Easter 2014

Holidays are fun with a toddler. It's funny to explain to him what it is and why it's a special day. He's often like...another holiday??? Haha and you know we love to celebrate anything and everything. It's interesting as Freddie gets older to figure out which traditions we will focus on and which we will ignore as a family! We also aren't tied down to any specific things though. If we don't get to something...who cares! The most important thing for us on Easter was to consistently talk about the resurrection of Jesus Christ and what it means to us individually and as a family.

This year we went to the Easter pageant at the Mesa Temple, dyed eggs, and attended church together Sunday morning. That morning the kids got Easter outfits (that was fun for me!!) and got cards and little gifts from grandparents. And I made some delicious Easter cookies. Recipe here: http://cookiesandcups.com/cookie-sticks/#_a5y_p=1312222

After church we had a 3 hour family nap (we were OUT. I haven't slept that well in a while!!!) and then had our favorite meal, Chicken Tikka Massala by Mrs Harding cooks, here: http://mrshardingcooks.blogspot.com/2010/05/chicken-tikka-masala.html?m=1

I was REALLY wanting to be around family or friends that evening. My family was out of town and we were missing them and Collins fam like crazy. So we went over to a friends house with a few other families and had dessert. We got there and only had an hour before everyone was leaving but we had a great time talking with other adults. We are grateful for good and welcoming friends in our ward family. Heavenly Father really takes care of his children. It was a beautiful special family day. Love my so husband and children and kittens so very much. So thankful for the Atonement  and Resurrection of the Savior and for my sweet Mia Maid class. They have strong testimonies and teach me so much. 

I'm SO OBSESSED with these pictures and this happy boy!!!!!!!! He loves life!!!

Harriet Smith special day

Harriet Jillian smith was given a name and blessing by her father this past Sunday at church. It was a very special and beautiful day. I felt the spirit strongly testify to me that she is a daughter of God and has an important purpose on this earth. In the blessing, it was mentioned for her to be baptized, be married in the temple, and to serve a mission! That last one surprised me and my eyes filled with tears thinking of this strong, smart, determined little girl, grown into a woman someday. 

We had many friends and family join us for the celebration-and quite a few not members if our church, but there to support Hattie and us. It was overwhelming. It was a far drive and early in the morning for most and we felt very loved and blessed by their presence. 

And if you know us, you know we like to party and have lots if people in our home, so that's just what we did!!! We couldn't have done it without the major cleaning, cooking and crafty skills of Collin, his mom and dad, my mom, and even little Freddie (while I was nursing a babe nonstop and was able to do very little.) It was all VERY stress free and turned out so well--we had a full house! 

We decided to get our Valentines decorations started early with lots of photos of Hattie and our family. The theme was definitely LOVE! Most of these photos were taken by the amazingly talented Jayna Hedges (jaynahedges.com) I feel so blessed to have had her take many photos of our family over the years. 

Santa Claus is coming coming

We've been asking Freddie for months, "Freddie, is mommy going to have a baby??" He finally got wise and today answered, "nope." 

Haha! I promise Fred! He or she is coming soon! 

We are all doing well. If you wonder how I'm feeling and what I'm thinking, read this article:

http://www.mothering.com/community/a/the-last-days-of-pregnancy-a-place-of-in-between

And here are some photos of my love a doves. 

AZ state fair!!!!!

What a great day at the state fair!!! (Our only complaint was that it was almost 90 degrees and we were sweating the while time!! Freddie LOVED it. He just stared at everything, was taking it all in. He wanted to go on every ride...especially the super giant crazy ones ("I want dis!" And pointed UP.) but sadly he could only go in 3 rides in the whole place because even for all the kids rides one had to be 36 inches tall and Fred is 32. But he loved the few he went on...err mostly. That kid us so funny, when he was actually finally on a ride, he seemed kind of indifferent, Haha.

Well I rode zero rides. I mean, I'm 33 weeks pregnant, so I figured it would be pretty limited, but I couldn't ride anything at all. It was the fair policy that no one expecting could go on any ride. I couldn't even sit on a bench on the carousel!! But hey, I didn't mind a bit. I ate tons of delicious fair food, and that's what's most important!

bath time fun

Bath paints are Fred's favorite right now (thanks Ashley!! :) He dips his paint brush in and gets a HUGE glob and makes big purposeful swooping motions on the tub walls. It's awesome. And he likes to fill the tub WAY TOO FULL for a toddler and he swims and splashes all over like a mad man and gets everything soaked. While it's a bit maddening for me at times, I have to CTHD and just enjoy every moment. He's incredible, this guy. Oh, and in the last 2 months his vocab has exploded. He's speaking in complete sentences. How did this happen? We're loving it. Today he was all about. "It is Sunday. It is Sunday!" "He is happy." "I want _____ (jam, water, game, Fly Guy ETC!) and "I want raining." Me too, Fred. Meeeee too. 

Oh and Fly Guy is his latest obsession. It's this randomly weird book about a boy and his pet fly. Frederick LOVES it to DEATH. He's constantly asking, pleading for it. For him. A friend gave us a bunch of kid board games and one is this "Peanut butter and jelly," one and there is this large plastic fly in it. Fly Guy in the flesh. hahahah so funny. When he sees flys outside he's like, "GASP!!!! IT'S FLY GUY!!!!!!"

And he gets songs stuck in his head!! He goes around singing, "No one, no one, no onnnnnneeeee." [alicia keys] and this song about a cat named Applebee, and the choo choo song Grandpa Money always sings. 

Midnight cravings

Last night at 11pm I was sooo hungry and craving waffles. I went to my go-to recipe blog, Adventure in Cooking, and of course Eva did not let me down! 

Here's the recipe for her strawberry whole wheat pancakes (which I just threw into my waffle maker.) They are very healthy too (besides the ton of syrup I put on them. Hehe.)

http://www.adventures-in-cooking.com/2011/05/whole-wheat-strawberry-pancakes.html?m=1

Craving satisfied. 

Weekend escape

Byeeeeeeeeee kitties! We are getting outta this heat. Sorry, you have to stay here :( love ya!

As summer heats up, then backs off to just 110, we have been trying to stay cool and sane. The second one is a little tougher as we have been stuck inside many a day. But this one is keeping life good and exciting.

Parties parties.

I had a baby shower for my friend Hanna who will, sadly for me, be moving to Utah this month. But it was a great one! It was intimate, with DELICIOUS FOOD, pretty decorations, and good conversation. Hanna is gorgeous. I'm so excited for her...and for myself. I can't wait to have a newborn again. Freddie and Collin and I get so giddy excited thinking about him or her.

Kendra and Kyle come to visit!

Collins sister, Kendra, and her husband, Kyle, stopped through for a visit in their way moving out East. It was a quick trip, but so much fun. Fred was totally in love with them. There's something so amazing about watching him with his aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents.

We made up their bed as creepily as possible w all of Fred's cute stuffed animals.

More summer

It's gotten to the point where we can't really go outside anymore besides swimming. Yesterday was 118 and some meters read 121. Photos are from the last couple of weeks.

FOOD Huggers

These seem so awesome!!! I'm constantly putting half-used fruits and veggies into a plastic bag only to find them slimy and mushy just days later. I want to order some...Collin????

Pictures and stuff vs 1

There's this stray cat that comes to our window and freaks my cats out. At first I wanna hate him but then I think of how he's homeless, food less, love less. It's so sad.

We will not go quietly into the night! We will not give up without a fight! We're going to succeed; we're going to live on. Today we celebrate out Independence Day!!

Well said Bill Pullman.

The Farm at South Mountain

Frederick and I joined my mom and her friend, Kathy, for an afternoon lunch at the Farm. It was so peaceful. Fred loved running around in the grass, playing with sticks and getting into the water in the pond. His favorite part was picking up, cracking and eating pecans that had fallen from the trees.
For lunch I had an insanely fresh and delicious veggie w avocado and havarti cheese sandwich and don't forget some butternut squash creme brûlée!
It was a relaxing gorgeously weathered afternoon. I know it's hotter than death by fire in Phx in the summer...which is practically tomorrow...but it's stinking nice here right now.
Let's talk about the overalls...Overalls were really popular while I was in middle and high school and being that my fiends and I wore them so much and they were so unflattering, we look back at them in total disgust. I swore I would never put my future children in overalls. However someone gave us a pair recently, and as much as it went against my own best judgement, I put him in them and man did he look cute and happy. And he was one of quite a few toddlers in overalls there today. Watch out, Fred.

amazing BBQ pizza!

The other night we made this delicious pizza! Here's the super easy recipe...

Collin's incredible homemade sweet BBQ sauce with crockpot Pulled Pork recipe here

Get your favorite dough. Years ago we used to make our own, but we've found that lots of restaurants will sell you their dough for super cheap and that's a lot easier for us. When we lived in Provo we got it from Pizzeria 712 for like 2 bucks. That was amazing. Lately we have been using a really good whole wheat dough from Fresh and Easy that's under $1.50. Either way, grab your favorite dough.

Preheat your pizza stone in the oven at 550 degrees. You'll want to preheat it and then let it sit at that temp for at least 15 minutes to get nice and super hot. This will take a while. At some point sprinkle a little flour on the counter, take your dough out and let it rise on top of the flour for 20 minutes.

In the mean time, cook your chicken. We used boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into pieces. Heat your skillet on the stove with a couple of tablespoons of olive oil. Cook the chicken for 3-5 minutes on each side, pour some BBQ Sauce in with it. Cut into the chn pieces to make sure they are cooked through. Set aside.

Roll out your dough; poke it with a fork a couple of times; rub it with some olive oil; sprinkle a little garlic powder around the crust. Then get it on your pizza stone and cook it for 6 minutes.

Chop up 1/4 to 1/2 of a sweet onion. When the dough is done, take it out, put on the onion, then the cooked chicken pieces, then pour a bunch more BBQ sauce all over and top with mozzarella cheese; be generous. Grind salt and pepper over the whole thing, then stick it in the oven again for about 5 minutes. Just watch it and when everything is melted, switch your oven to broil on high for just a few minutes till the cheese gets a little brown.

Take it out (turn everything off) and enjoy!!!!!!

sommmmebody turned ONE!

Charlie girl turned ONE YEAR OLD! I love that these two are EXACTLY 4 months apart, that they love to play and that I love Charlie's mom, Emily, SOOOOO much. She has been a wonderful friend to me, ever inspiring and encouraging. Well, you and Micah have done an amazing job on your sweet darling little doll, so far. Keep it up, dudes. We love you all so much. Bruno, too. 

After holiday-Holiday

After we got back from the Holidays, we felt like we hadn't seen lots of friends in forever!!! We had a fun swimming day catching up with the Dyers at a hotel they'd been staying at Fred was happy to be reunited with his love, Charlie. The water was heated and luxurious. Then we ate at Los Reyes de la Torta, a for REAL hole in the wall with the MOST AMAZING FOOD EVER!!!! Please go there!! ;

dear fred

Dear America's Taco Shop, we're obsessed with you. (Fred's favorite food is beans.)


Dear Santa, Fred's afraid of you, unless you give him a candy cane.


Dear mannequin, nice to meet ya!

Dear Cookies. Dear dear cookies. And snotty daddy face.


beautiful temple


Frederick n puppets

Outside

Making out with self