Welcome to the Jungle

Well, hi there. So, my last post was...let's see...um, June 16. That was nearly two months ago. And before that, it was April the last time I posted. But in June, I mentioned we were busy and as I was writing that post, I also knew that a summer that was already exhaustingly busy by mid-June was only about to get busier. See, about two weeks after that post, we packed up everything we owned and moved to the Northshore. This may not seem like a big deal, but for us it was. We had lived in our previous place for 5 years and we knew our way around pretty well and were, well, comfortable in a lot of ways. Was it our ideal living situation? No. But did we know that life pretty well? Yes. But when we got to looking into schools for Tyler to attend this year, to make a long story short, we just needed to move. If there is one thing I could change about living here, it would be the schools. What a headache! We really wanted to send him to public school and for many reasons, we just didn't feel good about the schools in the New Orleans area. So July 2, we drove across the lake and unloaded all of our belongings into this 'new to us' house. Garrett's commute is longer in miles, but actually doesn't take him much longer than it used to. We are in a new ward, which has probably been the most emotional thing about the move for me. I really, really liked the ward we were in and felt very comfortable there. It's kind of hard to be new again, but it will come I'm sure.

Settling in has been a bit of a struggle because we added even one more thing to the madness and left two weeks later to see our families in Idaho. We drove again and spent 2 weeks in Idaho and a total of 5 days driving. We got home with just a few days to spare before school started. So today I sent my boy off to 1st grade! I couldn't believe they started so early, it really cut off a lot of our summer. But I sit here thinking it's kind of amazing that we did it all. And we were blessed that everything went so well along the way. When I dropped my boy off in his new classroom at his new big school this morning, I felt a well of emotions as I realized this was the grand finale of a very emotional and busy summer. I know he'll be fine, but wow, it's just been a lot for me in a few short months. I look forward to settling into this new place and a new routine. I need it badly, I'm afraid.

So, there will hopefully be a little more time to blog now and I really do have intentions of going back (clear back to March events, I might add) and catching up. But in the mean time, I got a lot of questions about our most current events, so these pictures are fairly recent. Within the first few days of moving, the boys discovered just how wonderful it was to be able to ride their bikes all day every day, no matter how hot it was outside. They love it. So up and down the drive way they go (and sometimes, a ride to the country club if I'm willing to oblige!). This first group of pictures is from July 7, a few days after we moved in.

It's amazing how I saw their friendship blossom just from this. They really have to have each other to ride with. I hear them pass by each other and say "hey, bud" or "hey, good fella". I love these boys.

These two hooligans have also spent plenty of time finding all sorts of critters in the yard. We've seen bunnies, squirrels, lizards, bugs of ever shape and size, frogs by the dozen, and dare I say...a snake. OK, so the snake was not so cool. Just ask Tyler about that one. It scared him to death. But on the other hand, watching him catch a frog the other night was nearly one of the funniest things I've ever seen in my life. I was dying laughing so hard!

So, here is a picture of part of the house. I am not able to get a picture with the entire house in it. My lenses make me too close to get it all in. It is an old house with an old floor plan and a big yard with big trees and bushes, etc--all which were seriously neglected in the last few years. The yard clean up is going to be an enormous project. And to make matters worse, we weren't able to do much with it before we left for Idaho and then it rained about every day that we were gone, so when we got home last Tuesday, it literally looked like a jungle. So on Saturday, we spent the day in the yard. We filled up 16 yard bags full of clippings, leaves, pine needles, etc. And sadly, the only thing you can really tell is that the grass got mowed. :( It's going to be a lot of work! But good thing the boys can help, right?!

We insist that Sam wear his helmet while working in the yard. I mean you never know when there might be a large object fall on your head. (or it may be that he takes a lap on his bike and then comes to help, then takes another lap and repeats)

Another view/angle of the house...

And one thing we have been very good at since the move is sweating, if you can tell. The boys don't seem to mind that it's like a heat index of 1,000 degrees every day, but they sure do sweat! As in, they need to change their clothes when they come inside because they are soaked through type of sweat. Ahhhh, I just keep thinking how nice the Fall will be here!

Now to all of my family members who hassled me for not blogging anymore, I hope this helps...it's all for you, ya know! :) Hopefully there will be more coming soon!

Tap, tap...is this thing on?

Um, okay...where do I begin? It has been over TWO months since I last blogged. What on earth is happening here? Why can't I keep up with this? The desire is definitely there, but the time it takes hasn't been. But don't give up on me...some day I'll get there. I think. I hope...

In the mean time, here is a picture from just one of our outings since the last time I blogged. And in the mean time, you can look forward to posts about Mardi Gras, a beach trip, Father/Son campout, strawberry picking, Easter, my 30th birthday/Crescent City Classic 10k, NOLA air show, Mother's Day, end of school festivities, grandparents visit, kindergarten graduation, blueberry picking, Girls Camp, and I'm sure to be missing a lot.

On top of all of that, Garrett has been working more this year than ever before. He has been pulling 80+ hour weeks and working weekends. The assignment he is on should be wrapping up within the next week and we may actually see him again. He's still been serving on the High Council and I have still been the YW president, and I got thrown a curve ball and was asked to be an Assistant Stake Camp Director in April...for camp which was only 6 weeks away from then. In those 6 weeks, I had numerous photo sessions scheduled as well and it was just a lot to do. We just wrapped up our Girls Camp last week and I am finally feeling a little bit of relief (for the moment).

We seem to have no problems staying busy, but to be quite honest, I really don't think we have ever been quite this busy. And now, summer is shaping up to be just that as well...busy. Are you tired of hearing that word yet? Well, more details to come, and hopefully some updates. But I just wanted to give a shout out to say that we're still alive. And plus, my mom told me I really needed to blog. I'm guessing this isn't what she was hoping for, but I'm hoping it counts. This is really for you, Mom!

Be back soon (I hope!)

Do Not Disturb

It's safe to say that Tyler loves to read. He 'cracked the code' early in the school year and has taken off like wild fire since. He continues to amaze me each day with each new thing he figures out and reads. He plows through the books he brings home every day. But in February, he hopped in the car after school especially excited. He pulled out his new library book to show me what it was and excitedly announced that he had brought home his first chapter book! Oh boy, I thought this would be way over his head. But I was wrong!

We came home and he quickly made some signs and put them on the TVs. That is a picture of a TV with a line drawn through it. My child insisting that we not watch TV?? What is this world coming to? I thought I'd never see the day! But, you see, he wanted no distractions as he dug into this book. Can't say I blame him! (the sign above also has written "no troning with crayns or pencils" which means no drawing with crayons or pencils because he caught Sam drawing on his precious sign. So he had to add a stern warning, of course) And yes, I know that I have lots of fingerprints & dust on my TV. :)

So, he holed himself up for the afternoon and read away, diving into the Cam Jansen mystery.

And just like that, the first chapter book is in the books! I am so happy he loves to read, although I have also learned that nothing is "safe" anymore as I can't spell a word to Garrett that I don't want the kids to pick up on and he reads my e-mails and everything else in sight. He has already figured out how to search things on google because he's watched me do it. There's no stopping him now! I have to watch myself, that's for sure! :) I imagine this boy will have a great relationship with books as he continues to grow up. I'm so grateful!

Valentine's Day Recap

So, it's time to recap Valentine's Day happenings from this year. And that wasn't even that long ago, right?! For me, it feels like this is practically a current event compared to the way my blogging has been in recent months! So, this post is going to have a whole lot of randomness attached as it's just that...random Valentine events at our house!

So, for starters, here are the valentines for this year. I have seen this idea floating around the world wide web for the last few years and I've always wanted to do it. And have always forgot about it when the time came. So, this year, I happened to remember it a couple weeks before Valentine's Day and jumped on it. It was easy and super fun. The boys loved it and I loved that it involved them in the process so much. They gave them to friends in class, at church, and at playgroup, and even mailed some off to family in Idaho. They were so excited for everyone to get them and they would wake up and say "do you think Grandma got my valentine today?" or "maybe I could call Cash and see if he got my valentine". They loved hearing from those that got them. It was just FUN, all the way around!

And Tyler's only assignment for his class valentines was that he had to write his own name on all of them, so I left that space blank on the print and he did the rest. And what a fine job he did, if I must say!

February got the crafty bug in me and I just wanted to make everything in sight and I felt like I had so many ideas I wanted to do, if only I had the time to do them all! After seeing a few different things on blogs, I came up with this little wall hanging. Super easy with a printed out font and some heart punches and spray paint. I was loving the red/pink/teal combo this year (which is saying a lot for this girl who has always been a lover of black/red/white!).

Valentine's Day cannot come without lots of yummy treats, right?! So we had heart shaped layered brownies with raspberry frosting.

And never in my household will there be a Valentines Day without heart shaped sugar cookies. They taste better on Valentines Day, I swear it!

After Tyler's school party and Sam's playgroup party, the boys came home and sorted through their loot. And they both found green Fun Dips and went to town on them. Isn't the green mouth irresistible?!

I gave Tyler this Scooby Doo book for Valentine's Day this year...he loves Scooby Doo and he loves to read, so I figured it was a perfect combo and he'd be super excited. And boy, was I right!! It was so funny how something so simple could bring him so much happiness. :) He kept saying thank you over and over again and saying it was the best day ever and that he just loved it so much, etc, etc, etc. I'm all for $3 gifts that are better than anything else on the planet!!

But of course, the best Valentines were the ones made with little hands! The Smarties butterfly was darling and after Tyler received his new book, he holed himself up in his room and made each of us our very own valentine. I tell you, that boy is so sweet! He drew all the hearts and wrote our names on all of them and wrote a number on the front. I asked him what the numbers meant and he said that he wrote our age on all of them. :) So I will forever hold on to my "Mom29" valentine since I'm never turning 30, you know! And when Garrett walked in the door with a bag from Zales, Tyler said "Oh, Mom!!! I think Dad must've done good getting you diamonds!!" That boy pays way too close attention to commercials. But he was right, Dad did good!

More craftiness...I made an 'I Love You' banner to match my wall hanging and made some faux chenille heart pillows. I found the tutorial for the pillows HERE. And of course, I had to include Tyler's cute mailbox he made at school out of an empty kleenex box.

And since nothing says love like x's and o's, I made a burlap tic tac toe board. I was inspired by the one here, but changed it up quite a bit. I wanted mine to be portable so I could take it in our church bag. The one on the tutorial didn't seem very easy to take and go. So, I painted my board onto the burlap and then sewed it onto a piece of fabric (which happened to be some cloth napkins we got for our wedding almost 11 years ago and never used. I figured why not use them? I could have picked cuter fabric, but also loved using something that was just sitting around anyways). When I sewed it on to the fabric, I also sewed 2 snack sized ziploc bags into the edge to keep the x's and o's in as I figured they'd be lost in 5 minutes flat if I didn't have some way to store them. And to finish it off, I wanted some sort of enclosure, so I added that to the outside. I thought they turned out really fun and I made a few as gifts too. I hope they are being enjoyed by others as well!

It sure has been a big hit at our house and I love having it in my church bag for the boys (until they start fighting over who gets to be x's and who is o's, of course!!).

And there we have a close to Valentine's Day of 2011, in all its random glory. I sure hope every one of you had a {LOVELY} day!

A Story about a Girl & A King Cake

So, by the first part of February, king cake season was in full swing. Every year I eat an amazing king cake (and definitely some that are not-so-amazing...there are a lot of sub-par king cakes out there, trust me!) and I think to myself, 'I MUST learn how to make these and make them right!'. But then I never do. But this year was my year! For one thing, I have been in a 'make it myself' mode since last year and find that I really enjoy finding out how to make new things. And then, we had a wonderful woman from our Stake come and teach our Young Women how to make king cakes. Sister Stancliffe has a reputation in our Stake for making the BEST king cakes! I was so excited she was coming to teach us (it was one of those activities where I was sure I'd be the one to benefit waaaaay more than the 12-18 year old girls!). So, she came on February 1 and by Saturday February 5, I figured I was up for the challenge. Garrett was working and we were just hanging out at home anyways, so why not?!

And lucky for me, I had a little helper in the process! Not sure why, but Tyler wasn't too interested in the process!

So, the dough recipe makes enough for two king cakes. First up was a traditional cinnamon & sugar one. So we rolled out the dough, cut our strips, and topped them with the filling.

Then we rolled up each strip and pinched the ends.

Braided them together,

and placed on a baking sheet in an oval shape. Then popped her in the oven. She was looking pretty good, eh?!

While king cake #1 was baking, we got to work on #2. This one was filled with a blueberry/cream cheese filling. It's ok, you can start drooling now!

And here they are, both straight out of the oven cooling down.

Once cooled, it was time to put the baby in. How many times have you said that about a cake you've made? ha ha!

Frosted and sprinkled on the sugars...all with Sam's help, of course!

And...they're done! And of course after all that work (it really was about an entire day's worth of work), I had to photograph them in all their glory before we tore into them. Although, I can't ever manage a picture of anything I make without a few little fingers getting in there first!

I suppose Sam probably felt like he was entitled to have a little taste since he 'helped' so much!

I gotta say, I was pretty darn proud of myself. I will definitely making them every year from now on. No more disappointing ones from the grocery store and no more waiting in line for 45 minutes to get one of the good ones! It was fun to make them and all the more rewarding when they were so yummy!

Anyone want a piece?!

And for anyone who might want it, here is the recipe & notes copied/pasted directly from Sister Stancliffe. I pretty much followed this exactly except for the filled one. She just puts fruit in and then uses a cream cheese frosting on top. I decided to use the regular icing on top and mixed up a cream cheese & powdered sugar mixture to put in the middle. It was delicious! This recipe is enough to make TWO king cakes! The second time I made them, I didn't want to make them both the same day, so I divided the dough and refrigerated the second half. I made the second king cake the next day and it turned out great. The dough refrigerates just fine!

King Cake
(as given to Kathleen Stancliffe from Althea Marino)
3 packs yeast 350̊ - 20 minutes
2 cups very warm water
1 cup butter (2 sticks) – I use real butter – almost melted
½ cup sugar
1 ½ teaspoons salt
4 eggs
7 – 8 cups flour (divided)

Combine 2 cups of the flour, sugar and salt in LARGE mixing bowl. Soften butter in microwave to ALMOST melted stage and add VERY warm water and butter to the flour/sugar/salt mixture. Stir with wire whisk. Add 3 packs yeast (add it dry) and stir until dissolved. Add 1 egg at a time, mixing well after each one. Add 2 more cups of flour. Exchange wire whisk for spoon here (and rinse off whisk immediately to avoid hard, dried-on flour junk!). Add enough more flour to make dough easy to handle (I usually add about 2 ½ more cups), and then dump out onto floured counter and knead until flexible, but not hard. Rinse out bowl, dry, and then oil it lightly with vegetable oil. Put dough in bowl, cover with towel and let rise until it reaches the top of the bowl (sometimes this takes an hour; sometimes it takes 2 or 3 depending on how warm your house is!). Punch down dough (kids love to help with this part!), and let rest for about 10 minutes.
Brown sugar/cinnamon filling:
Mix brown sugar and cinnamon to your taste (should taste more like cinnamon than brown sugar). Store in zip lock bag to keep from getting hard.
Cherry/Apple/Strawberry/Blueberry/Raspberry/Blackberry filling
1 can cherry pie filling (blended for 2 seconds in food processor) – not too long because you still want pieces of the fruit – my daughter tried blackberry and said it was delicious, but didn’t enjoy the seeds! I have recently (08) tried freezer jam (needs to be frozen when used) instead of canned pie filling, and have enjoyed the fresher taste that brings (especially the strawberry). I have a friend who uses lemon pie filling and it’s their favorite. I’ve not tried it yet.
Continuing . . . . .
Melt another stick of butter completely and stir well. Divide dough into 2 equal amounts. Roll out dough (this is tricky – use your sixth sense! - if it’s too thin it will tear; if it’s too thick, it won’t cook thoroughly). Using a knife or pizza cutter, cut the rolled out dough into 3 pieces lengthwise. Using a pastry brush, “paint” melted butter on the 3 cut pieces.
For the brown sugar-cinnamon variety, generously sprinkle the brown-sugar mixture down the middle of each cut piece and spread just a little, then pat down and sprinkle a little bit of flour over the top. For the cherry or other fruit variety, spoon the briefly blended pie filling down the middle of each of the 3 cut strips. Spread slightly, but not too close to the edge. Be careful not to overfill because it tends to leak out when rising/baking. With the cherry and apple filling, I sprinkle some of the brown sugar-cinnamon mixture on top of the filling and then sprinkle a little flour on the top of that as well. Fold the short ends over just slightly and then fold the long ends in a tri-fold (like folding a letter) from the top down to the middle and then the bottom up and over the top. Bring the 3 pieces close together (don’t be afraid of the dough!). Pick it up and gently swing it back down to the counter, giving it a little bit of a stretching as you do. Begin braiding in the middle; work to one end then go back to the middle and braid to the other end. Carefully place on huge cookie sheet, shape into oval or circle and pinch the ends together where they meet. Cover and let rise again. Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes (I always set the timer for 12 minutes and monitor until it’s done). When cool, tuck small plastic baby wherever you want! Cool completely before frosting. I frost a small section at a time so the frosting won’t dry out before sprinkling the sugar on top. Alternate the colored sugar (purple, green, yellow). I usually get each color on twice per cake. Enjoy!
Frosting:
Soften 1 stick of butter. Add powdered sugar and milk alternately. Add about a teaspoon or two of vanilla (to taste) and a pinch of salt. It usually takes ½ - ¾ of a 2-lb bag of powdered sugar. Stir to desired consistency.
Variation:
I use a cream cheese frosting for the cherry-filled and blueberry-filled (or any kind you choose) king cake. Blend a package of room-temperature cream cheese with a half stick of butter, softened. Add powdered sugar a little bit at a time until the right consistency. I do not use vanilla or milk for this frosting unless it becomes a little too thick.
Colored Sugars:
Pour 1 cup of granulated sugar each into 3 ziplock bags. Add several drops of food coloring to get the desired color of sugar (the traditional Mardi Gras colors are purple/yellow/green); squeeze out air, zip bag and squish sugar until drops are mixed in with the sugar. Add more as needed.

UPDATE 1/24/12: I made king cake again this year and did a few little things differently and really liked the results. I recently got the "My New Orleans" cookbook by John Besh and read over his recipe for king cake and thought it also sounded wonderful. So, I decided to try and incorporate the two recipes. Before all the flour was added to the dough, I added about 2 teaspoons of fresh lemon zest, 2 teaspoons vanilla, 3 teaspoons cinnamon, and 1 teaspoon nutmeg. Mix everything else up and roll out just the same. For the icing this time, I used Besh's recipe and used 4 cups powdered sugar, 1 can sweetened condensed milk, and 3 teaspoons fresh squeezed lemon juice. Of course, if it's too thick, add a little milk (just regular milk) and if it's too thin, add a little more powdered sugar. This will make enough to frost two king cakes. If you are only making one king cake, half the recipe. The leftovers harden fast and don't keep well. Let me know if you have any questions!!