Two Wheelin'

I took Brynlee's training wheels off of her bike two days ago and off she went. I held onto the back of her seat from our driveway to our neighbor's driveway and then let go and that was the end of my running! Now all she wants to do is ride her bike from the moment she's done with breakfast until it's time to come in for dinner....with little breaks for lunch and preschool :)

Mr. T

Our little man is 4 months old!!

Such big blue eyes!!

He's at the stage where everything that he is holding on to goes into his mouth. In this case, he kept grabbing his shirt, as you can see in the pictures below, which makes for a very WET shirt!

All the other kids wanted in on the picture taking fun.

He also likes to suck on his tongue. He makes the funniest noises and it keeps him happy!

Bertolli Frozen Dinners

A couple weeks ago Smith's had these on sale for $4.99 plus I had a coupon for $2.50 off. They are really yummy! It says "Dinner for Two" on the package but we fed our whole family plus there was a serving of leftovers....not that our kids ate a ton of it but still definitely serves more than two, especially if you add breadsticks or french bread and vegetables to complete the meal. It only takes 10-15 minutes to cook over the stove and voila...a cheap, yummy dinner is served. I forgot to post about them last week when they were on sale but I noticed they are on sale again this week. Here's the link for the coupon.

Emily Paige Quinn

Here is my newest niece, Emily Paige Quinn, with her big brother, Andrew. She was born April 8th and was 8 lbs. 15 oz. Congrats, Amy and Jake, on your beautiful baby girl! We can't wait to see her in person in June!

One Tired Boy

As I was finishing my last post, I turned around and saw this...

So I grabbed my camera and snapped a picture. Yes, he is asleep. I could seriously have a whole scrapbook of pictures of my kids falling asleep in the strangest locations/positions. Then 5 seconds later, he fell over on the floor...still asleep...

Burn, Baby, Burn

Here was the not so fun part of Baby Animal Day. Since it had snowed 3 days before, I didn't think about sunscreen....fyi, this happens every year and you would think I would learn. The kids were in long sleeves and hats so they didn't get burned but since it was forecasted to be a nice day, I left my jacket at home. I guess that's what you get when your pasty white, fair skin that hasn't seen the sun in six months gets a little dose of sunshine!

Baby Animal Day at the American West Heritage Center

On Saturday we went to Baby Animal Day. Grandma and Grandpa Barton joined us along with Cheryl and Christie and their boys. The kids had lots of fun seeing all the baby animals, going on pony and wagon rides and of course the candy cannon!

Make a slideshow - it's easy!

2.3 MILES

For those of you who don't know, I am NOT a runner or even a jogger. I am a walker. I love to walk for exercise and go 3 miles when the weather is nice outside. This is a pretty good workout if I keep up the pace, while pushing two kids in my double jogger. Lately, though, I've been pushing myself to run...okay, I'll call it a jog. The most I've been able to jog on the treadmill is about 2 minutes...I know, wimpy, but I really don't like to jog. On Thursday night, I decided I was going to walk 4 minutes/jog 6 minutes repeating the pattern for 60 minutes on the treadmill. And I did it! Then I did about 20 minutes of abs, arms, and leg work. A little suggestion...do not start this routine at 9:20 p.m. You'll be wide awake, laying in bed until 1:00 a.m. But boy did I feel goooood...my legs weren't feeling so great the next morning as I tried to get out of bed but it was a good pain! So tonight I needed to get a quick workout in so when we got home from a little BBQing at the inlaws, I decided to go for it. I went along my walking route, cutting out a little bit since it was getting dark, and then when I got home, I mapped my route on Google maps to see how far I had gone...2.3 miles! And I jogged the WHOLE way! Yeah, I'm pretty proud of myself. I think the farthest I've ever run without stopping was a mile back in high school. Top of Utah Marathon, here I come...okay, maybe that's a little ambitious. I'll try for a 5K first.

A funny little story about my jog tonight. I was passing some people walking their dog and the dog started barking at me. The owner said "Hey, knock that off. You don't bark at joggers. They are good people" That pretty much made my day...and it was right at the point when I really felt like walking, but instead I picked up the pace because hey, I'm a jogger now.

Tummy Time!

Trevor is not a huge fan of tummy time. He'll last about five minutes and then the frustration begins. After all, how would you like holding up this noggin?! It's in the 90th percentile while the rest of him is in the 50th...well, those were the 2 months stats. He's almost 4 months so we'll see if the rest of him is catching up to his head...I wouldn't doubt it if his weight is...the little hunk a chunk!

Towards the end, I couldn't even get a picture fast enough. By the time he lifted his head and I snapped the picture, he was already in face plant position!

No-Knead Bread

This recipe is originally from the New York Times (or watch the video), but I found it through my sister's friend Christy. The most difficult part is how sticky it is, but really takes very little time other than a bit of planning ahead. I haven't tried mixing anything in it yet, but I plan to - maybe some garlic or sunflower seeds. I bake it inside a 12" Dutch Oven, but it would probably fit in a 10" one pretty easily. I'd add a picture of it cut up, but once it is cut, it does not last long enough to get a picture.



No-Knead Bread
Adapted from Jim Lahey, Sullivan Street Bakery
Time: About 1 1/2 hours plus 14 to 20 hours' rising

3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting
1/4 teaspoon instant yeast
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed.

1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.
2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.
3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.
4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.

Yield: One 1 1/2-pound loaf.

Green Drink....YUMMY!!

The Baby Catcher had an "Ode to Green Drink" post last week and since I had a bag of spinach I needed to use up, I decided to try it out this morning. I kinda made up my own concoction with what I had so here it is...

6 oz. bag of spinach

1 C. Naked juice

1/2 lb. strawberries

1 1/2 bananas

1 C. ice

I think mine was weighted towards the fruity side. Maybe next time I'll get braver and add more greens! Check out her blog. It has lots of good info about the benefits of greens in your diet.

I even had Rob drink a glass before he left for work. He is the master of smoothies. Whenever we have yogurt in the fridge and bananas that are about to go bad, he'll whip up smoothies to go along with dinner. The kids love it and we play a game that they have to guess the secret ingredient(s). Some of the secret ingredients have included carrots, marshmallows, Trix, graham crackers, a slice of Banana Cream Pie, peanut butter... I think there was only one time that the crazy mix was nasty!

ThE BeSt BiRthDaY!

Whoa...a whole week without a post! Well, I had a good reason cuz I was playing in sunny Arizona! Last Monday (the 24th) I got an email from Delta with their weekend deals. They had flights to Phoenix for $69 each way (leave on Saturday, come back on Tuesday). So I told Rob I wanted to go to Arizona for my birthday. I made plans for Ashlee, Brynlee and Landon to stay at friend's houses during the times Rob was at work and they weren't at school and off I went with Trevor to celebrate my birthday in Arizona....only one more year of my twentys and then I hit the big 3-0! On Friday before I left, I got my hair cut.

Friday night we drove down to Salt Lake since my flight was leaving at 8:30 Saturday morning. We went to Rob sister's (Cheryl) house for some pizza, Perfectly Chocolate Cake, air hockey, and March Madness on the big screen.Trevor hanging out with Sponge Bob watching the game

On Saturday, I flew into Phoenix and Allyson picked me up. Trevor did SO good on the plane. He fell asleep during take off and slept most of the way. Since Peter's family had a family reunion in Mesa, we met David on the way to the reunion and he took me to Sushi Creek for lunch in Queen Creek. When I talked to David on his birthday, he said they went there for dinner and I told him I'd never had sushi. He told me next time I was in AZ, he would take me so I gathered up the courage and it was actually quite yummy....except for the Cherry Blossom...it had the raw fish wrapped on top and it was a bit much for me. When the server brought that one out, I told David....uh, I don't think I can eat that. I had a piece with avocado and shrimp on top but thought I'd gag if I ate the others so he kindly finished that roll up! My favorites were the Shrimp Tempura and California Crunch Roll.

Then we went to his new house and my parents and Allyson's family joined us for a BBQ and cake and ice cream. Trevor got to meet David and Noel's puppy, Jelly Bean.

I spent the rest of the weekend until Tuesday hanging out with Allyson's family. My nephew, Tyler, had a baseball game on Monday evening so it was fun to watch him play.

I had a BLAST! Thanks to everyone who made my birthday the BesTEst!