I want to ride YOUR bicycle!

Well, we finally did it!

After months of deliberation, Honey Daddy has finally chosen the bicycle that he wants and we went and placed our order last night. The bike should arrive next week and we are very excited.

I would post a picture of the bike, but it is a 2009 model and there aren't even pictures available yet! So this will have to suffice:

It is a gorgeous bike and I will post a picture as soon as we have the bike. I am very excited for my honey... and a wee bit jealous. I would LOVE a bike like the one he is getting. We will get a nice road bike for me eventually, but he needs one first because he is commuting to work by bike now.

In preparation for CASVAR 2008, I have been getting up every morning at 5:20 a.m. to go on a bike ride. It is the only way I can get a ride in before Honey Daddy leaves for work. I would go in the evening, but it's too HOT. After the intial protesting of muscles, I am actually enjoying myself... go figure!

Easy Adorable Hairclips

Have you seen little girls running around with adorable hair clips that match their clothes? You wonder where their mommies bought those cute clips... then you search and find some online and they cost anywhere from $4 to $7 or more.

I don't even have any little girls (yet!), but I thought the clips were so cute I decided to make some for my nieces for Christmas. They were actually pretty easy and turned out super-cute!

Aren't these hair clips great?!


One of my friends asked me how I made the clips, so I went to her house and we did a little workshop this weekend. I'm telling you anyone can make clips like these. Here are the detailed instructions if you are interested.

Materials Needed:

Ribbon
Buttons, flowers, and any other embellishments you like
Aleenes Tacky Glue
Hot glue gun
Metal double prong clips (I got a box of 100 at Sally Beauty Supply for about 5 bucks)








Instructions:

First cut your ribbon. Start with the ribbon in the clip and wrap it around the top, over the prongs and around to the back side. You want the clip to look like this after you glue it:

Use a lighter to burn the edges of the ribbon so it won't fray.

Next use the Aleene's Tacky glue to attach the ribbon to the clip. Start on the inside of the clip and work your way around. (You could use hot glue for this step if you are really talented. I found that I could not get the ribbon into place before the hot glue dried. Aleene's glue takes a little while to dry, but the ribbon stays put!)


You can use your extra clips to hold the ribbon in place while the glue dries. I usually put ribbon on all the clips that I plan to do at the same time. Then when you finish with the last one, the first clip you did is usually dry.



Now comes the creative part! Use hot glue to attach ribbons, flowers and anything else you would like to make your clips super cute. It is also super simple to make a bow with extra ribbon. Think out of the box and have fun!


You will be amazed at how quickly you get the hang of it and can make your own adorable hair bows... for a lot less money!

Domestic Diva

This weekend my inner domestic goddess must have taken over. Friday and Saturday I made and canned some grapefruit marmalade. I've never done this before, and it was actually pretty tasty.

It will be a while before I attempt this again because it was more time consuming than I anticipated. Good thing I ended up with seven half-pints, which should last a while.
Then on Sunday I made a loaf of bread. Isn't it pretty?


I also made a bread braid for dinner that was delicious! It had steak, mushrooms, onions, peppers and mozarella cheese inside. Yummy!


That's not all! I also made some hamburger and hot dog buns for my family. I have been trying to save my family money using a system called Pantry Secrets. Since we are a small family, we never seem to eat all the buns before they get moldy or dry. So now I make my own:


And finally... I made cinnamon rolls! Don't they look yummy?

Can I tell you how much I love this dough recipe? It would seem like I slaved all day to bake these things, but it really only took a little over 2 hours. You can make all sorts of things with the bread recipe and they turn out awesome!

Now if only my inner cleaning lady would break free and come clean my kitchen!

Toddler Tears

Babies cry... little children cry. Anyone who has sat through an hour or more of church, traveled frequently by airplane, or gone grocery shopping anywhere is aware of this fact.

Of course I knew this before I ever had children. I had seen my older siblings and friends with their little ones and been there for many a boo-boo or temper tantrum. But what I didn't know and wasn't prepared for was how the crying of MY children would make me feel.

I was amazed at my reaction when my first baby cried. I just wanted to make it all better. I was frantic to solve any problem, major or minor to spare my baby pain or discomfort. Now that we have been through two years together and Jonah has a little brother, I guess you could say that I am a little more used to crying.

I have learned to distinguish different kinds of crying, so I don't always react the way I used to. But I still can't get over the way I sometimes feel when I hear one of my boys crying. It can be terrifying, exasperating, annoying... and heart-wrenching.

This weekend Jonah had a fever. We didn't know why he had a wasn't feeling well, but he was burning hot. We talked to our doctor's office and they said we could bring him in, but it might just be a virus and then they wouldn't be able to do anything for him. So we dosed him with Tylenol and tried to help him feel better.

It was hard to watch my little boy moan and cry, knowing I couldn't fix it. I know that during his life he will experience physical pain and I won't be able to make it go away. That knowledge squeezes my heart a bit.

Even worse, I know that he will experience emotion pain. Someone will be mean to him and hurt his feelings. He will have a crush that won't be returned. He will not do well in a race, at a game, or on a test. I am sure there will even be times when my efforts to discipline him or be a "good" parent will cause him tears.

I hope that I can be the cure for his tears more often than the cause. But I know that no matter what I do I cannot save my little boys from tears. They will cry because they won't always get what they want. Sometimes they will cry because they are afraid, or sad, or frustrated. They will probably cry because we are mean, rotten parents. No matter how hard I try to stop it, they will get hurt... physically and emotionally. The best I can do is be there for them to comfort them and help stop the tears.

It's a part of life and growing up. There will be sorrow, pain, and tears at times in our lives, but this is what makes us strong. These experiences show us how much we are truly loved.

Your children will cry and sometimes you will have to let it happen-- even if it breaks your heart.

CASVAR 2008

It's official!
Honey Daddy and I are registered for CASVAR 2008. It is a bike tour of varying distances that is being held on August 23rd in Star Valley, Wyoming.

This will be our first bike tour ever! I am going to attempt to ride the 38 mile ride. Honey Daddy is going for either the 65 or 85 mile ride. He is in better shape than I am because he has been commuting to work by bike for a couple of months now.

I think I can do this! On Saturday this weekend I went out for a bike ride and I managed to go 19 miles in 1 hour 22 minutes... and boy is my keister sore!

Inspected by Number 1

Yesterday I was folding a load of laundry with a little help from Jonah. He used to take clothes out of the basket and hurl them at me in his effort to be "helpful". I have taught him that I only need one item of clothing at a time. So now he hands me an article of clothing out of the basket and I fold it.

It seems that he has added something new to his laundry folding repertoire. He picked up each item of clothing and then dramatically sniffed it. One by one he pronounced each item "Clean!" and then gave it to me to be folded. It was SO hilarious! I'm glad my laundry has the Jonah seal of approval!

As he picked up a pair of his underwear (hooray for potty training!), sniffed it and pronounced it clean, I could see my future with teenage boys... Picking up a pair of underwear, sniffing them and pronouncing them "clean enough!" before they put them on! *shudder*

But then again, I grew up in a house full of girls... so maybe boys don't really do that. What do I know?!

Mixing just a Sippy Cup of KoolAid

I got this idea from my brilliant sister. She was tired of filling her fridge up with different flavors of Kool-Aid for her kids. One day they would want raspberry, the next day they wanted orange or grape. To solve this problem she came up with a way to make individual servings of Kool-Aid.

Take an old Crystal Light tube container or any other Tupperware. Open the Kool-Aid packet and pour it inside. Then add the recommended amount of sugar (1 cup). Put the lid on and shake it up! You can decorate the containers, or tape the name of the flavor on the lid. When your kids want juice, then you just take about a teaspoon of your Kool-Aid mixture and put it in their sippy cup. Then just add the water. You may need to add more of your Kool-Aid mixture depending on the size of your sippy cup. We have 10 ounce cups and I actually use a baby formula scoop to measure out the powder.


Ta-Da! You have individual servings of Kool-Aid. Your children can choose what flavor they want and learn their colors at the same time. The best part is that your refrigerator is not full of different flavors of Kool-Aid.

Welcome to the Department of Redundancy Department...

Check out the bottom of this sign:

This gas station is not to far from where we live. It is actually across the street from another ridiculous sign.

When my husband and I passed this sign in our car, we cracked up. Ice cold ice? Do they sell any other kind of ice? Lukewarm ice? Isn't ice cold by definition?

Spring Break for Dummies

One year when I was attending Utah State University, my friends Crystal, Cari and I decided to go to Moab for Spring Break. We wanted to see Arches and Canyonlands National Parks and spend some time camping and enjoying the great outdoors.

Just before we were to go on our trip, I visited my parents for the weekend in Wyoming. The following Monday I drove down to Logan to pick up my friends and we were on our way.

We had planned to stop for the night and camp out at a campground halfway to our destination. It was getting dark as we neared the place we were going to stop and camp. Imagine our dismay when we discovered that the campground was still closed for the winter. I guess we neglected to check the elevation and availability of the campground. (You mean there is still snow in the mountains in March? No Way!) Oops!

No problem, right? We felt a little silly but figured that we were young and didn't really need THAT much sleep. So we decided to drive on to Moab. We were jamming to Bon Jovi and having a great time cruising along in my little Volkswagen Jetta.

We finally arrived in Moab around 2 a.m. Keep in mind that I had been driving approximately 9 hours that day. We drove through the deserted city streets of Moab to the KOA so we could pitch our tent and FINALLY get some sleep. When we got there we couldn't believe that it cost $35 per night to pitch a tent! Being the poor college students that we were, we decided to see what else we could come up with. After all, there was only 5 or 6 hours of nighttime left, right?

On the way back through Moab I noticed a flashing red light behind me. It wasn't a bar of lights like on a police car; it was just one flashing red light. Since it was late and I was pretty tired, I was confused.

Me: Hey, what is that?
Cari and Crystal: It's a police car! Pull Over! PULL OVER!
Me: WHICH WAY?
Cari: Left!

I'm good at following directions, so I signaled and started to move into the center lane.

Cari: NO! Right! RIGHT!

Great! So now the police officer probably thinks that I am drunk! He walks up to the car and asks for my license and registration. I tried to look all cute, blonde and innocent as he questioned me.

Officer: Do you know how fast you were going?
Me: Um... about 60?
Officer: Do you know what the speed limit is?
Me: Isn't it 65?
Officer: The speed limit changed to 45 mph a little ways back, didn't you see the sign?
Me: I guess not.

So he heads back to his car. My friends are whispering, "oooh! You're going to get a ticket!" and I am thinking that maybe $35 to pitch your tent isn't that bad after all.

When he came back the officer said he would let me off with a warning, and I swear Cari and Crystal seemed a little disappointed that he wasn't giving me a ticket... but I may have thought that because I was pretty out of it.

Anyway, we ended up spending what was left of the night parked out in the middle of nowhere in my Volkswagen Jetta. We were trying to get some sleep and freezing our buns off! Did you know that it is COLD in the desert at night? Do you know how hard it is to sleep sitting up in a little car with all the windows fogged up?

The next day we made it to the campground that we had reservations for... in Dead Horse Point State Park. I think I probably looked like a dead horse by then!

Potty Progress

Can I just tell you that I had been looking forward to this potty-training business about as much as I anticipate a trip to the dentist (to get cavities filled). I was dreading it enough that I would have PAID to have someone to come to my house and potty train my little boy.

But I have to say that after the first day it really hasn't been that bad. The first day of potty training was pretty rough on me (and probably Jonah too!). We had about a fifty percent success rate and got to clean up some little tinkly messes. I guess 50% actually isn't too bad. What can you expect when your kids can go in their diaper and not even feel wet? I called a friend for moral support, and she assured me that I CAN DO THIS (your comments were encouraging too!).

Then yesterday things were looking up. We kept going to the bathroom every 45 minutes or so and Jonah went to the potty EVERY time that he needed to pee. He even woke up from his nap dry and I nearly passed out. The only "accident" we had was a number two... ewww! But he earned his first reward and was really excited about it. We were trying to get him to put the stars on the date, but you can see from the picture above that he put them wherever he wanted to (who cares!? My little boy is using the potty!!).

Today has been nothing short of miraculous. We have had NO accidents!!!! We started off the day earning another car. Then this morning Jonah actually told us when he needed to do "number two" and he did it in the potty! No accidents would be really impressive if we had stayed home, but we actually went out shopping... and left just the underwear on! I brought along an extra pair of underwear, shorts, and a Ziploc bag just in case of an unfortunate incident and we didn't even need to use them.

Jonah successfully went to the potty at two stores and I am so proud of him! We were away from home for at least three hours (I know, I know... we are either incredibly brave or stupid!). Then he fell asleep in the car on the way home and we put him in his bed for a nap (with underwear!) when we got home. I was sure he would wet the bed during his nap, but he woke up dry.

I feel like singing... Wonder of wonders! Miracle of miracles!
Hooray for potty training!

Maybe I should start a service where I go potty train other people's toddlers..... Nah!

Diaper Daze

The bribes (um, I mean rewards!) are strategically placed:


The stickers are ready and the chart is up:

We have the right equipment:

We have plenty of underwear:


I guess it's official...

(Somebody shoot me.)

Frozen Watermelon Smoothies

I absolutely LOVE watermelon. Nothing says summer like slicing open a big green melon and watching your two-year-old eat a slice while juice runs down his chin.

For me, watermelon is best the day you slice it open and the next few days. Any longer in the refrigerator and it loses its crispness. Since my little family cannot eat an entire watermelon that fast, I was trying to figure out what to do about the excess. Then I came across frozen watermelon smoothies.


I had heard that you can't freeze watermelon, but that's not true. You can if you don't really intend to thaw it out completely. Here's how to make delicious watermelon smoothies. They are super fast and easy.

*Slice watermelon into cubes and freeze (a ziploc bag works well).
*Take frozen watermelon cubes and thaw slightly to make blending easier.
*Add a teaspoon of sugar (or more depending on the sweetness of your melon)
*Add 1 tsp lime juice
Blend until smooth.

This will make a yummy watermelon slush. If you would prefer something more creamy, leave out the sugar and lime juice and just add a scoop of vanilla ice cream or an 8 oz. lemon yogurt.

Enjoy!

Got Gas?

There is a little gas station not far from our house. It is a bit unusual because they also have a little drive up window where (I am assuming) you can buy food and beverages without getting out of your car.

We drive by it on the way to various other stores and every time I see the sign out front I just crack up.


Now you know why I haven't ever gotten anything from the drive up window!

More Binky Bling

Previously I posted about some binky straps that I made for my baby boy. They have been really great because it is nice not to have to worry about Eli dropping the binky out of his mouth and onto the floor. Plus in the car it is VERY convenient to just reach back and find the strap and put it in his mouth.

I loved the first strap that I made, but wasn't so fond of the second one. So yesterday I went over to my friend Melinda's house and we made a couple more. Aren't these super cute? I made the top two and the bottom one Melinda had already made. I really like them because they are definitely "boyish"... and don't scream "Help! My mommy doesn't have any girls!"

Last time we used suspender clips for the binky straps. This time Melinda had found a different kind of clip, which I like a lot better. It's a little smaller and less bulky. I think that when I have a little girl I will definitely have to do some beading with her. It is a lot of fun!

Weight Watchers by proxy

So I mentioned earlier that I was "in training", right?

Well I was exercising more, but not losing any weight. So now I'm on Weight Watchers by proxy. What? You haven't heard about that program, you say? Well the way it works is that my mom is on Weight Watchers and I email her a list of what I eat every day.

Writing down what I eat has been helpful in the past, but if I don't have anyone holding me accountable then it doesn't work. Somehow I can skip writing things down if I know I am the only one looking at it. So I send the list to my mom and she lets me know how I did. I find that I am snacking a lot less and eating healthier foods, which is probably what is making the difference.

So I can hear you thinking... Why don't you just join Weight Watchers yourself? Because I'm cheap (ummm... by that I mean thrifty!) and lazy, that's why. I don't feel like we've got the extra room in our budget to pay for Weight Watchers (did I mention my husband is biking to work now?). I also know enough about myself to know that I'm too lazy to log in to their website and look everything up myself. My mom already knows EVERYTHING anyway, right?

Want to know how it's going? So far I've lost about 8 pounds in the last three weeks. Now you want to email my mom too, don'tcha?

Recipe for a Relaxing Summer Evening

Ingredients:
two-year old
swimming suit
swim diaper (optional)
sprinkler
water

Preheat outdoors to 80 degrees or more. Combine ingredients. Sit on porch swing and read while your child amuses himself. Enjoy!

My First Sparkler

A funny thing happened on my way to going crazy...

Yesterday I was having ONE OF THOSE DAYS... you know, where nothing really horrible happens. Just a bunch of annoying little things.

1. I was tired from staying up late the night before to watch fireworks.

2. I had a headache all day and my body was not responding to pain medications.

3. Shopping with two kids and a headache... need I say more?

4. I finally folded the load of laundry that I did two days previous (mostly because we needed some clean underwear, you know?)

5. I almost finished ironing my shirt for Sunday, when I found a spot on it.

6. Watched a movie with Honey Daddy and kids, which I enjoyed but it made me late getting the kids bathed and in bed.

7. I was totally working on getting everything ready to travel to my sister's house for a baby blessing on Sunday while my husband played on the computer.

8. Worked on cleaning spot off Sunday shirt and ended up with bleach odor permanently soaked into hands.

Then it happened. My hands felt dry so I went to get some lotion in my bedroom. I love Aveeno lotion, and we usually buy a two-pack at Costco. This time there was a smaller sample-size bottle in with the two big bottles. I was excited to have a little bottle of lotion to carry around with me.

So this was the first bottle I happened upon, and I opened it up and squirted it on my hands. As I was rubbing it in I thought, "Wow. This smells nice! I don't remember my big bottles of lotion smelling like this. I guess it must be a new kind or something."

Then I noticed that it wasn't really rubbing in. So I thought I must have got too much and rubbed some on my stomach to spread it around. It was then that I noticed that it didn't really FEEL like lotion. So I looked at the little bottle; it was body wash.

Who puts a sample of body wash in a container that looks EXACTLY like the lotion containers? Who puts body wash samples in with lotion for that matter?

By this point I just had to laugh as I rinsed my hands off. At least they were clean, right?

Forbidden Fireworks

Don't you just love fireworks?

I hope you're not thinking, "Yeah! I love those fountains, chasers, firecrackers, whistlers... oh! And those groovy little ones that buzz along the ground. They are Neat-o!"

NO! NO! NO! I am talking about REAL fireworks. Aerial fireworks, Skyrockets, Mortars! Things that whistle as they go up and BOOM! as they bloom in the sky. Not the sissy (legal) fireworks that are available in Utah.

In Wyoming where I grew up you could buy almost ANYTHING. I actually think that most of the people who bought fireworks where I lived were actually from Utah or Idaho. At the end of June fireworks stands would pop up all over the place.

You can imagine that the Fourth of July wasn't very exciting for me the years that I lived in Utah... and Arizona (where there were NO fireworks, period.) Well, actually there was one year that our fireworks display turned out to be pretty exciting...

A few years ago we were in Logan visiting my sister and her husband for the Fourth of July. My mother had also come to visit from Wyoming and had brought some illegal fireworks with her (Go Mom!). In Utah any firework that goes over 15 feet in the air is illegal. I don't know what the penalties are, but it's probably more than I want to pay.

So we were out in front of the house setting off the fireworks. We would do some of the legal fireworks (often many at a time) and then intersperse them with some of the "good" ones. We were having a great time and I think the neighbors (and the neighborhood!) were enjoying the show as well. Of course we were keeping a lookout for patrol officers and we weren't setting off too many of the illegal fireworks at a time so they wouldn't be able to pinpoint our location.

Then we got to a promising-looking firework that was called "99 Gun Salute". Perhaps we should have stopped to think for a moment before we lit this one. You know... "Hmmm... I wonder what a large firework called 99 Gun Salute might do?"

But no... we just lit it and stood back. The next thing you know rockets are shooting up in the air and making dazzling blooms in the sky overhead. It was gorgeous and wouldn't have been a problem... except... you guessed it... there were 99 of them and we were trying to be somewhat inconspicuous. This thing just kept going and going!

So we are kind of panicking ...but what can you do? We just had to wait for it to finish while we all tried to look invisible. It was actually pretty funny... especially when a police car cruised by a little while later as we innocently set off our neat-o fountains and whistlers.

Happy Fourth of July!

Digital Scrapbooking

Today I took a big step towards fulfilling my dream of creating beautiful scrapbook pages for my children.

You know the dreams where you make gorgeous scrapbook pages but without the mess? Where you can work on your scrapbook without getting out tons of supplies and getting everything set up?

I have known for a while now that I am never going to get into paper scrapbooking. I like making cards because they seem like a much smaller project and don't take as much time and effort as a scrapbook page. It seems that to make a cute scrapbook the supplies end up costing too much and it is a big hassle for me to get everything out and organized. Plus I have a feeling my boys would have everything scattered around in no time!

So I have wanted to learn to digital scrapbook for a while, but didn't know how to get started. So today my friend Cari came over and showed me how to get started in Adobe Photoshop. She showed me some basics, and I think I can actually do this!

Here is my first ever digital project. Isn't it cute? We decided to start with something small. I think it's appropriate that I made a Thank You card so I can say "Thank you Cari!"

Good Hair Day

Yesterday I finally went and got a haircut. I can't even remember the last time I had a haircut. All I know is that it was before my baby was born and I had Honey Daddy trim it for me (His "trim" took off about an inch and a half!).

It seems that I have just been so busy with our new baby that I haven't had time for a haircut. My hair was finally driving me crazy enough that I had to do something about it. I left both of my kids with Karyn (Thanks!) and went to get it done!

I was thinking of doing something drastic, but then my more reasonable self intervened. So my "drastic" part of this haircut was getting long bangs cut. I wasn't sure I would like them, but I really do! What do you think? Didn't Julie do a great job?


I think I did a pretty good job of taking my own picture too, don't you?

I also got it layered through the back. It is a bit lighter for summer and it feels great. Maybe next year I will get it cut short... but I'm a bit of a chicken and my husband likes my hair long, so maybe not. :o)

Here's Your Sign!

I spent most of yesterday giving tours of the new UVU Library. It is a gorgeous building, don't you think?


It is actually even more beautiful on the inside (contact me for inexpensive guided tours!!). It has beautiful views of Utah Lake and nearly all of Utah Valley. I am looking forward to working in this large and spacious building with one exception...

Where on EARTH did they come up with this signage? This is what you will find hanging right outside of one of the restroom doors. Am I the only one who finds this a bit confusing and ambiguous?

Almost everyone has had the same reaction to these signs... HUH?!?

Since I am probably going to be asked about these signs many times, Honey Daddy and I have come up with some possible explanations as to who can use this bathroom:

1. This bathroom can only be used by handicapped women or transgendered persons (or anyone confused about their gender identity).

2. This restroom may be used by single women, handicapped individuals, AND married women (thus the woman-slash-man picture).

3. This is a handicapped-accessible womens restroom that may also be used by women who used to be men.

4. This is a unisex bathroom; however, if you are handicapped you must be a woman to use the bathroom.

5. If you can see these signs, go ahead and use this bathroom.

What these signs actually mean is that there is a handicap-accessible womens restroom with a FAMILY bathroom down the same hall. I TOTALLY get that from those signs, don't you?

We also noticed that apparently only men are allowed to use the elevator. DANG IT! You mean I have to climb up all five flights of stairs?!

*Update: I actually did walk up the stairs quite a few times the other day and I almost can't MOVE today(Wed.) because my legs are KILLING me! My calves are mooing their displeasure right now, let me tell you!