Easter Dinner

I hosted a small Easter dinner. For the centerpiece, I walked through my neighborhood and gathered everything except the daffodil, which I cut from my own garden. On each place setting there was a small nest. I made coconut macaroons, shaped them in nests, baked them, then as they were cooling I put a small dollop of melted chocolate followed by three mini Cadbury eggs. They turned out really well.

For the meal we served salad, followed by fish breaded with pistachio and cornmeal accompanied by roasted sweet potatoes and asparagus, and hot cross buns. For dessert we had a fantastic Heavenly Lemon Chiffon Cake.  Lovely day!

California Pulls Through

Jeremy and I have been on several California vacations over the past several years, most of which have included rain or cold weather. It has been crossed off my vacation list several times. However, since we live in Utah, California is a very convenient place to vacation. We waited till we could see the 10 day forecast to book our vacation rental. It looked great! We booked a small cottage 3 houses off Mission Beach. By the time we got there, the forecast had changed and the first couple days were rainy on and off. The bonus: I discovered a new favorite TV show "Chopped" (we don't have cable at home). The highlight of the trip was probably just being able to go everywhere without driving. For the first 4 days we left the car parked. It was so pleasant. Next time I think we would rent bikes for the entire week.

Things I loved: biking around Mission Bay, walking up the boardwalk to breakfast, sailing in the bay, not having to bundle Ethan up, biking on the boardwalk, sitting on the grass with Jeremy and Ethan, watching Ethan point out every airplane overhead, Jeremy's zen mode while sailing on the "America" (a replica of the original yacht the America's Cup was named after), Seal Beach (who knew the moms and pups would be so affectionate) and the very best fish tacos from a teeny, tiny place in La Jolla, Oscars. All and all a great trip!

Happy Valentines Day!

Happy Halloween

Ethan was a rabbit, Jeremy was a magician and I was his assistant. I will have a picture up of all of us soon (I need to get it from a friend).

An Apple a Day?

I love caramel apples (with chocolate). I decided this was the year to make them. I found a great recipe for caramel, melted 60% cocoa Ghiradelli chocolate chips and had plenty of pecans, almonds and coconut to sprinkle them with. I will be making these again at Christmas, I will begin taking orders on Black Friday.

Summer Shower

One of my best friends is expecting a baby! I am so excited for her, it has been a very long wait. I am also excited for me because our boys will be less than a year apart in age. I threw a shower for her last month. I love to plan a party and think the details through from the time I send the invitation out. So here is what I did. She is an avid reader, and a budding author so I went with a book theme. I titled the invitations "The End...of a very long wait". Then I kept a book theme going through the whole shower. I was so busy that I did not get pictures, but I had her sister taking pictures, so hopefully I will get some to post soon. For the activity, I created a children's literature jeopardy. I divided the group in two and then Brooke was her own team. When was the last time you thought about Corduroy, Amelia Bedelia, the Berenstein Bears and Frog and Toad? After the game, I served "paper-thin" crepes that I stacked to look like 3 open books on the table. I then had all the toppings with names from books or like books ie: Nutcrackers Nutella, James' Giant peaches, Anna's Bananas, Little Miss Muffet's Lemon Curd etc...For the favor, I gave Cat in the Hat bookmark with a little quote that I like from Dr. Suess. Then of course it was so fun to watch her open all the thoughtful gifts that her friends gave. It was nice to get my creative juices going and use my event planning part of my brain.

Terrorized

Ethan can now move everywhere. He is getting faster every day. We have childproofed fairly well, so for us it has been fun to watch him move around and be able to go where he would like. Then there is Beau, our dog, he is terrorized by Ethan's mobility. The moment he sees Ethan coming he moves, he tries to hide behind me or hop up on the couch. Gone are his lazy days of laying on the rug relaxing the day away. The only part of childproofing that I still need to figure out is the dog dishes. If you look closely at the picture below you will notice that Ethan has tipped the dish over and is having a great time playing in the water. He looks so innocent, what is so terrorizing? 

Disclaimer: Ethan has not even pulled his tail yet, Beau must have had poor experiences with kids in his past. Ethan loves Beau and most of the time just watches him with fascination, although he does want to touch his paws and pet him. If only Beau would like to play with Ethan.