Happy Birthday To Nia!

Nia had a great day! She slept in till 9:30! Mae and I were so excited we had to try our hardest not to wake her up! So this is what we did while we waited.

Treats for her to share at school! (rice crispy treats dipped in sprinkles, on a stick) Once she woke up we had breakfast, than decorated her birthday cake and the house.

Nia went to school, then after we went and played at arctic circle. G's dairy was our next traditional stop, where Nia got to choose the flavor of ice-cream for the party. Strawberry cheesecake it was!

Nia chose to eat at Craigo's for dinner. We all love that place. Then we came home and had cake and ice cream with awesome friends! Nia got some great gifts, which she loved of course. It was a fun day for all of us!

Family Outing

The other weekend we went out and had a fun little day out as a family. We went to see the new muppet movie. It was super good/cute! The girls liked it.

 The girls had fun riding on this little kermit car outside of the theatre. Weee!

Afterwards we got some yummy food at We're Twisted Pretzels. We all shared soup, a pretzel and pizza pretzel, and a pretzel dog!. Seriously yummy.

 We've been watching Top Secret Recipe on CMT, and we decided to try this Mrs. Fields recipe. Incredible! It def. does some things differently, like starting with COLD butter, and freezing 30 min. before you bake them, but this is the best cookie I've ever eaten. But it uses all basic cookie ingredients. yay!

	It’s best to use a stand mixer for these cookies if you have one, although a hand mixer will also work fine. The quality of your chocolate chips is a big factor in these cookies, so use the best ones you can find. If the dough is tacky (it sticks to your fingers), you should add a little bit more flour. Cookies will seem undercooked when they first come out of the oven, but that is exactly what you want for the perfect clone.
	1 cup cold unsalted butter (cubed) 1 cup light brown sugar 3/4 cup granulated sugar 1 ½ teaspoons salt 2 eggs 1 tablespoon Madagascar vanilla extract 16 ounces all-purpose bleached flour (just over 3 cups) 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 2 cups high quality semi-sweet chocolate chips
	1. Combine butter with sugars and salt in a large bowl using the paddle of an electric mixer on high speed until consistency of peanut butter. 2. Add eggs and vanilla and mix well. 3. In a separate large bowl combine flour with baking soda and baking powder. Pour this dry mix into the wet stuff and mix just until combined. Mix in chocolate chips. 4. Use an ice cream scoop to scoop out ¼ cup portions 3 inches apart on a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet. 5. Place a 2 ½-inch ring mold (or biscuit cutter) over each portion of dough and press down on the dough with your fingers so that is molded into a circle around the inside edge of the can. Place the dough into your freezer for 30 to 40 minutes. 6. Preheat a convection oven to 275 degrees (or a conventional oven to 300 degrees). 7. When you are ready to make the cookies, flip over each of the frozen dough pucks onto the parchment paper-lined baking sheet and bake (use top rack for conventional oven) for 20 to 22 minutes or just until a couple of the cookies show slight browning around the edges. Rotate cookies halfway through cooking time. 8. Immediately slide the parchment paper with the cookies on it off of the baking sheet to prevent further cooking. Allow cookies to cool for 5 to 10 minutes before handling. Makes 20 cookies.

 This awesome gingerbread house we got from Aunt Sherida and Uncle Ross as a part of our advent calendar we got for Christmas. It was so much fun! This is the final result, and the girls destroying it the next day. mmm..it tasted as good as it smelled.

 This is Mae seconds before bending down to chomp santa!

These are the next big thing, crotch boots, haven't you heard of them?

Halloween and Happy Birthday!

Nia was Little Miss Muffet, notice the spider on her umbrella? :) Mae was a little lion. We had a wig and dress for her too, but she would have none of it. She was so cute tho, we would ask, "Mae, what does a lion say?" and she would give a cute little roar, every time we asked! So she was quite the showpiece. The girls got lots of yummy candy, and I decided I would let them eat all they wanted that night, then throw the rest away. Mike had to leave that night to drive to s.l. to make his flight early the next morning, so I was left with two sugar-crazed hyper kids. They were hilarious though, running around being goofballs, but it was kindof sad too. I felt like a negligent mom!

My birthday was Monday, and I turned 26! I don't think I'll ever feel ashamed how telling people how old I am, I'll always feel young since Mike is 8 years older than me! I had a great day with lots of calls from friends and family. (THANK YOU!) And we went to I.F. for some delicious Tom's Gyros, I never get to eat there cuz Mike doesn't like it, and it's a total dive, but sooo yummy. Then we went to Sam's club and had a blast looking around, trying not to spend too much money. I got a new non-stick pan since my old one has been out of service for a long time now. And Mike got me a new wallet, and a super cute folding make-up kit. So now I have a nice place to organize my makeup other than the old wipes container I've been using. I love birthdays and get so excited for them, especially the kid's!

I am one lucky woman to have such a thoughtful husband and two sweetest girls.

Meal-Time Reality

I've been thinking about dinner lately. I go through phases in my life, but especially when it comes to cooking! Lately I've been on a try new recipes phase, but now I am sick of being over-budget on groceries every month! I'm looking for what works. Tonight we had poached eggs, and a puffy apple oven pancake and milk. Everyone's plates were licked clean! Completely satifsying. And it cost next to nothing. I want more meals like that. I'm putting this out there and hoping that people still read, and will let me know what you do! I want to know what you actually eat. What do your weekly meals consist of? I love being in someones home at dinner-time. Not when they plan it out and make the best of the best for company, just a regular meal. I've been able to eat at my sister's home many times, and I love their dinner-time routines. Things you wouldn't think to tell someone, they're just the things you do/eat. For instance, my sister will always ALWAYS have milk with dinner, and I love it. And sometimes she'll do things I would have never thought to do, like have barbeque chicken with a side of alfredo noodles.  For whatever reason I would turn that into two separate meals, but together it's amazing and appeals to everyone.!Or make a boring green salad yummy with croutons and sunflower seeds.  Sometimes we make a giant subway sandwich out of a loaf of french bread with meat and cheese and slice it up for everyone to add mayo/tomatoes/lettuce/whatever they want. Or we have a tradition of friday night being pizza/movie night. We spread out a blanket on the living room floor and move the furniture and drink root-beer with homemade pizza and breadsticks or cinna-sticks, or little caesars. We all look forward to it.
 If you have any habits you've gotten into with dinner please share! Cuz if it's something you do often, it works!

Lately I've been getting creative with ways to use my abundance of tomatoes from the garden. I've made marinara sauce, tomato paste, and sun-dried tomatoes. Yumm! That chest freezer was the best thing I've ever bought. It is full of yummy corn from the garden, the above mentioned, peas from the garden, and plenty of peaches! I've also gotten the organizing bug in me going. I feel like I'm in
"nesting phase" but I'm not pregnant! :) I've organized under the kitchen sink (really i can't believe I thought of myself as a good housekeeper, that thing was nasty, who knew I had 3 things of toilet bowl cleaner under there and used dish-soap cuz I was too cheap to go buy some?!) I've also organized my laundry room and under the bathroom sink along with all the drawers. Ahhh... :)

 Nia had been trying out diff. halloween costumes.We will reveal the real one soon! Mike has been putting up some things in the girls room for me that I've had awhile, like the valence and these flower wall hooks. Yay!

 Do you love all our board games?? All this space that could be used in other ways just kills me...

Please let me know what you do for meals. If you would let me in on some of your fav. things I would love it!

Recap

We've been enjoying the last of the summer! Nia started preschool, and even though she'll be going 2 yrs in a row, we decided she needed the social interaction. She loves it! I've been loving it as well! MWF shes there from 12-2, and  Mae takes a nap usually the whole time. I've been using the time to do turbo jam! Now I don't have an excuse. (anyone else have kids climbing on them when they try to exercise at home??)
Mike's sister, Michelle, came to visit us over labor day weekend with our nephew Jacob. It was so great! We had a fun weekend of playing games and talking. We were all super sad to see them go. Of course I took zero pictures. One of these days I won't have to say that. :(
We were in utah last weekend for 2 weddings. We think everyone we know is now married, but it's been a busy year for weddings! Until the nieces and nephews start getting old enough!
I love this time of year with all of the bountiful produce! Our first attempt at a garden has been feeding us pretty well! Right now we are enjoying corn on the cobb, tomatoes, zucchini, and I got my first green pepper yesterday! Hopefully I get lots more before it gets too cold. I've learned a lot of things NOT to do, but overrall its been great. :)
The girls are playing together more and more all the time. Here's a few pics of that, and of Nia's first day of school. And Mae always will come running when she hears mike pouring cereal into a bowl. It's hilarious! Even if she just got done eating. What Dadda has is always delicious!

Disneyland!!! Warning, Long Post

This was our first official family vacation. As in Mike turned off his cell phone!!! Huya! And wow, I knew I would love it, but I really loved it. We decided to fly down. I love flying. With Mike. Me and just the girls, not so fun/stressful. But to me it was just an extended day of the vacation! We drove to utah and flew out of salt lake, so had a fun night going to the gateway mall and eating at applebees for dinner. Then we went to our hotel, The Radisson in downtown, (we've been loving priceline lately)and had a good nights rest.

Everything went great on the flights, the girls were really good. We got to Anaheim around 3, and were all starving! So we ate at IHOP right next to our hotel, the ParkVu.
Of course everything was super expensive all around this vacinity, but we had expected it, and budgeted for it, I was so happy the cost didn't bother me like it would normally. :) We had some great tips/advice from friends and family. Our hotel was literally right across the street, served a free breakfast buffet and a light dinner, and had a great view of the park/fireworks. After IHOP we went to stroll around downtown disney. I found some amazing flip-flops and we got some souveniers for the girls. (the toys were just too much to resist) all the cute polly pockets and such. We really wanted a set of those silver classic mickey mouse fork and spoon set, but they ran out earlier in the year! We got some ice cream and people were laughing at Nia with this huge ol ice cream cone! She certainly looked pleased!
We drove a few blocks away from the expensive stuff and found a food 4 less that we stocked up on bottle water, yogurt,bagels, string cheese, etc. Saved us tons! Then we just brought it in a mini cooler with us each day. We headed home and just as we were getting the girls to bed we heard the fireworks and were able to watch them from our balcony.


The next morning we were up and ready to go by 8 with full tummies. The mornings were my favorite, with the nice cool air and not crowded.


The first thing we did was to go to the princess area, and Nia was able to meet the princesses. She loved it! And gave each of them a big hug! She was a ham and kept making these cheesy smiles!She was in her element. Mae was afraid of them though. :) hanging back, curious, but not enough to go see. They were both in their princess dresses, but it was so funny, every employee there knew exactly which princess she was. "Hello sleeping beauty".


We were able to go and do everything we wanted to in the park, the first day Nia was just sortof taking it all in, and didn't really tell us what she wanted to do, but by the second day she knew where she wanted to go, and what she wanted to eat. (she loved the mickey mouse cookies and cotton candy) Oh my goodness, we had these sugar cookies with ears dipped in chocolate from a shop in california adventure, and I am going to have to try to duplicate those! They were deliciously thick and chewy with a yummy almond flavor.

We went to world of color that first night,super cool!
Both girls crashed on the way home of course, and Mike was able to go on the new star tours that he had fast-passed. It wasn't worth it to me to carry the girls through, or I would have gone too. The next day (friday) was actually less crowded than thurs! Oddly. Another full day that was super exhausting but so fun. Nia's favorite rides were the spinning tea cups and It's a small world. But she really liked snow whites scary adventure so she said! We talked it up telling her it was scary, so maybe she was just being contrary.
Our last night was absolutely perfect. We had fast passes to tower of terror, my favorite, and then we were heading back to disneyland cuz nia said she wanted to go on its a small world for the last ride. We made it to the princess area just in time for story-time with the princesses! Oh she loved it! I did too! It was just so fun for little girls. A very pleasant surprise, I was very impressed with the princesses.
Then we barely made it on small world before it closed, were able to get a few last minute things in that giftshop, and as we were walking out of the store the fireworks started! We had the perfect view, and had a bench right there just waiting for us! (amazing if you knew how crowded it was)
We were able to hear the music with the fireworks this time which made it incredible! It was just a very fitting end to our time there. Such fun! Our flight and drive home was uneventful and enjoyable. The girls were troopers, and we were so grateful to be able to do this together.
All-in-all I was pleasantly surprised with how much fun it was. I've been there a couple of times, but going with the kids it really did feel magical!