August 21, 2010: In the Meantime

Today while I was canning this:
And baking this (Zucchini pile courtesy of Cousin Rachel):
And whipping up this for dinner:
Dave did this:
One more side and I can start painting again!

July 17, 2010: Housework = Clean Garage

Cleaning the garage shouldn't actually be included as housework since it is in...the garage. However, it required bringing things from the garage into the house so I am counting it anyway. When we first woke up we cleaned our main room. If we clean our main room, Mama feels better (I'm the Mama). If the main room is a disaster, Mama ain't happy. So that's what we did.

Then Dave said, "Did you want me to go to Home Depot?"
I said, "Yes, take all three kids."
Dave said, "We don't have three kids."
I said, "I know that. But, if we did, I would want you to take all three."

He only took Josh and left Clara to me. Then I saw my next door neighbor and asked him if he knew anything about electrical work (and I knew he did because he is finishing his basement). He said yes and came in and looked at our GFIs, which needed resetting or something like that. Solved! Dan saved the day! Yay, Dan! :) So I called Dave to tell him that and that I needed a diet coke.

When Dave got home I was cleaning out the garage. I moved the refrigerator over to the other side of the stairs, emptied our big blue 60 gallon barrel of last year's water and then put it in our shed and refilled it, and Dave pressure washed the garage floor. So clean. So beautiful. So not lasting more than a week.

At this point I was dripping with sweat (nice image) so the kids and I got in the pool and floated around waiting for Sara, Woodstock, and Pebbles to come over. They can only swim on Saturdays because they live far far away closer to the Big City. They joined in and we swam a while longer and then Amabuela showed up and swam with the kids and then Dave got Indian Food.

Now, Dave and I are going to a movie to celebrate 8 years since we got engaged (which is Monday). I hope my 10 readers have had a fabulous Saturday.

December 24th - Christmas Eve

December 24th: We woke up early and drove down to Springville in our pajamas to have Christmas Eve morning with my parents. I didn't take pictures! Argh! Georgia made pancakes, bacon, potatoes, and berries that were delish. Then we opened presents and visited for a while before we had to head home. When we got home, Dave started making enchiladas and Clara took a nap. We had dropped Josh off at my mom's so I went ahead and started getting things ready for Christmas morning. It was pretty easy this year - nothing to assemble!

Around 4pm we headed over to Ama's house to decorate some cookies and get set up for the evening. A while later, our friends started showing up: Mert & Ken Ashby, Oliver & Kristin Christensen, Dayna & Sara Nichols, Erin McBride, and my aunt and uncle, Jack & Karen Brotherson. It was quite the party! We had enchiladas, rice, tamales, chips and salsa, and a myriad of desserts.

Dave snuggling with Anna. He loves baby snuggles.

Baby Pebbles! She is such a cutie.

Josh and Oliver playing with Connectagons.

After dinner we got the kids dressed up for the Nativity. Josh played Joseph, Clara played Mary, and Clara Bright and Woodstock played angels. There was a very funny moment when Clara Bright stole the baby Jesus from Mary and went running off down the hall. I guess every homemade Nativity has its challenges!

After Clara Bright stole the baby Jesus, Woodstock stole it from her. It was mass chaos, but we still managed to read the Nativity story and all was well in the end.

Woodstock needed to be tall as she made the angelic proclamation.

Clara was very attentive to the baby (cabbage patch) Jesus.

Josh made a cheerful and handsome Joseph.

After the Nativity, each family took a turn showcasing a Christmas talent. Woodstock, Ms. Mert, and Dayna listening to Oliver and Clara Bright sing.

Aunt Karen, Uncle Jack, and Amabuela watch the show.

Suddenly the door burst open and Santa came in yelling "Ho Ho Ho!" He sat down and started pulling out candy canes. Clara Bright swooped in and stole the first one.

The kids were a little nervous about sitting on Santa's lap.

Josh sitting on Santa's lap

Clara sitting on Santa's lap

This picture is classic! Poor Pebbles - wondering what the heck is going on!

Erin snuggling with Anna.

The traditional "Oliver's feet in Dave's lap" picture.

We wrapped things up about 8pm so that everyone could head home. It was a great evening! I'm so grateful that I got to have so many Virginia friends there - especially since they all knew each other as well!

Party Food

Loree is visiting from Arizona for Spring Break and you all know how much I heart my Loree. Well, I heart Loree even more for busting out my creative side. Tonight we are going to a partay and we decided to make some cupcakes from a book called "Hello, Cupcake!" that Loree brought with her. Check out the results!

Spaghetti and meatball cupcakes
Spaghetti, meatballs, and sauce Cupcakes
Spaghetti, meatballs, sauce, and parmesan Cupcakes
Popcorn Cupcakes
Popcorn Cupcakes assembled

Cute, no? We had a lot of fun doing it. The spaghetti cupcakes take about 10 minutes after baking and cooling. The popcorn takes a lot longer because we had to create the popcorn, which involved a lot of mini-marshmallows. I'm excited to see everyone's reaction to these! I think they are too cute to eat. :)