Made From Scratch...

If you know me well, you know that the kitchen and I aren't as familiar with each other as we should be.  A good week I cook 4 nights. A normal night I cook once.  I try but, hey, somethings are easier left up to others to prepare.  But as part of my New Year's goals of "Making an Effort" (my mantra for the year) I have been working on all aspects of my homemaker and Motherhood skills.  In the past week, however, it is like I got a jolt of determination to do things better.

I love my friend Christy's cooking blog- The Girl Who Ate Everything. Christy and I have known each other since middle school (and I wish my scanner was working so I could put an embarrassing photo on here), and I love that we both have 3 boys. So, if she says her boys ate something I know mine will.  She gives me the guts to try things I normally wouldn't, and just last week I tried 3 of her recipes for dinner- which were all big hits! I made the Poppy Seed Chicken, the Pizza Rolls, and even put my own spin on her Italian Chicken (we call it Beach Chicken). You've got to check her out. Trying things like this is a huge step for someone who gags when they touch raw chicken, or browns beef for tacos (ahem, gag..someone like me).

And, as an added bonus of trying so many new recipes, I found it very necessary to organize and make a list of my spice cupboard. So, no more hunting for Celery Seed or a bay leaf, I know right where it is!  Yeah for clean cupboards. I also saw a cute idea for vinyl to go inside a cupboard door with measurement conversions, and that I want to do maybe along with a list of spices...Hmmmmm.  I even had to replenish my supply of flour, sugars and the like! I'm telling you, I've upped my game big time.

A week or so ago, in causal conversation, having nothing what-so-ever to do with baking, Rusty mentioned that when he was growing up he always thought his wife would make the best cinnamon rolls. He didn't mean it in a negative way at all, but still it left me thinking. Had I ever even tried to make cinnamon rolls all on my own? Nope. Not once.  Cookies, yes. Brownies, yes. So, I enlisted every great baker I know to ask for tips and recipes. Lucky for me, my friend Verlinda was in town visiting her daughter Janae.  I had made a number of treats off their family recipe blog so I thought I'd ask her about making rolls.  Well, I got more than that. I got Verlinda and Janae in my kitchen to walk me through making them from start to finish!

(Prior to the icing, I was so proud I couldn't wait for them to cool to photograph them-- and by no means is this a foodie blog, so if you wanna see what they look like all gussied up and plated, well, sorry. I'd rather eat them!)

I didn't tell Rusty my plans, and when he came home he was very surprised. Better yet that he LOVED them. In case I wasn't convinced he ate four. I was so excited!  Thanks 'Nonna' and 'Nae"! Especially thanks to Nae for playing playdough with Berk while we slaved away!

Actually, he liked them so much that Saturday I made them again, all on my own. They didn't turn out as pretty, but they are still all gone.The boys had a ball 'helping' me, and the inches of four on the floor served as proof. Thanks to my neighbor Mendy for helping me figure out what I did wrong. She is my official taste tester and willing offered to eat them even though they were flat. Thanks for taking one for the team to help out my baking skills.

Well, my birthday is a week away, and now that I'm  "Making an Effort' in the kitchen I thought I'd throw a Kitchen Aid on my birthday list-- just for fun. Just to show you how serious I was about actually thinking I'd get one, it appeared on the list right before Nanny.  And yes, I made it ten years of marriage with a hand held Black & Decker mixer, if that shows you how much I used it...Sooooo, Sunday night we had my birthday dinner with Rusty's parents (who'll be out of town for the actual day) and I got to open my gift early. Needless to say I was shocked and SO excited and grateful that they got me my Mixer!!!

So, to break in my Kitchen Aid, I enlisted Christy's blog again and made these yummy cookies! I loved being able to change the speeds and know what I was doing.  You have to make these cookies. The dough alone was delish! Tomorrow, I am trying bread. Fingers crossed. One of the rarely mentioned bonuses to living in Arizona is that everything rises fast here, just put it in your garage and it comes up in no time! So, I hope I can swing it. And don't mind my messy counter tops in all the photos, my house was clean yesterday, I swear.

Feel free to send me any of your favorite cooking blogs, I bet I check them, but the family cooking blogs always have the tried and true stuff on em.

Getting the Word O-U-T!!!

Ok so awhile ago my BeFri Jess Whipple asked me about where to buy stuff to make a beaded watch band. I gave her my sites and kinda forgot about it. Until a few months later when I saw her wearing the MOST adorable watch band. Big and chunky and SOOO cute. Turns out searching for the watch faces was nearly impossible but in her hunt she came across this company called Bumbles and loved their stuff so much she decided to become a distributor.

Well, I am now a Bumbles collecting FIEND! I have a number if their bracelets, watch bands and faces. They were my go to gift for Christmas. Anyways, my point is that it seems that everywhere I go someone stops and asks me where I got it from. So I talked to Jess and we are going to have a Bumbles open house so you all can come see for yourself! These are a huge trend in jewelry right now- and it is obvious why, they are stinkin' adorable!

They have over 100 different bands and like 60 watch faces, so you can make any combination you want. They have different sized bands and faces- which is why it is crucial to try them on. I tried several combos on before I found the perfect fit, and when I tried to guess and give one as a gift I chose too small... So---- come and see what they have. Necklaces, cute pendants, bracelets (I {heart} the holidays ones), earrings and of course the WATCHES! So we'll have a ton ton ton of different styles for you to see and try on and then you can either leave with it that night- or Jess can custom order ANYTHING for you!

So Save the Date!

Feb 9th, 2010

my House

(if you need the address let me know)

7-8:30pm

If you can't come that night and want to order something, just shoot me an email. Or if you are out of state let me know and I will have Jess contact you! Seriously, come see this cute stuff! I already picked out another band for Rusty to give me for Valentine's Day- oh and one for Easter- and shoot, another one I want I guess for Mother's Day! Ha. These suckers are like Pringles, I can't have just one! I'll be sending out invites to my nearby peeps but it's a come one come all kinda thing- shoot bring your neighbor, your sister and your Mom!

Better Late Than Never...

A week or so after I had been home with Brenner, Rusty mentioned that he had had a funny conversation with a co-worker. They were talking about Brenner and her new baby due soon and she mentioned her "Push Present" from her first baby. Now Rusty totally thought she made that term/ idea up and related that to me later that night. I happily informed him that Push presents were not a made up idea, and they even counted when the lady had a c/s delivery. I tried to refrain from asking where my present was, but I think the hormones got the best of me and I blurted it out anyways.

So Brenner is 5 weeks old now, and Rusty came through in a big way...

Better late than never, my Push Present showed up at my house Thursday night. We traded in the Tahoe I have had for 7 years and 99,871 miles and upgraded to a brand spanking new Suburban. I have been dying for bucket seats and cargo room and this fit the bill. It has all the bells and whistles-even heated and cooled seats, XM radio --the works. I even got them to put my Tahoe's custom wheels and tires on it. I am pretty sure I need to practice parking in an empty parking lot for a while, and forget about backing up even with that camera thing... I am so excited to have a new ride. Thanks Honey! I think this clears the slate for all THREE boys' push gifts!

Also this week my sister Robyn flew down with my niece Audrey to help out and visit. This was the first time Rhonda and Chelli's kids had met Auds and Robyn met Talia. It was fun. We had the whole gang over for dinner, the four sisters went to BJ's for dinner, we watched SYTYCD, held fussy teething toddlers and a VERY colicky baby and had such a nice time. She even cooked for me, let me nap, and did the dishes. I miss her already! This photo of her and B3 show his new personality. He is C-R-A-N-K-Y. We are trying to figure out if he is lactose intolerant like Berk was or if it is something else. Whew, all I know is feel free to drop by and relieve me of my holding duty, because my arms are toast. And yes, I have a sling, but that hurts my back and he still cries...

Rochelle, Robyn, Rhonda & I

My sisters and I with our "babies". Gabrielle is 11, Audrey and Talia are 1 and Brenner.

Oh, did you catch that my sister's names all start with an "R" and mine doesn't? Don't worry, I'm not bitter, and I don't feel left out. And there is NO correlation between that and my boys all having to have "B" names what so ever.

Ok, maybe a little, but that's a whole 'nother blog post.

Happy This and That...

So this really should have been a Happy father's Day post but it will be more a recap of the last week of madness here. My hubby Rusty has been off the charts amazing lately. Bless his heart, no matter how tired he is, he knows I am more tired, more fed up with kids and more stressed than ever, so he is always doing the least expected things for me. Plus he has crazy willpower. He has been working out like a fiend and has lost 30 pound in the last few weeks. Pretty sure if he looses any more, we will weigh the same and I will cry. A lot. And don't get me started on how he does the laundry and clean up the house every night. But he does and he does. Love you!

But anyways, last Saturday after Braden's dive meet (more on that later), we came home and he said, "we're gonna paint today." I have been wanting to put Braden and Berk together for months now, and since Baby B is coming WAY faster than I feel like I am ready for, I have been anxious to get this first step done. So, he spent all day Saturday priming, painting and -just for kicks- putting crown molding up, as well as molding around the window. To top that off, since I couldn't be around the fumes for too long - he did all the clean up, taping, sanding, sawing, ect ect. And as an added bonus we got the stripes painted in the kids bathroom as well. (Don't get me started on how flipping textured my walls are, or how bad the lines bleed, I might hit you.)

So Monday, I get a text from my friend Steph, who knows I have been hunting for bunk beds for AGES, and she tells me they have a super cute one, just like I want at Costco. So that night for family night, we hopped in the car, went to "just look" and wha-lah-- 4 hours later we have a new twin over full bunk bed, mattress and bedding for the boys room. I am kicking myself for not taking a picture of the disaster that happened in my house during the 90 minutes I was getting the mattress and bedding. But let's just say, it looked like my boys had quite a fun time with the 85 billion pieces of Styrofoam that came with the bed. It looked like it snowed in my house. In fact, a week later, some of it is still flying around...

(I really need to get a photo of the room once all the picutres are on the wall, but for now...)

Well, Monday's project resulted in a little Tuesday project. We had to take down the ceiling fan and get a standard light. We put a tower fan in the corner and it seems to keep it cool just fine. Poor Braden had to turn the fan off and push the blades aside to climb up to his bed. Thankfully, Berk is finally out of the crib and sleeping and napping in his very own bed!!! YEAH! Cross that off my list.

So later in the week Rusty mentions to me that he already has his Father's Day gift as well as our anniversary present. I am thinking, ok awesome! Since I had a few things already for Dad's Day I knew I needed one more thing or two and I'd be all set, but little did I know he had this up his sleeve... A Nikon D5000!

That's right, I am finally a card carrying member of the Big Girl's Camera club. In truth, the camera was my anniversary present (on the 30th- 9yrs!) and the accessories, lenses, case ect. were his presents. I am still speechless. I have secretly been coveting an SLR camera for ages, but never actually talked about my desire for one! He is the best. Now, if he will let me do more than just hold it. Because according to my slightly OCD hubby, I have to read the manual before I can use it. And frankly, since it does HD videos as well as photos the stinkin manual is like my old Art History textbook. So for now- Rusty is the shutterbug. And yes, he has read the manual.

Well, the camera came in handy the next day at Braden's third dive meet. It was the last regular season meet, Prelims and Finals are in a few weeks. They upped the required dives from 3 to 4 and it threw him for a loop- at the last minute he refused to do his 4th dive (a front flip tuck) and had a melt down. I think it may have had something to do with the kid that did a back flip and totally hit his head on the board- but that could just be me. Anyhow. At last weeks meet Braden did three dives. A front dive, an Inward dive and a back dive with a 1/2 twist. He rocked them all and ended up in 2nd place!

This week he did the same dives, and even with his low score on his "flip" attempt, he still walked away in 3rd place! We are so excited. He looks like a natural.

These are my favorite photos from last week, and then I am putting a slide show of video clips and the other pictures at the end. It is short, but he is crazy good. To think one month ago he didn't even know how to do the approach and now this...we love ya buddy! Can't wait to see how you do in finals! These two photos are of the same dive. His back dive w/ a 1/2 twist. I love that he looks like he's flying! So cool! I love the new camera!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com