Utah Trip

We were really excited to visit Utah last week! We got to see kelly's cute baby Ollie, and see tracy b/f she left to Germany for the summer (to follow tracy's adventures in germany, click on her link on the right collumn of my blog) SOO nice to be back in the mountains! Out here I often feel the opposite of claustrophobia with the complete lack of the mountains! I loved:

• Running up the canyon

• My walk on the trail on BYU camps,
• Smelling the plum trees that were in blossoms!!!
• Eating Zupas, Los Hermanos, Brick oven and "Bens Cookies"

• Gardner village with "the girls" (and ollie)

• hangin' out in parents back yard and family BBQ

Millie Loved:

Feeding ducks at gardner village

playing in the dirt

• being spoiled by grandma (who lets her do most things she wants to do, like playing in the stream at garnder v.)

Animals at the zoo (but was often upset that she couldn't climb into the cages with the animals)

She warmed up to ollie after a while, but one time she got really mad at him for no reason and shook her finger and him and yelled "no way, no way!"

Thanks fam for a great trip!

Happy Birthday Grandpa C.

Happy Birthday Grandpa! Sorry we couldn't be there but hope it's a good one!

(As you can see millie worked really hard on the sign- p.s. notice the pig tails?)

What we love these days...

Our weather is mostly 70's and 80's now but we still have a few cold days and lots of rainy days! Mill loves her rain puddles, her quick little legs always make a B-line for the big muddy puddle that collects at the end of the driveway. We've had to change many outfits from the times we weren't on the ball enough to get to her before she got to the puddle... these cute rain boots have helped with that problem She loves to just wander around in her rain boots, always carying around a little doll, and loves to wear hats...

Below: Josh's birthday was last week and we splurged on this ice cream cake. I must admit, I felt the same way about it as millie did, it just really hit the spot. Mill would get SOO excited when we'd pull out the cake. Josh was cutting the cake and millie was on a chair next to the counter, and we look down and there she was, face in cake. Guess she just couldn't wait any longer!

Photo Tag

So my sis. Kelly tagged me for this Terrible post- Apparently whoever i tag is supposed to take pics of the below things exactly as they are...no cheating and cleaning up. (this is embarassing)

my closet

Favorite shoes

oh, these shoes are just so great. Every year I say it'll be the last I wear these shoes, but I just can't throw them away. Just look at em', can ya blame me?

Laundry room

yes, it really is this digustng.

Our Bathroom

Favorite room

Love this antique highchair I found at a garrage sale (they have excellent garage sales here!)


Kitchen Sink

Fridge

What Kid(s) are doing now

you guessed it, watching a "show" (and eating a doll)

Self Portrait

I was obviously just doing this one to be dumb but wasn't really going to use it and then josh peeped around the corner (see him in the back ground?) and i thought that made it funny. can you do this with your lips? It really is a special talent i think.

***I Tag Melanie, Megan, Roseanne, Jami, and Both Jennas (Jenna R. and Jenna J.)

And now I'm an Asian...

I read on a friends blog about this site where you can find your celeb. Doppelganger (look alike). Hers worked out really well and it chose an accurate look alike. Several years ago (back when I used to shower, and do my hair and make-up) LOTS of people told me I looked like Kate Bosworth. So, I went to this sight http://celebrity.myheritage.com/FP/Company/try-face-recognition.php uploaded my photo and prepaired/hoped to be flattered... But no such luck, the results... I'm an Asian, Sammy Cheng.

I entered in a different photo but didn't realize I'd accidently checked the box saying that I was a male. So, my male look alike, Clarke Gable. Tell me it's not true!! sad : (

Spring Break

We kinda had to multi-task for Josh's spring break this year. He had to go to a Dr. apt. in Indianapolis (about the running injury he's been having) so we decided to make a little trip of it. Besides Millie taking 3 hours to go to sleep each night and waking up 3-5 times during the night we had alot of fun!

We stopped in Nashville on our way up to meet some friends at a DELICIOUS place called the Pancake Pantry. I got pecan pancakes with cinnamon syrup and josh got sweet potatoe pancakes with carmel syrup. Try it if you're in the area.

We love chocolate (naturally) so we looked up some places and heard about a store/factory called, "The Best Chocolate in Town" it was SO AMAZING! they had a cute little shop where you could watch the confectioners making truffels, and they had amazing flavors like: Asian spice, wasabi ginger, cinnamon basil, amaretto, malt ball, cheesecake, and even one with gouda cheese. I got the Cinnamon basil and had to savor every bite- strange combination but tasted just like christmas would taste if it were a flavor!

Next we hit a local toy store. A place I would have gone nuts over when I was a kid! all the nice toy brands like kathe kruse (german toy maker) and those bears that stephanie from full house had etc. (Kelly- you would have DIED.) oh to have a store like that near me... We had to pick up this amazing little guy for millie (made out of material like a ball, so he's bouncy and fun) I couldn't resist this kathe kruse tooth fairy doll. (I use to collect dolls when I was little, I think i'll take it up again!)



We had to hit the local spaghetti fac.- I have a goal of visiting ALL locations. (love their creamy pest, vinagrette, and spamoni!)
We also went shoping at H&M. Lucky me because Josh is always encouraging me to get what ever I want and to go shopping etc? (crazy huh?)

Indy has a GREAT childrens museam that just happened to be free the afternoon that we visited it. Millie of course didn't want to leave... neither did I for that matter. 4 LARGE levels of different exibits.

we couldn't get millie away from the dino exibit! must get that from Grandpa C.

Ceeling in the basement was filled with different blown glass containers- you could lay back on this revolving chair thing and gaze.

lod chong

Any one up for some Lod Chong? Looks Nasty huh? This was a dessert Josh loved on his mission in Thailand. He tried several times to make it but just couldn't get the noodles to solidify... poor guy. In the end, we just bought a mix to make them. Despite the fact that they look like worms (and have the texture of worms, ha ha) it was good!! Of course Millie loved it- anything "noodle" is fine by her. We just thought the picture was funny because it looks like we are feeding our child slugs!)

follow up

A couple people wanted the Magelby's syrup recipe so I just decided to post it

1 stick butter/marg.

1 c. sugar

1/2 c. buttermilk (or i use this substitute: 1/2 c. milk mixed with 1/2 T. vinigar or lemmon-

let sit 1 min.)

1 T. Karo syrup

1 T. vanilla

1/2 tsp. baking soda

combine all ingredients except baking soda, bring just to a boil. Remove from heat and add baking soda and stir stir stir! serves 6-8

A couple people also wondered about the fortune cookies. Below is the link to the directions on Martha stewart.com

http://www.marthastewart.com/goodthings/felt-fortune-cookie

(only thing I changed was I used hot glue for some of the cookies, the fabric glue just wasn't holding super well.)

24/7 show baby

Millie LOVES show's! I was sick for a while so I just pretty much let her watch shows whenever. Now I'm dealing with the after effects- T.V. adiction! As soon as she comes down in the morning she runs to the T.V. pointing and saying "Show! Show! (But seriously, my sickness/laziness aside: it's so cold outside, our toys are boring, we have no indoor pools or pet stores so what's a girls to do to stay occupied durring the day?) Here's a video of her a couple weeks ago (you don't need to watch the last 30 or so seconds, it's just nothingness)

Evan L.

I know this is old news in the way of the olympics but I just think this guy is so great. I think figure skating (despite many of the akward people involved in it) is my sport of choice during the winter olympics. I didn't like Evan at first, when in his mini-documantary aired during figure skating coverage, he sat there all sullen, and claimed to work harder than anyone else (that REALLY annoys me when people claim that) BUT after watching him state I could see how maybe it was true! I know some are upset about the Russian guy who is the only one who can do a quad-whatever but if you've seen them skate there is no argument who's skating and form and pretty much any movement made, has more "beauty" !!! I began to love how evan tries to play the bad dude, walking around in his big black boots like he's patric swayze from dirty dancing; but inside I think he really is just a nice guy! Again manifest by his quadrouple arm pumps right after his gold medal performance- not afraid to show his excitement about his work. For him it seemed like whether or not he got the gold was kinda beside the point, he had a great performance, and he was excited about it and wasn't afraid to show it! Way to GO E.L. (in my oppinion: Dick Button's goin' down!)

My first Tart!

I had a very, very delicious tart in sweeden this summer. I've been wanting to try and make it so I thought Valentines would be a good time to try. I broke down and invested in a tart pan, although I looked for mini tart pans but could not find them- anyone seen any? I made homeaid crust, covered with a thin layer of Milk chocolate, thin layer of custart, topped with cream, and strawberries. I also spread a thin glaze of pectin (knox jellatin) over the top. Not sure if glaze makes it look better or not?? sorry I'm not the best food photographer.

Top tart with out glaze... bottom tart with glaze

We made these cute topiaries at enrichment- the top is just felt circles

I made these for josh (marthastewart.com) & filled them with little love notes. Super easy to make & turn out really cute (just glue a floral wire inside a felt circle and then fill and glue shut)

Heart pancakes for breakfast with Maglby's buttermilk syrup (which by the way freezes fine and even re-develops it's froth when re-heated on the stove!!!) Candy boquet for Josh- despite what Millie thinks. I guess girls loving chocolate is inborn, she seems to know what it is even though she has RARELY even had chocolate... she even said chocolate the other day (of course it's her "own version" of the word chocolate)

Millie's mini arm chair that she got for Valentines. I hope to make a little reading nook for her over by our big book shelves some day ( It has helped us keep her face more than 3 inches from the Television. )
Hope you had a Happy Valentines!

First Nephew! (first BLOOD Nephew)

Millie Finally has a cousin on my side! My older sis. Kelly had a baby a couple weeks ago. She named him Oliver... and he is soooo cute! I'm feeling left out because everyone else in my family is in Utah and is able to see him but I won't be able to see him for a while :(

What a cutie huh?

"A really dangerous weather situation"...

Last week the weather man told us we were going to have "A really dangerous weather situation"... Usually this means, literally, a few snow flakes falling from the sky after which all businesses and schools shut down and grocery store shelves are bare because everyone runs out to stock up on provisions. But this one really did end up being kindof a dangerous snow situation. It was raining with temp around 20, so when the sun came up that next morning it sure was pretty, everything was covered in ice... sun glittering through.