had not yet met him), and I was anxious to see everyone, show off my sweet baby boy, and let Sally play with her cousins to her heart's content. All of my pestering Angie and Hyrum to go out there the same time as us paid off, and they made the trip out, as well. It was great to be together with the whole family. I'm not sure when that will happen again, since my clan will not be going to Utah during the Christmas season this year.
The trip got off to an interesting start. Sally fell asleep in the car on the way to the airport and amazingly stayed asleep all the way to the security checkpoint.
We got in to Salt Lake late Wednesday night and enjoyed a low-key day at my parent's house on Thursday. I did get away for a while to meet some friends for lunch. Amazingly I was able to get together with my the three awesome roommates that I spent 2+ years with at BYU (Lisa recently moved back to Utah, Kathryn happened to be visiting, and Sarah is living with her parents currently until she gets married in October). Anna joined us, too. It was a lot of fun.
Al and her girls came over in the afternoon so we could bake cakes and let the girls play. It was delightful to bake with my sister while Sally happily played with Ada and Kate.
Thursday night we headed down to Provo to take Neal's brother Grant out to dinner (and left the kids with my parents). It was fun to visit Provo and remember the good ol' days when I lived there. We wanted to eat at the Bombay house, but ended up at Gloria's Little Italy. I didn't regreat it. Let's just say it is a good thing that I very infrequently have the pleasure of ordering "all you care to eat" pasta, especially when one of the choices is pasta drenched in some sort of cream sauce! Despite my hearty dinner, I couldn't resist a $1 scoop of cougar creamery ice cream at Spoons and Spice on the way out of the BYU Bookstore, where cougar shirts were purchased for the entire family.
The next day we hiked Donut Falls in Big Cottonwood Canyon with my mom, Ella, Abby, and Angie and Hyrum. It was surprisingly chilly, (I was grateful that I had brought my kids' jackets), but a lot of fun. Because we had no baby carrier, I carried Austin in my arms for a good portion of the hike, with Angie and Neal taking occasional turns to give me a break. Sally was carried mostly by Neal, but enjoyed riding on Hyrum's shoulders for a good stretch. Sally loves her uncle Hyrum!
The family pictures at the top all turned out fuzzy and unfit for posting. This picture of Neal and kids is not much better. Sally had a great time on the hike, but must have been cold at this moment--she doesn't look very pleased.
That night we headed to Spencer and Korrin's house to celebrate Abby's birthday (and my Mom's birthday, which would be the next week). Al and I frosted and decorated our cake, which tasted a lot better than it looked. It was fun to make, though. Next time we'll do a crumb layer of frosting first.
It was so fun to be with the whole family. I love seeing the little girls play together, and it was fun seeing Austin interact with the family, as well.
On Saturday we went to the fair that my parents' stake put on, watched the Cougars lose to Air Force, and ate pizza and played with the family again.
Saturday night was a lot of fun--several of my best high school friends and I had dinner together at my friend Sarah's house. It was after my kids went to bed (quite a late dinner), but it was wonderful to catch up with all of my friends. Abby went along, too, and it was fun having her there. I think all of my friends like Abby better than they like me--and for good reason, she is a lot of fun! Talking with friends and a sister, eating great food, relaxing in a cozy house, not worrying a bit about what my kids are doing--for me, it doesn't get much better than that!
On Sunday before church, we enjoyed pacakes and the stories I loved as a child. It was so fun to watch Sally sit on her grandpa's lap and giggle happily at Micky and the Giant in the classic "The Brave Little Tailor." I love Sally's giggle, especially when she has a hard time stopping her giggles.
After church we enjoyed a family dinner at my grandparents' house. I love my grandparents' house and was so glad to have the chance to be there, as they are building a new home and have sold their house. It was fun to be there with them one last time. My grandma (Sally's namesake) is very sweet and make pink cupcakes with gumdrop decorations for the little girls, and her famous chocolate cake for the rest of us. Needless to say, Sally enjoyed her treat...
as did her cousins! Amazingly, the girls all stayed put for the picture and even attempted to look at the camera. I have the cupcakes to thank for keeping them glued to their seats.
Sweet little Austy had a lot of fun exploring and probably ate a fair amount of leaves while we enjoyed the evening on the deck. He also enjoyed his grandpa--almost as much as grandpa enjoyed him!
Monday came and we got ready to head home, but not before an afternoon at Alison's house. Neal had a get his Wii time in, and Sally was all excited to play with Ada and Kate's toys. Thankfully Ella and Grace joined us so the cousins could get in one last play time. Sally was in heaven in Ada's room, playing with baby dolls and dressing up as Minnie Mouse and Snow White. Here are the cute "big girls" coloring, while the "little girls" (Kate and Grace) napped. Thankfully Austin slept at Al's house, as well, so I could sneak off to lunch with Al and Angie.
All-in-all we had a great trip. I regret not making it to Al and Tyler's house for games with the rest of the siblings any of the evenings (we really missed out, but were pretty tired), and not spending more one-on-one time with Neal. At least we had our Provo trip. But I can't complain--we saw family and friends, enjoyed nice weather, and our kids were great.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Preview
We recently returned from a fun trip to Utah to spend time with my family. We enjoyed a short hike, among other things. More info. and pictures will follow. This post is just to get a picture out there to make me feel better about my previous two posts containing no pictures.
Honestly, does Abby even look pregnant in this picture? I find it hard to believe she is halfway through!
Honestly, does Abby even look pregnant in this picture? I find it hard to believe she is halfway through!
The Lost Petersons
Neal and I enjoy watching a good series together. During the Christmas season right after Sally was born we had a lot of free time and a little baby that slept a lot. With the help of Neal’s family, we discovered the “Horatio Hornblower” series (a BBC work) and dove in. It was at times cheesy and predictable, but fun just the same. We enjoyed the down time together, and would work together to get things done around the house and with Sally so we could start each next episode. The next Christmas season we got into season 1 of “24”, which I initially resisted but ended up getting hooked on. Over the past few years we have also taken on “The Lost Room” (a short series, something that Neal’s mom lent to us), “Crusoe” (an NBC mini-series), “The Winds of War” (an ABC miniseries from the 80s), “The Flame Trees of Thika” (a British miniseries) and “Love Comes Softly” (from Hallmark, and the only series we never finished).
Our most recent series of interest is “LOST”. I’m not sure why we started, but after just one episode of season 1, we both wanted to continue. While we didn’t watch every night, most evenings we’d watch at least one episode (and sometimes two or three). It was fun looking forward to that time together in the evenings, and fun to talk about the story and characters together. We were both motivated to take care of our responsibilities as quickly as possible in the evenings so we could have more time to watch together. After season 1 was over, we took a few months off and then tackled season 2. While we both really enjoyed seasons 1 and 2, we’ve decided not to continue with the rest of the seasons. In addition to feeling guilty about spending so much time in front of the tv night after night, I didn’t like turning a blind eye to the raciness that was starting to creep into the show just because I wanted to see what happened next.
So now, without watching “LOST” in the evenings, our evenings feel a bit, well, lost! They are certainly a lot less fun and a lot less predictable. It isn’t that we currently do nothing together in the evenings—we do. We enjoy crossword puzzles, working on our finances, playing games, or just talking, but we also commonly get pulled into our own responsibilities and interests and spend less time together than we’d like. I work quite a bit for my job in the evenings, and Neal always has things he can do for work—such as reading the millions of medical journals/anesthesia textbooks that the department would like him to read. I suppose we are just in a bit of a rut right now and the solution is just planning (or a good dose of fun spontaneity, which neither of us have ever been great at), but often lately while I’m sitting at my work computer realizing that the evening has slipped away without much spouse time, I long for the evenings with LOST on the tv, Neal and my side, and a bowl of ice cream in my lap.
While I could take the easy route, (cave in and go get season 3 from the library), I’m looking for ideas and suggestions about other series that are not quite so long (or addicting, or racy), but more especially about other ways for Neal and I to spend time together in the evenings that we’ll be as excited about as we were about “LOST.” Any ideas? (Ideas involving exercise are especially welcome. Goodness knows I need more of that!).
Our most recent series of interest is “LOST”. I’m not sure why we started, but after just one episode of season 1, we both wanted to continue. While we didn’t watch every night, most evenings we’d watch at least one episode (and sometimes two or three). It was fun looking forward to that time together in the evenings, and fun to talk about the story and characters together. We were both motivated to take care of our responsibilities as quickly as possible in the evenings so we could have more time to watch together. After season 1 was over, we took a few months off and then tackled season 2. While we both really enjoyed seasons 1 and 2, we’ve decided not to continue with the rest of the seasons. In addition to feeling guilty about spending so much time in front of the tv night after night, I didn’t like turning a blind eye to the raciness that was starting to creep into the show just because I wanted to see what happened next.
So now, without watching “LOST” in the evenings, our evenings feel a bit, well, lost! They are certainly a lot less fun and a lot less predictable. It isn’t that we currently do nothing together in the evenings—we do. We enjoy crossword puzzles, working on our finances, playing games, or just talking, but we also commonly get pulled into our own responsibilities and interests and spend less time together than we’d like. I work quite a bit for my job in the evenings, and Neal always has things he can do for work—such as reading the millions of medical journals/anesthesia textbooks that the department would like him to read. I suppose we are just in a bit of a rut right now and the solution is just planning (or a good dose of fun spontaneity, which neither of us have ever been great at), but often lately while I’m sitting at my work computer realizing that the evening has slipped away without much spouse time, I long for the evenings with LOST on the tv, Neal and my side, and a bowl of ice cream in my lap.
While I could take the easy route, (cave in and go get season 3 from the library), I’m looking for ideas and suggestions about other series that are not quite so long (or addicting, or racy), but more especially about other ways for Neal and I to spend time together in the evenings that we’ll be as excited about as we were about “LOST.” Any ideas? (Ideas involving exercise are especially welcome. Goodness knows I need more of that!).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
