Todays Creation

Today I made chocolate carmel apples!!  I'd say it was successful!

From left to right: Apple Pie (Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory recipe!  Theirs are prettier, but it tastes the same and for a fraction of the cost!!!), candy bar, smores, candy sprinkles!!

All the apples are dipped in carmel, then chocolate, then the topping!

For those of you who have never had an apple pie apple from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory (you are missing out!) it is carmel, white chocolate, and a brown sugar/cinnamon mixture!! (HEAVEN!)  And the rest are dipped in regular chocolate with the various toppings!!  I felt pretty creative with the smores apple... I crushed up grahm crackers and added little bits of marshmellow.  After I dipped it in chocolate I dipped it in the grahm crackers and marshmellows and it worked like a charm! 

Miranda was a happy watcher!!



Homemade Wheat Bread!!

For the past couple of weeks I have been thinking a lot about self-reliance and food storage and knowing how to do some of those things like sewing, canning, baking (and I mean really baking like from scratch), building things... really just being SELF-RELIANT!!

To start I decided I wanted to start making my own homemade wheat bread!!  I have never made bread before (I have mad rolls from scratch, but that is it!) and I really wanted to learn!  My mom makes the best Wheat bread and it is so healthy and wholesome and it is just good!!  It took some preparation, but after I bought the bread pans, found a good recipe and made sure to get all the right ingredients I was ready.  Sunday morning I made my first batch of Wheat Bread!! =)  I was so excited the whole time I was making it because it just felt good to be trying something new and getting myself one step closer to being self-reliant!!  It was actually a lot easier than I had expected and it turned out really yummy!!!

And pretty too!! =)

I think I will keep looking at new recipes or tweaking the one I have to get the perfect recipe for us, but I felt very accomplished!!  My kids loved it and I loved the feeling I had knowing that I had made it!

Sunglass fun!

They are "BROKEN"...

Well while Nik was home this summer he decided it was time to get rid of the BINKI!!  I didn't think she or I was ready, but he insisted!! =)  He cut the tips off all the binkis right when she woke up.  Things went very well until she needed a little comfort!  She got one and put it in her mouth then pulled it out and looked at it.... (making a funny face)  Then she dropped it and went to find a different one.  Nik gathered them all up and handed her a new one.  She did the same thing, put it in her mouth, pulled it out and looked at it and threw it on the floor!!  We had 8 binkis for her so this was quite funny to watch!  With each one she tried she became more frustrated and threw them harder and harder!!  After we had gone through all 8 binkis we had to do it a couple more times before she was satisfied!!  She really did very well!!  It was just a couple of days of having to sleep with all of them to know they were all different!!  It made her pretty mad and she wouldn't even put them in her mouth, but she had to have them still.  If she only had one she thought it was just that one that was cut.  We finally thought to tell her they were "broken" and that seemed to be the magic button!!  After that when she wanted one we just had to say they were broken and then she didn't want it anymore!!  Way to go Nik!!  I guess we were all ready!!

*I do secretly miss having them at Church and the grocery store, but all in all a very good move!* 

My Favorite Place..

I just wanted to share a few pictures of my favorite place!!

I love the Temple!!  I'm so excited to have one that will be so close to my house here!  I have a very strong testimony of going to the Temple.  The peace and the joy that can be felt there is very real and very special!  Going to the Temple makes me a better person.  The Spirit that I feel when I go to the Temple strengthens me and teaches me.  Elder Robert D. Hales said "When you are troubled and ahve crucial decisions that weigh heavily on your mind and soul, you can take your cares to the temple and receive spiritual guidance."   I'm so grateful for these beautiful Temples that we have!!  What a great blessing! 

Happy Birthday Ian

Ian turned 3!

He has been looking forward to his birthday for a long time!! 

We started the day off by making his cupcakes!!  He chose what he wanted and helped make them!

Then he chose one present to open... (of course he chose the best one to open first, oh well!)

Next we headed to the splash park (sorry no pics).  The kids had a blast there!!  They played for about an hour before they were ready to eat!  We had brought food to eat, but there were these really gross annoying birds that made it impossible to enjoy any food.  They would take food right out of their hands... So we left and headed home.  Ian decided he wanted to go to chick-fil-A and we thought that was a good idea for dinner, but not for lunch.. we are in our swimsuits.  He insisted though so we stopped and got french fries at the drive through!!  Big hit!

We got home and put Miranda down for a nap and then frosted our cupcakes!!!

He did a really good job!!  I had to use different frosting to frost the rest because the chocolate frosting got contaminated after multiple licks and dips!! =)

He was so excited when it was finally time for his "party!"  (Consisted of me, dad, and Miranda!)

First he opened presents (no pics again, but I did get it on video!) and was pretty dissapointed.  He expected something other than clothes I guess... =)  He did get a fun new movie, but that didn't really lighten his mood.  I felt really bad!

Then it was time to sing and blow out candles!  He liked that part!  He really isn't a big cake eater so this is what happened instead...

Big mess, but it was his birthday so I let it fly!! =)  We then took him outside and hosed him off!!!

We then decided to watch his new movie... didn't last long!

All in all a pretty good day!!  He had fun, we had fun, he crashed on the couch at like 5:00pm (doesn't take naps anymore) and the best part of the whole day was....

FREE HORSE RIDES ON DAD!!  Ha ha... what a fun birthday!!

Love you Ian!

Going to the Doctor

The kids had their doctor appointments yesterday.  Ian had his 3 year appointment and Miranda had her 15 month appointment.  It was nice doing it on the same day at the same time!

The only problem was two kids after getting shots!

Miranda had a really hard night full of fevers and leg pain... she wouldn't even stand on them or walk or move them.  She just cried.  It was really sad!

Ian got his shots in his arms and he was really brave.  I thought he would only get one shot so that is what I told him beforehand, but he ended up getting 3.  They hurt him pretty bad, but he did good!

They are growing great!

Ian:

Weight 27lb 4oz  1%

Height 35 1/4in.  10%

Miranda:

Weight 20lb 5oz  10%

Height 31in.  75%

Our House

So this is our new house!  We love it here!  There is so much more space to run around and put things!!  The kids are in heaven!!

At first Ian and Miranda had their own rooms, but one day Ian was having a hard time falling asleep for his nap and he said "Mom, I just need a friend in my room."  So before the day was over we put Miranda in his room with him! =)  They do so good in the same room together!  Sometimes before they fall asleep we will hear them laughing and playing.  It is so fun!

Lots of space to build forts.. and it is too hot to go outside so we play inside all day long! =)  Sometimes if we are lucky it cools down enough at night that we can go for a quick walk around the block or something! 

Family room area.  So we have this much bigger house now and no furniture to fill it!  We sort of love it, but it makes the pictures look lame! =)

This is our toy/computer room.  We originally had the computer in the family room, but the internet wouldn't work right so we moved it into the "den" or Toy room.  The internet works great now and we love that the kids will play with toys while we are on the computer!!!  =)  We get a lot more computer time in here because the kids get distracted with all the toys!!

This is the kitchen... (not in it's cleanest state, but I always forget to take a picture right after I clean it.)  There is so much more room on the counters and in the cupboards... Love it!!  Our dishwasher is ancient and I'm surprised it still works, but when the "fix it" guy came he asked the landlord if we could have a new one and they said yes, so we will be getting a new dishwasher in the next couple of weeks!!  Can't wait!!!!!! =)

This is one of our favorite places in the whole house!!  My bathroom!!  The tub is so big and the kids love to play in it (with or without water!)  This is like my dream bathroom and I'll be so sad when we move... I'm sure our house after dental school won't be nearly as nice!  We have double sinks, a huge closet, a big shower, a huge tub with a huge window over it (glass cynderblock that you can't see through) so there is always lots of light and I love it!!!

We just feel like we can breathe in this house!!  The kids are constantly running around in circles through the house.  We have a great backyard that has grass, rocks, and a big cement pad that is covered.  Sometimes if it's not too hot we play out there with a bucket full of water!! =)  We just love it here!!  This isn't the whole house, just the pics I had... One day I will take pics of the whole house!!

How we stay cool in AZ

So it has been very hot here lately and we have been struggling to find ways to be outside and stay cool at the same time! =)  The other day there was water running down the gutter and we couldn't resist!!  After a little investigating we found the cause of the water was a neighbor up the street draining their pool!  We were happy they needed to!  The kids had a blast and I'm sure everyone who drove by thought we were nuts, but we didn't care!! We'd do it again in a heartbeat!!           

A few random pics from Utah

Bathtime fun with cousins!!       

This is us at the football field waiting for the fireworks to start!!  The kids loved them and wanted more when they were done!!

4th of July celebrations!!  We went to the parade in the morning, park afterwards for festivities there, bbq with Nik's family after that... then headed to the fireworks!!  Fun day!