Where in the world is our last bag?

Does any one want to take a guess? (Hint: Hong Kong)

I bet you are wondering how a checked bag goes from Louisville to Hong Kong, when it is supposed to go to Utah...

That's easy: First it stops in St.Paul, Minnesota, then it goes to Detroit, Michigan, then it hops a plane to China. Easy enough, right?

(Tracking is amazing these days, but I just want my bag back.)

I am sure that Mr. Green Bag is enjoying all this new found culture.

I miss you so.....

Merry Christmas!

All of the Christmas cards have been sent out!

And to my great surprise, we have run fresh out!

So here's a peak at what went in the mail this year.

We hope your Christmas is full of love and great cheer!

Coach Benson is Bald!

My brother-in-law, Coach Benson, had to have his head shaved.

Their having family pictures taken soon.

Good timing!

(tomorrow, tomorrow, I love ya, tomorrow, you're only a daaaaaaaaaaaaaay aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyy)

“The first time I tried organic wheat bread, I thought I was chewing on roofing material” - Robin Williams

Hello everyone this is Paul. I am not sure if I am allowed to post, but I am anyway. I have a sad, sad story to tell. You see, Kristen and I love to cook; But, neither of us are any good at following a recipe. I think that this may be the reason until now, we have really abstained from the delving deeply into the baking arena. This is no good though, seeing that we really are a bread family. We admire the artisan breads at Kroger (clearance, of course) as though we were in an a (delicious) art gallery, and really want to make our own.

So...a month ago I tried my hand at it. My loaf was much closer to a brick than bread. I even had a book that I had gotten at the library. Apparently, you can't proof your bread in the oven while it pre-heats to 350 degrees (something to do with the yeast being cooked into oblivion).

Flash forward a month or so and Kristen decided to try her hand at it. These bricks weren't as much her fault, as they were the fault of the vague recipe that she found on a blog.

Anyway, here is the challenge: We need someone to tell us how to make bread. We are trying to eat whole wheat, but half wheat/half white would work. Really, anything that won't resemble a brick when we pull it out of the oven. So all you master bakers out there, help!!

Not a lot of time....

T-minus 2 days!

This is a really funny ornament!

Christ centered Christmas

Look how cute this blog is.

Compromising

Our first Christmas together as a married couple, we had a big decision to make; what was our Christmas tree going to be like?

The battle:

Real Tree vs. Fake Tree

White Lights vs. Colored Lights

Paul wanted a real tree with colored lights.

Kristen wanted a fake tree with white lights.

Who would win?

Years 1 & 2: Real tree, white lights

Years 3-6: Fake tree, colored lights

Year 7 (current): Fake tree, colored lights, and white lights

We're having twins, twins, twins, twins!!

I'll be honest, it was really the chickens who had twins, but now we have them. My neighbor's grandpa-in-law owns a 20,000 chicken (egg) farm. These eggs here didn't make the cut, so my neighbor (I call her Santa Claus. More on that later.) brought them over.

Some eggs are big, some are small. Some are tall and skinny.

They remind me of people. We are all differently shaped on the outside, but inside, we are all people.All the big eggs are twinner eggs. I remember as a kid, a twinner egg was considered a great prize. Everyone would crowd around the pan to see the special egg with two yolks. Out of the 24 eggs that we have, 18 of them are twinners. Needless to say, we are eating a lot of eggs right now.
As for the Santa Claus part: My neighbor cleaned out her kids rooms while they were at school and brought over two huge piles of toys. They are currently locked up in the bathroom that is "broken". Merry Christmas, kiddos!

Pink. No Brown.

Cough
Cold
Cough
Cold
Stomach Virus
Stomach Virus
Cough
Cold
Cough
Cold
Ear Infection
Pink Eye
Ear Infection
Wait for it.....
Pink Eye

These kids do everything together lately. Ellie doesn't have conjunctivitis (as Paul makes me call it) yet, but the Doc gave us a refill because it's inevitable.

Mom: Dallin, we need to put these drops in your eye because you have pink eye.

Dallin: NO pink eye!!! BROWN EYE!!!

Mom: The white part of your eye is now pink.

Dallin: NO PINK!!! WHITE!!!

Kiddie Ornaments

No, my kids didn't have anything to do with the ornaments that I made this year. I am too controlling with some things. It's an issue that I have been working on. I now let Paul cut Dallin's hair, but I can not be in the same room. I used to cut it, but OCD is not a good mix with clippers and a 3 year old who won't sit still.

If you are a better mom than me, you will let your kids help.

Here are a couple fun ideas for your kids that I want to try with mine:

here

and here

Annual Christmas Ornament

Every year since Paul and I have been married, we make new ornaments for the tree. Some we don't get out any longer (like the painted glass balls and the popcorn strings, which, both, are self explanatory as to why they remain in storage). This year, we decided to keep going with the paper globe theme. To make smaller circles, I used a Cricut on loan from a friend to do the dirty work. We all love how they turned out.

Today, I found these cute little puppies that I might try, too.

Thanksgiving Feast-ivities

What a JOY it was to have Paul home Thursday through Sunday. I would take him home any day, really. This morning, I called him at work. He answered with his sexy I-am-getting-a-chest-cold voice. Sexy nonetheless. (My mom hates that word. Sexy, Mom. Sexy. I like to bug my mom sometimes.) I am off track now.

Sorry. Right. Where was I? Oh, yeah, Thanksgiving.

We woke up and cut veggies, made key lime pie, opened a can of cranberry jelly, and whipped some cream.

Despite Dallin's love for cooking, his love for eating what he cooks remains sparse. Our annual bread turkey relish tray.
Dallin's had a grand old time playing outside after the big feast.

Thanks, Mork family, for having us over to be part of your family for Thanksgiving.
We felt at home!

You might be shocked to find out ...

...that I didn't spend a single cent today. I didn't venture out on Black Friday. Nope. Nada. Zero. Zip. (Me? Not shop? Insane, right?) This year it will be a "Do we need it?" Christmas. (The only thing we need is food storage, so that's what we are getting.) Everything else will be handmade. Simplify is our new motto. We have been so blessed this year with Paul's job, our health (not including these horrible colds/coughs that stretch on forever), happy children, wonderful family and friends (I could keep naming all our blessings, but it would get long) that we have decided to simplify things. Including: canceling Satellite TV (gulp), saying goodbye to our DVR (double gulp), bye-bye faster Internet, sianara caller ID (I won't be answering my home phone any longer ;). It's all just a matter of setting the final date (which we have, but avoid talking about) and DOING IT. That will be the hardest part.

Even in Australia

Some days, I lock myself in the bathroom with my laptop (seat down). While my kids sit just on the other side banging on the door and screaming. I sit (seat down) and scroll through my emails and look at blogs and BREATH! Because some days are terrible, horrible, no good, very bad, and mommy needs to BREATH...even in Australia. And sometimes, the seat is up.

And that's the truth.

He wins my "Best Father-in-Law" award

All about Ellie

What a perfect time to do a tag about my little birthday girl! What a JOY and a BLESSING she has been in our lives. We thank Heavenly Father every day for Ellie and her sweet spirit. She came into our lives during a hard time in our little family (Dallin/speech) and I honestly thought to myself, "Did we make the right decision by having another baby so soon?" But we all know that babies come when they are supposed to, and Ellie knew right where she was needed. I am so glad that she chose to be in our forever family at the right time.

Tagged by cousin Emmi-licious

Name and Meaning: Elizabeth (maternal-maternal great grandmother) June (paternal-paternal great grandmother)

Nicknames: Ellie, Lulu (after her maternal-paternal great grandmother), Lulu.loly.pants, Luly, Elsie-boo

Age: 1 year and 3 days

Favorite Activities: Singing, dancing, eating, patty-cake, itsy-bitsy spider, making kissy face

Favorite Foods: Guacamole, and everything else. This girl will eat anything.

Least Favorite foods: Not a huge fan of juice

Favorite Music: Ellie loves any kind of beat and starts to sway when there is one around.

Favorite Toys: She loves to play with Dallin's toys and it makes him really mad!

Favorite Books: Any interactive book, where she can push buttons or feel textures. Nubby Pup is one of her faves.

Favorite Item of Clothing: She LOVES her new coat, with the hood on especially. She won't keep any other hood on.

What Makes her Happy: Dallin, Food, DADDY (so far he's the fave with both kids, which I am fine with), when Daddy gets home and I had better make her happy ;).

What Makes her sad: Being sick (will this cold ever go away?), being in her highchair without any food, when Dallin won't share his toys.

Funny words or phrases: She says Hi, Dadda, Momma, Dah (I think this is for Dallin), Hi Dad, and the other day, I showed her some food and she said, "YEAH!" Can you tell she likes to eat?

Ellie tags... your baby (really, I am too lazy to think up a bunch of people, but I know that A LOT of you have Onsie babies, so do it, okay?)

Can't wait

to get the real thing back!

I think that he would win the "cutest school picture" award.

Proud? Yes.

Bias? YES!

I have ordered about 2000 copies so you can all have one.

They fed all the kids waffle sticks and SYRUP for breakfast that morning. I always know when they have done this. Not by the menu on my fridge, but by the string of sticky goo running down his shirt when he gets home from school. Picture day morning was no different. I told the teacher's assistant to fuss over him like I would, before his picture. So when she saw the fake-maple dribbles slithering down his shirt, she went into "mommy mode".

Taking the top shirt off.

Rinsing the stains.

Waving it in the air.

Putting it up to the window for the suns help.

It was time to go and the shirt was not dry.

(Are you feeling the suspense? I am.)

"Go to the next class!" She told the camera man.

She tried to get Dallin to just wear his undershirt for the picture.

No go!

It was now or never!

The picture was taken.

(You can breath now.)

I don't even know if you can see the stain, but I don't even care. His face makes up for it all.

Thank you, Mrs. TA, for your heroic effort! You are applauded by all!

What your name?

Dallin, what's your name?

Daw-in Ewt Gunk-in

What's Dad's name?

Daddy Gunk-in

What's Mommy's name?

Mommy Gunk-in

What's Ellie's name?

Wu-wu Gunk-in

{so cute-we're changing our last name}

ONE

He's the man

My friend Traci showed me this video today. I laughed out loud every three seconds! It has a PG-13 part, so cover the little ears.

Christmas Pizza

"Mommy? Make pizza, home. Pepperoni."

He has a French-Austrian-Spanish accent when he talks.

I had just got him out of prison (aka his bedroom, to him, it was a death sentence) for being bad. He was sobbing. I felt bad.

"Of course we can make pizza!"

He has this quiet little squeaky voice after he's been REALLY upset.

It's REALLY cute!

The voice, not the tantrum.

I couldn't resist.

Christmas Pizza

bread

ketchup (or pizza sauce)

shredded cheese

pepperoni

cookie cutters

Toast under the broiler, set on high, but watch it carefully!

These will be ready in about 30 seconds, flat!

smartfull=full of smarts

Our little 3.5 year old sat still for 10 whole minutes, painstakingly writing these 1/2 inch letters.

Each one progressively getting sloppier as his OCD towards staying in the lines drove him near mad ;). (He doesn't really have OCD, I am only joking)

We have really tried hard to foster his love of letters.

We are over joyed and grateful for the alphabet in our lives.

We noticed a significant improvement in Dallin's speech when he learned his letters and their sounds. Letter Factory is one of his favorite movies.
The kid has more foam letter "toys" than real toys.

Hooray for letters! Hooray for smartfull Dallin!

faithfull=full of faith

In high school one day, I walked down the hall and saw sitting on a bench, a girl. She was sitting half way on top of a boy. I said something to her like, "get a room". We have been fast friends ever since. Jill-of-all-blogs was her name, but you can call her Tashina.

She has so much faith in the face of trial and I am grateful for her example to me for this faith. She has really long blond, or brown, or red hair (what color is your hair these days?). She has a really bright smile, but you might not see it with the camera covering her face.

Do you see now why I call her the Jill-of-all-blogs? Or Jackie-of-all-trades would do, too. Thanks for your great example of faith, hard work and determination, girly-pooh.

And I am sorry for making fun of you almost 12(?) years ago.

Eggnog Fondue for Two

It's Sunday night. That means it's dessert time. Put the kids to bed and snuggle up with your sweetie because, baby, it's cold outside! Eggnog Fondue

Scant 1/2 cup (about 1/4 c + 1/8 c) eggnog

1 1/2 tablespoon butter

3/4 cup chocolate chips (or white chocolate chips)

1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

1/16-1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

In a saucepan heat the eggnog over medium heat almost to the boiling point, whisking constantly. Do not allow to boil. Remove the saucepan from heat, turn heat down to low. Add the chocolate and the butter to the eggnog. Stir until chocolate and butter are completely melted, returning to low heat if necessary. Stir in cinnamon and nutmeg. Serve fondue immediately with bananas, marshmallows, graham crackers, sponge cake, pretzels, whatever suits your fancy.

Photo Shoot

Diva baby helped me with a photo shoot today.

My friend, Sara Frisby, (okay, that's not her last name anymore, but I've known her since I was a wee lass and I am still on my childhood memories kick) made this dress out of a vintage pillow case.

We wanted to show her, and you, that it is not only cute alone, but cute on!

Notice her shoes, made by Sara as well.

It's adorable with a shirt underneath, as well, but once we got that far into the snap shots, Diva Baby was D.O.N.E. for the day.

She said something about child labor laws.

Thanks again, Sara!

My video entry

Paul was so kind to help me make a video entry for the quilt(s) that I want to win. This was not rehearsed nor did I have a clue what he would say. I wanted to post it here so that you can get an idea of how well Dallin is doing with his speech. He can repeat most words in the video intelligibly! He is doing really well with three word sentences now, too.

Risking it all...

I let Dallin play with the camera (gulp, don't tell his Dad, please).

Watching him walk around the kitchen, taking well thought out snap shots, I realized how much I take a lot of pictures of nothing (and a lot of pictures of something, too, I hope).

Ellie and the wall. I love this effect.

Self portrait.

He took a picture of the chair (which will find a new home in a couple of days, WAHOO), but I think he was really trying to get a picture of my sweet outfit. I never wear clothes that match when I am at home.

The exercise ball. Entertainment for the kids. Calorie burning for the mom.

This one is my favorite! I love a snotty nose and a silly hat!

He's a child prodigy, you know?

h2o

This post (by fantabulous Gina) is going to make me get in my car and drive to Kroger to get more water. {Deer Park 3 liter bottles: $.50 when you buy 10}

Because it doesn't matter where you live, you (we, I) need to get your (our, my) food storage in order. Paul (Mr. Food Science Man) says that these don't store the best, but it is better than our current water storage (refilling soda bottles with h2o).

(I think I have used up my limit for parathesis.)

Grateful:Full of Great

I am grateful for the Priesthood in my home and in my church. This past week, it has been used and appreciated a grundle! Blessings where given by Paul to me, Dallin, and Ellie this week. And then again, to Ellie, with the help of Bro. Wheeler, at the really-expensive-late-at-night-instacare, aka the E.R. department. Thanks to Bro. Wheeler for making the rounds to a couple of families in the ward that night. Thanks for your prayers, too. Sometimes I feel that we are so undeserving of all of your love! To put it simply: You rock!

Now, the next item of business:

I want you all to gather all your faith, love, and prayers for little Beckham.

He needs to feel your love, too.

(I went to high school with Beckham's mom)

No chocolate left

Dear sugary confections of the non-chocolate* variety,

You are all that is left. Are you sad? Do you feel neglected and unwanted? Or are you glad that you are still alive? Does this prolonging of your life bring you joy?

Sincerely concerned,

Chocoholics

*I'm sorry Tootsie Pop, you don't count as chocolate

Old Red Barn Co. Quilts

See us? We are so cute! And maybe we are easier to win than to make, because we all know that Kristen struggles in the quilt making department (Kristen won't link to this reference due to her embarrassment).

You can win me

or me

or me

Aren't we so pretty all together, frolicking in the fall leaves?

And see our picture on Kristen's sidebar? I think she really wants to win.

Lola giveaway

...click on this picture for more blog awesomeness...

can you tell what I am doing in between diapers? hopefully things will get back to normal soon!

free snapfish book

...too busy cleaning up the other-other kind of pooh to do a whole post, so here's a link that explains it all....

ode to my childhood - kristen

We always had banana chairs growing up (or "video game" chairs if you want to get technical). They were the coveted spot. Right in front of the television.

If you had to get up to go to the bathroom, or make graham crackers with frosting on it, a "nicky-nicky-knack, I get my place back" would have to come out of your mouth. If not, your banana chair would be stolen.

You have to say it once out of your chair and before another bum hit your seat. We had certain tricks for getting the unsuspecting banana-seater out of their place, too.

The most common one would be my Dad across the room with the phone in his hands. The phone's for you, he would say... ahem, lie. The would-be victim would get up to get the phone and YOINK, there goes your spot. The worst part? No one was ever on the phone. We fell for it every time. This tactic is still used in my parents' home (and in uncles and aunts homes every where) whenever a seat is desired.

We would turn banana chairs over and climb on them and underneath them. These highly sought after chairs would soon become worn, with holes in the back from all the king-of-the-mountain feats.

Then Christmas would come and shiny new banana chairs would greet us as we descended down the stairs to see what Santa brought us that year.

Mr. Jolley-ho-ho-man doesn't bring them to my parents house any longer now that all of us kids have grown and gone (sort of).

However, now you will find these old, loved, worn chairs at the edge of my parents stairs, doing their duty, as incognito baby gates.

Let's talk about the other kind of Pooh now

I'm a sucker for giveaways!

I think anyone is! Instead of doing laundry, like I mentioned below, I am surfing the blogs.

I have a fabric designer's blog obsession that no one knows about. Whenever I find a new one, it automatically goes in my Google Reader. I have so many I can't even count. So, you better believe that I am throwing this one in the mix! camille roskelley--- I think I covet too much.

And---she's having a giveaway! Go check it out!

Shout out!

It's shout out time!

A shout out to the folks at Pedialyte for freezing their life-saving liquid into popsicles so that my kids will drink something besides pop (Dallin) or milk* (Ellie) when they are sick. *dairy makes the stomach cramp

A shout out to my washer and dryer. The 10 loads of "sick" laundry staring at me is making me scared.

A shout out to Saltines.

A shout out to my faithful toilets that have been flushed 50+ times in the last 48 hours.

A shout out to Julie, who took Dallin while we took Ellie to the hospital.

A shout out to Ali (Julie's daughter) who cleaned up Dallin's throw up.

And the biggest shout out of all is to my hero, Paul, who has taken care of all three of his sickies, who is trying to ignore that fact that he is getting sick now, too! (it's all in your head, babe, it will go away if you believe that it's all in your head!)

Some things take time...

A long time ago, I was asked for recipes. A long time ago. Sorry!

Here they are. We don’t use recipe a whole lot, and if we do, we never measure. Here are some guesstimates of what we did:

Ravioli Soup

3 cups chicken stock (or 3 cups water+3 chicken bullion cubes)
½ package frozen ravioli (or tortellini)
½ an onion, chopped
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 can green beans, drained
1 can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 can diced tomatoes (with the juice)
Spinach (I never measure this one, maybe a handful)
Salt and pepper to taste
Parmesan Cheese

Bring chicken stock, onion, and dried basil to a boil. Add frozen ravioli and boil for three minutes (or according to the package directions). Add green beans, kidney beans, tomatoes, and spinach. Warm these ingredients through. Salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with Parmesan cheese.

paul's tomato crustless quiche

Extra Virgin Olive oil (couple tablespoons??)
Potato
Tomatoes
Eggs (maybe 6??)
Milk (a couple tablespoons??)
Basil (a teaspoon??)
Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Heat your cast iron skillet (or oven proof pan) on the stove top. Drizzle skillet with extra virgin olive oil. Slice the potato thinly, about a ¼ inch thick and layer in the bottom of the skillet. Whisk eggs, milk, basil and salt and pepper in a bowl (just like you were making scrambled eggs. Pour egg mixture over the potatoes (add more eggs if it looks like you need more., the quiche was only about an inch thick) and layer sliced tomatoes on top. Move skillet to the oven and bake until eggs are firm (not sure how long, sorry).

dirty-dirty chocolate-coconut cupcake

Your favorite chocolate cupcake
Coconut flakes
Chocolate frosting

my chocolate frosting recipe:
1/3 cup butter, softened
3 cups powdered sugar
1 ½ tsp vanilla
2-4 tbl milk
2-4 tbl cocoa powder (I don’t measure, I just dump)

Make chocolate cupcakes (I used devil’s food mix).
Beat frosting ingredients together to make thick, yummy goodness.
Toast coconut in a pan or in the oven.
Frost cupcakes.
Roll frosted cupcakes in toasted coconut.

German Pancakes (via Mom via Janet White)

1 cup milk
1 cup flour
6 eggs
½ sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ cube butter or margarine

Melt butter in 9x13 Pyrex pan. Mix the rest of the ingredient in the blender. Pour into the pan and bake at 400 degrees for 20 to 30 minutes. Serve with syrup or sprinkle with powdered sugar (I like both BOTH).

It's inside!

Pulling up in the driveway, late at night, our headlights catch the shadows of our Subaru already parked in the driveway. Putting the car into park, we both open our doors to unload the sleeping children in the back. Then the shadows move! I jump back into the safe car and slam the door. Brave Paul stays out of the car to further inspect.

"It's a raccoon!" He whisper-yells to me, "Where's the camera?!"

"Inside," I whisper-yell back.

"A raccoon!! Where's the camera?!?!" Paul, again, whisper-yelling as I watch the monster with black beady eyes and rabie-like teeth pounce around in the car in front of me.

"Inside!" This whisper-yelling is getting old.

"A raccoon! Where is the camera????!!!!"

"Inside!"

"A raccoon! Where is the camera????!!!!"

"Inside!"

"A raccoon! Where is the camera????!!!!"

"Inside!"

"A raccoon! Where is the camera????!!!!"

"Inside!"

"A raccoon! Where is the camera????!!!!"

"Inside!"

You get the point. By this time, the raccoon had gotten sick of all the whisper-yelling as well and exited the vehicle, departing from our presence in search of some other unsuspecting mode of transportation.

Here's the translation of our whisper-yelling confusion: It's hard to inflect a lot of emotion into a whisper-yell sometimes.

In Paul's head, "There is a raccoon INSIDE the car, will you please tell me where the camera is?"

In Kristen's head, "The camera is INSIDE the house. Go get it, already! I am not getting out of this car!!"

The moral of the story: You don't get a picture of the raccoon because it's really hard to whisper-yell! But our kids stayed asleep.

Daddy's Homecoming

That's the real title.

I'm so glad when Daddy comes home! At the end of a long, hard day, we all are!

kitchen wallflower

Poor blank, empty wall cried for two years, wanting some company.

Now she has some.

Idea via Family Fun Magazine.I wish I liked the color yellow, these stripes are amazing. Alas...

I hope kitchen wall loves me still when I paint her green.

picnik.com

How do you go from this To this?
Without Photoshop or Picasa?

Picnik

to quote my "source" via Kim ala Karen, YUMMY!

"Dirty Trick" water

Paul curses me and his mother during the Holidays. His mom taught me how to play this Dirty Trick.

"Oh! Smells GREAT!.....{after a long day at work, Paul walks into the kitchen}......Curse you and my mother!! What a dirty trick!"

He thinks I bake! he he he

The Dirty Trick Water Culprits:

water

cinnamon

cloves

ginger

nutmeg

oranges

apples

{any of the above can be used or not used, fresh or dry--except the water, of course, always use the water}

I have a BIG bottle of cinnamon from my mom's cupboard, circa 1994 (I swear!) reserved just for this purpose.

I wasn't baking. I was cutting paper. And stapling instead of gluing.
I like short cuts. And the way these slowly twirl in the air.

My house smells yummy and it's starting to feel a lot like Christmas.
At least inside it is.