Kiss my Bass!

Marinara Sauce

2012-02-18T21:41:00.004-07:00

Marinara
1 huge can of crushed tomatoes (6lbs 10 oz bought at Costco)
Two large onions diced
Half a clove of garlic (about eight sections)
2 T olive oil
2 tsp Italian seasoning
2 bay leaves
Pinch of crushed red pepper or cayenne
Black pepper to taste

In a large pot saute onions in olive oil until transparent. Press garlic cloves into onions with garlic press ( or dice them and add). Cook 30 seconds then dump can of crushed tomatoes into pot. Add spices and bring to simmer. Lower heat and cook on low for about 1 hour. I freeze portions in freezer zip lock bags

PS the can of crushed tomatoes at Costco is only about $2.50. Really inexpensive route for multiple meals. Enough for lasagna plus some.

Shady Lakes Field Trip

2009-06-27T17:41:00.012-06:00

I went on a field trip with Ian's class at the end of May, we went fishing at Shady Lakes. It is a little place next to the Rio Grande. It was really hot and I came home with a few mosquito bites. I was glad that my mom was willing to watch Poppy. Sometimes I feel guilty to not be able to participate with more of these things. I want to while my kids still like me to be involved in their life!Here's Ian taking his turn fishing. The older man next to him is a grandfather of a student in Ian's class.

Ian with his fish and a close up on the poor thing.

Ian's other catch that day.

Some of the beautiful water plants they had there. Can you tell I loved the water lilies?

Cool Video

2009-06-02T11:55:00.000-06:00

Weston had me listen to this song and now I can't get it out of my head

Cabin Trip

2009-05-30T14:47:00.006-06:00

We are at our family cabin (shared with some other families) in Colorado. Our family has been able to come up her since I was about Poppy's age. It's interesting being one of the Moms up here and comparing the experiences now to the memories I had when I was a kid. I keep thinking that I need to make sure the kids have a good time and actually spend the time outside doing things I remember doing. Here are Ian and Gena learning how to do dishes the old fashioned way. I think they look like it's fun because of the novelty. Ian actually wasn't as excited as Gena.
I didn't even remind Ian that he forgot his DS. He hasn't said anything about it either so here he is reading an Archie comic book I bought for him.
"Help! Help!" this is Poppy's new game at the cabin. It's cute but gets a little old having to go up and "unlock" her. I finally told her that I had a magic wand to release her. I remember getting in trouble for sticking my head through this railing, and dropping toys off the edge and throwing blocks down the stairs.

We hiked up to Treasure Falls today (Saturday). Weston and my dad made it up last night and we set off for the falls this morning. It's an easy hike. Poppy actually walked most of the way up.
Here Weston is posing at an overlook of the valley. It was so green and gorgeous. More of the cabin to come later.

Funny Kids

2009-05-19T22:16:00.002-06:00

This morning while I was getting the kids ready for school, Gena was taking her sweet time getting up as usual. I had Ian putting the clean utensils away from the dishwasher while I made him a quick breakfast. He turns to me afterward and says "Mom you scratch my back and I scratch yours." Yeah I don't think that's the real meaning of that phrase Ian.

Finally Gena was ready and I asked her if she wanted anything to eat and after refusing she makes me a list of things to do for the day. If it were only as easy as writing the list. Thanks Gena, I'll get right to it.

How does your garden grow?

2009-05-16T15:15:00.005-06:00

They are finished blooming now but I love these irises that were given to me by a friend of my mom's. They are so beautiful. The crazy thing is how tall they are. Look at Genevieve and Poppy next to them. They don't dwarf Ian but he's a pretty tall kid now. I think when I thin them out I am going to do another row down the other side of the house. They just make it look nicer.

I have been doing more gardening. I went shopping with my mom and dad up in Santa Fe at one of the nurseries I like up there. I also just picked up a few things here and there. It was nice to have at least the snapdragons I planted come back and also some of the wildflower that took up the whole front garden last year. I don't think I will let them go so crazy this year. Our back lawn is thriving but I think it want's more water than we are allowed to give it.

Tractors and Stuff

2009-04-28T10:09:00.014-06:00

A family picture in the inside of a tractor shovel thing.

Gena liked the tractors that she could climb on.

While in the midwest we got to get up close and personal with a lot of tractors. We took the kids to the John Deer Pavilion in downtown Moline. We also ate a the Machine Shed in Iowa for family night. There were also some Bob the builder tractors at the Children's Museum in Bettendorf Iowa which is just across the river from Weston's parents town.

We liked the illustrations on these warning labels. But when you look at the tines on this sugar cane harvester it makes sense.

Gena is awesome!

2009-04-12T21:02:00.000-06:00

Gena's favorite

2009-04-10T09:47:00.003-06:00

This is the idea someone should use for putting toys away. I think my kids would clean up all the time. This was at the children's museum in Bettendorf Iowa. There was a lot of cool activities for the kids to do there. I think I would have enjoyed it more if it wasn't so busy with spring break.

Poppy's Birthday

2009-04-07T08:41:00.003-06:00

We celebrated Poppy's birthday on the road at Grandma and Grandpa Bass's house and then again at Grandma and Grandpa Prestwich's house. She had the routine down by the time this video was taken.

For Grandma Bass

2009-02-25T23:04:00.010-07:00

I know it's been a long time. We've been busy as usual. The kids had a great Valentine's day and had all kinds of treats that week. Genevieve is eating some cupcakes I made on Alyssa's birthday. I thought why not celebrate even if she's across the country.

Ian eating the cupcakes. Poppy is giving me a dirty look because I won't let her take it in the living room so she can drink it while watching her show. She definately has the dirty look down to an art.

I just like how this picture of Poppy looks. She just looks so sweet here. Genevieve is starting to really ham it up for pictures. I am working on a 365 project where you take a picture a day. I think she thinks the whole book should have these kinds of pictures in it. However this one did make the cut. I just think she looks so cute in Weston's hat.

I enrolled Poppy in a tumbling class that is taught by a friend of mine. She likes parts of it but has a hard time doing things that involve standing in line. It is good for her to learn skills like that. Ian did really well in the Pinewood Derby. He won 1st over his age group and was in the top 3 overall. Now we have to live up to those kinds of results.

Kids are funny

2009-01-13T10:24:00.005-07:00

Why do we buy toys? I think Gena and Poppy played with these Dixie cups and nail polish bottles for longer than they did with their Christmas toys. I've had to ban playing with the Dixie cups for now because they started fighting over who could hold the whole stack. But really, that only costs $2. $2 of fun!!

The sum of last month

2009-01-06T23:24:00.002-07:00

It's hard for me to post without a picture at the top of my post. I just haven't taken very many pictures since Christmas. Especially since Danelle took so many great pictures of the wedding, I didn't feel like I had to haul my camera around. The problem is that all of the pictures are at the office and someone keeps forgetting to either e mail me some of them or just bring home the USB memory stick.

Hillery's wedding was beautiful. They were given a lot of wonderful marital advice that I don't know if they will remember word for word. I know I don't remember a lot from that day. My brother-in-law Jared and my aunt Melanie collaborated and wrote down what they could remember. I loved spending the time in the temple. I think I was thirsting for it and didn't realize how much I needed to be there until I was there. I love the time to think without all of the regular distractions in every day life.

My little brother Aaron was actually able to go to the sealing because he finally received his mission call. He's going to Moscow West mission. How funny is that? Some in the family were guessing South America and my older brother Ryan guessed Kazakhstan which ended up being the closest. He's busy preparing for his departure by listening to Weston's reminiscences and finding out that he's going to be eating a lot of very bland food. Better eat some more green chile while you're here!

As for me, I'm getting back in the swing of things. The kids are back in school. It's a double edged sword. The evenings become more hectic but there are periods in the middle of the day that are almost peaceful.

Shopping on 5th

2008-12-08T08:53:00.013-07:00

I kicked off the Holiday season by visiting my sister Alyssa this last week. She picked me up at the airport on Wednesday night and we were running all weekend. Here's a breakdown of our activities:

Wed: pick me up at the airport in Hartford
stopped at IKEA to let the kids stretch their legs
went home

Thurs: dropped kids off at school/ preschool
went to walmart for cake supplies
dropped off supplies to cake master Lillian
borrowed Kitchen Aid from friend (alyssa broke her mixer)
went to the mall and found wedding outfits for our boys
picked sam up from bus stop
I made cakes while Alyssa picked up mia and stopped at Trader Joes
We collaborated on making tags for the party later that night
Went to the Favorite Things party that Alyssa organized
Phew!

Friday: School for Sam
Babysitter for Mia and Eli
Went to Lillian's for cake lessons
Learned about cakes for many hours
After picking up the kids we just vegged. I totally got a nap in too.

Saturday: Went to her ward's Christmas breakfast
Afterward we ran to the train to NYC

First we went to Rockefeller Center saw the tree and the ice skaters

I had to stop at the Nintendo store for my kids and Weston
Then we walked down 5th Avenue and spent money

Eli was so patient. What a champ!

Some other cool shots:

St Patrick's Cathedral

Window displays at Saks Fifth Avenue.

I just want you to know

2008-11-24T23:24:00.000-07:00

This is how baby Jesus is treated in my house. My kids had him being pushed by one of the wise men/ three kings in a stroller. The nativity is by Playmobile.

Hillery's Bridal Shower is today

2008-11-15T08:56:00.002-07:00

I've been working on a not so secret project for my sister's bridal shower. I've collected some of the favorite family recipes and compiled them into a cookbook. I'm sure I missed many but just between me and Alyssa we filled the whole binder. Maybe it isn't big enough but she can always move out of that one into a different one later.

Quilt Give away for a good cause

2008-11-06T16:57:00.001-07:00

Consider looking at this blog today. This little baby was born with a heart defect and the family has to raise $450,000 upfront to get on the list for a heart transplant. Some things just make you count your blessings. A kindhearted friend is doing a quilt give away to help raise money for her friends. Even a small donation of even just a dollar will help. Just go to the link on her blog to see how you can help. Click here for more info.

Happy Election Day

2008-11-04T20:31:00.002-07:00

I hope every one got the chance to vote today. I finally made it out around 5:30 not too late but I was hoping that I could have gone earlier. I've been dreading this day for a while. I'm not in love with either candidate but one of them had such a liberal perspective on life I couldn't vote for him. My kids are a lot more aware of the goings on this time around. I've had to explain what taxes are and all kinds of things.

I guess I'll go back to watching all of the reporting of the precincts but really don't see the point at this time of night. It won't be until later that there is more definitive news.

Eve- if you're reading this I sure miss the days when you would have us over for ebelskievers and we would watch all the results together. Every election day I get a craving for those.

A little carving

2008-10-31T11:43:00.004-06:00

Happy Halloween!
to quote Poppy, "Surprise! Ahhh!!"

I have a great video of this scene but google was being pesky and I'll have to try uploading it later. (I do realize that blogger also has this feature but the file size is a little too big). All of the kids were involved with the carving of this pumpkin. They had a fun time this morning. I am known not to get around to carving the pumpkins at all, so the morning of the 31st is great in my book!

Has anyone noticed that you should not change your theme if you want the layout of your blogger page to look the same? I changed things around a couple of weeks ago and still haven't had time to fix everything that is messed up. I do like how my bloglist updates new posts from my friends though.

A Very Large Array of cows

2008-10-22T11:58:00.003-06:00

We really took this picture yesterday. I thought it would be funny with all of those cows spread out with the radio telescopes in the background. Taken with Weston's i phone.

We just got back from camping and it was a lot of fun. I forgot my camera so I don't have any pictures on me right now. Natalie took some and I will post more about the camp out and all the hiking we did (with kids no less).

The Very Large Array is down south of Socorro NM and it was on our way back from where we were camping. So we thought it would be fun to stop by and check it out. The bathrooms were very clean too.

Borscht

2008-10-14T22:25:00.003-06:00

beautiful picture taken by Kelly Sue DeConnick

In case you wanted to make this recipe for yourself I thought I'd post the recipe for Borscht for all since I had one request. And yes I do think it is healthy.

one large onion
Olive oil
2 medium peeled potatoes
one large carrot peeled
1 tbsp vinegar or lemon juice
1/4 head of cabbage
3 medium-beets roasted*
(or cheat like me and use 2 cans non pickled beets reserving the liquid)
4 large cloves of garlic
Parsley and/or dill, to taste.
1 tbsp salt (to taste).
1 tbsp sugar (to taste).

Slice the onions thin, Chop potatoes & cabbage, and grate the beets and carrots into approximately 1-inch long pieces.
Fry the onions until golden-brown (with about 4-5 tbsp. oil) in a deep frying pan at medium heat. Mix regularly.
Add the carrots to the onions and cook for two or three minutes more.
Add the beets to the frying pan. Immediately pour vinegar or lemon juice over the beets to preserve their color and taste.
Mix everything, then cover the pan with a lid and cook for 5-10 minutes more at low heat.
Pour cool water into a large pot so that the water takes up between 1/2 and 2/3 of the pot's total capacity. Turn on medium heat and wait until the water is boiling.
Add the potatoes to the boiling water and wait 3-4 minutes.
Add the cabbage and wait about two minutes.
Add everything in the frying pan to the pot.
Add the garlic, parsley, and dill.
Add the salt and sugar.
Wait until the water is boiling again (as it should have stopped when everything was added) and then turn off the heat. Cover the pot with a lid, leaving a crack for steam to escape.
Let the soup cook in its own heat for about 2 hours. The longer it cooks, the better it tastes. You may want to refrigerate it and microwave it the next day for an even better taste.
Serve with sour cream. Enjoy!

You could leave out pretty much any of the different veggies (except the beets). I usually don't use the cabbage anymore but every recipe is different. You could even add meat but according to Weston that is not traditional to have meat in the borscht.

*Roasting Beets

Directions taken from this article on The Green Guide. I've roasted the beets before myself and it is definitely the way to go.

"This is the easiest, and to me, the most delicious way to prepare beets. There is virtually no preparation, no clean up and the beets are sweet and delicious and can be used warm or cold in a variety of dishes. If you are cooking a lot of beets, they can be roasted in a roasting pan, covered with foil, if cooking just a few, roast them in a pouch made of aluminum foil. Roasted beets can be eaten warm right out of the oven dressed with a little olive oil and salt, added to a roasted vegetable mix, served cold with French lentils or served my favorite way, as a warm beet and mushroom salad."

Maybe I did something right

2008-10-08T08:26:00.002-06:00

Yesterday I got the hankering for some Borscht and I decided to make some for dinner. I only make it once a year tops but there was a craving for beets that I couldn't deny. When the kids got home from school Gena was in a terrible mood! Everything was making her cry. I offered her some pink soup and she seemed intrigued but when it looked a little more orange than red (I added carrots and probably cooked it at too high of heat) she refused to eat it. Luckily the other two ate some. I can never get it to taste "authentic" but I thought it tasted really good. Later I got Gena to have a couple of pink potatoes and a couple of bites of beets.

After that something else was ruining Gena's day (something so trivial I can't remember). She was crying again and I offered to read to her before bed. I told her that I would read books until Dad got back from picking Ian up from Cub Scouts. We read three books and I cuddled her and she was perfectly content. I realized that I have really dropped the ball on reading at night since we moved to this house a couple of years ago. I told Gena that if she went right to bed I and stayed there (she's one of those kids that can think of a million reasons she needs to be up) that I would read three books to her every night.

Ian was in the shower and when he got out and was dressed in his pajamas I decided to have some alone time with him as well. I told him to sit by me for 5 minutes and asked him about Cub Scouts and talked about what they did. It was nice to spend just that little amount of time with just the one kid at a time. And they seemed happier too.

Welcome to the world Kent

2008-10-02T11:50:00.004-06:00

I was just in Columbus OH visiting by brother Brendon and his wife Danelle.. She was 9 months pregnant when I got there and Alyssa concocted this plan to fly out when she was going to have the baby or to see the baby if it came before we got there.

By Sunday night I was getting a little nervous that I would have to fly out and not see the baby before I left. So I changed my flight to leave on Tuesday morning after having to make babysitting arrangements for Poppy. (Thanks to those who helped out!) Then on Monday morning early Danelle started with labor but it was just the beginning. They were scheduled to close on their house at 4 PM that day and Brendon was supposed to start his first day of Dental school. Of course it would make sense that the baby would come this day. Brendon called the mortgage company and got them to push up the signing time on the house much to our relief because they had made Brendon and Danelle reschedule four times in the month of September. Danelle said she felt justified that she really did go into labor that day because they kept telling the mortgage company that they were worried that they were waiting too close to the due date. I was glad that they would actually have a place to live when they got out of the hospital.

We took Danelle and Brendon to the hospital around 2 PM and she was admitted. She really didn't start the hard pains until after we brought her a Papa John's pizza. Maybe it was the pepperoni but we had left for our own dinner. We thought it was going to be a long night but Brendon called around 9 and Danelle was in such pain that they decided they wanted help. I think I left for the hospital in 2 minutes flat. Mom didn't go because she gets faint and Alyssa had Eli to take care of all night so it was me.

Poor Danell when I got there! She was having a lot of pain and they wouldn't let her have the epidural until she was at 4 cm. The baby was positioned facing the wrong way and was giving her painful back labor. Sometime after 11 pm I suggested that a blessing would be helpful and Brendon gave a very sweet blessing. By 12 am the baby had turned and she had dialated to 4.5 to 5 cm and the blessed anesthesiologist could be called in. After that every one was able to rest for a while (except me I was too anxious and mom at the hotel) but I told Brendon that he should so he got to sleep for a couple of hours. Even Danelle got to sleep. It was so nice to see her relaxed and the pain stripped from her. She basically got to experience the full pain of labor and a medicated labor.

She could have started pushing at 4 am but was too numb so at about 5:15 she was ready to go. By 5:46 Kent was born and it was such a wonderful moment! My favorite part was when Brendon first saw a glimpse of the baby's head and he announced "There's a baby in there!" he sounded to surprised. I just laughed and said he was right. Kent came just in time for me to see him for a little bit before I had to leave for the airport at 7 am.

Mom came around 6:10 and got to hold him fresh and new and then took me to the airport. She then went and picked Alyssa up at the hotel and packed the place up and took her to the baby and then to the airport. Mom was such a trooper shuttling every one around and I think she was running on the same amount of sleep as I was. Brendon went to one of his classes that day. I slept on all of my flights home and made sure not to sleep at the airports. What a trip!

Here's a picture of Kent at 2 days old that Mom took. He isn't so squished! Know what is striking about this kid is he has such long feet. They didn't fit in the boxes of the paper with all of the birth info!

Watch this

2008-09-23T12:49:00.002-06:00

Wes and i watched this together and it was such a cool movie. It reminded me of my brothers in a lot of ways. It is a clean movie but I would suggest if you have smaller kids, you may not want them watching this if they are the experimental type.

Here's the official site link: Son of Ranbow

Ian turns 8

2008-09-10T11:03:00.010-06:00

Happy Birthday Ian

What is Ian the most excited about turning eight? One guess. This is him yesterday before his first official Pack meeting with all of his gear.

We had cake at grandma and grandpa's house on his birthday, which fell on Labor Day this year. The cake was an ice cream cake that is made out of ice cream sandwiches. I found this awesome recipe here on someone's blog This is Bliss. There are great directions on the post.

The Saturday of Labor day weekend we went to the zoo and I had to take Ian home early. He started to feel kinda yucky so the girls stayed with grandma and grandpa while I took him home to Weston. Too bad, but at least it wasn't his real birthday that he got sick.

The last thing we did for his birthday was we went to Garduño's. Yum! The kids amazingly ate all of their food.

This is why you should always know where the 2 year old is.
I was actually impressed that she kept her outfit fairly clean.

Our Trip to Phoenix

2008-08-22T15:14:00.005-06:00

I decided that this year for Weston's birthday this year I would treat him to a Cubs game in Phoenix. Since the date of the game was so close to our anniversary we turned it into a little getaway from the kids. He actually chose the location based on the afford ability of travel to the place he would go to the game. So in the dead of the Phoenix summer we went to a Cubs game. It was about 104 degrees when we were there but luckily the monsoon season was about to start so it was 10 degrees cooler that week than the week before. Also, thank goodness for an air conditioned stadium! I had a lot of fun and would love to do it again. I was really surprised how many of the Cubs fans travel for the games, they really had a good crowd there supporting them.

Being the blogging nerd that I am I had to make sure we took some pictures of us in the desert outside of Phoenix with the Saguaro cacti.

My Daughter is a ...

2008-08-19T10:16:00.003-06:00

Poppy stashed some of those C.O. Bigelow lip glosses inside of the stroller while I was paying for my Bath & Body Works stuff back in June. We had already walked to the other end of the mall by the time I realized she was playing with something very intently. So I had to drop what I was doing and walk all the way back to BBW. I took a picture of this with my phone before we returned all of her loot to the greeter at the door.

Packing up Poppy

2008-08-02T18:12:00.005-06:00

At the moment I am at the Stampin' Up convention. My first trip without any kids or husband for that matter (since Ian was born!) I was packing late Tuesday night and Poppy was very helpful. She was making sure I didn't leave her behind. She was so cute. She was calling the suitcase "house". I get to see the kids tomorrow evening. I really miss them.

Also, watch out you crafters because I have some cool class ideas I will be putting together for you!!!

Going Old School

2008-07-31T07:03:00.005-06:00

I'm up in SLC staying at my big brother Ryan's house (all by myself). Back in these days, who ever knew we would ever get along later? There are still ways that we are opposites ie the neatness of his house and his high energy level. But since college we have gotten along pretty well.

I found all of these old photos on my memory stick on my camera. I scanned them a while ago and hadn't really done any editing until last night. I thought it would be nice for Ryan to have some copies on his hard drive of the the pictures I had with him in them.

These last two make me so grateful for my mom's ingenuity. Now that I know what Halloween costume making entails, I have a greater respect for the work that goes into it.

Genevieve's Fifth Birthday

2008-07-18T19:24:00.009-06:00

Operation: Genevieve's Birthday
Theme: Sponge Bob Square Pants

I bet that was a hard one to guess after looking at this cake. Oh yeah, we had a lot of Sponge Bob fun. Not really. Just the cake and Play Dough set. But we have been all over the place doing different things in the name of Genevieve's birthday. Yesterday I took the kids to Chuck E. Cheese and even let them eat there. We also bought the little figurines for the cake yesterday. I was going to get her some balloons but she said she didn't want any. (I know, what?!?)

Today after I finally got the kids out the door we bought lunch and went to Cold Stone for ice cream. I told Genevieve after she was using a cranky voice with me that 5 year olds talk nicer to their mothers and I think she believed me. She's been a lot nicer since then.

A funny Genevieve moment this week was Poppy scratched her nose. Genevieve runs into the living room to tell me, I acknowledge that yes, she has a tiny scratch on her nose. The Genevieve goes into the kitchen and returns with a small band aide and starts chasing Poppy around the couch trying to put the band aid on her nose screaming "Ian hold her head for me!" She had to give up because Poppy wasn't going to hold still that long.

Got a Haircut!

2008-07-15T20:43:00.005-06:00

Before -------------> After

I finally gave up on the long hair. I always like my hair shorter anyway I don't know why I persisted for so long. I think it was more about the fact that I really hadn't succeeded in growing it that long since I was 19 when it was down to my waist. I even played with the idea of growing it long enough to donate to Locks of Love. I think they could have made a wig with what I cut off anyway! Too bad it was layered. I love it shorter every time I cut it. So, Farewell long hair.

Broken foot.

2008-06-26T22:30:00.002-06:00

So it turns out that Poppy did break her foot. Just a hairline fracture on her first metatarsal. So that explains the crankiness a couple of weeks ago. But really I'm surprised at how long it took for the radiologist report to come through. She seems fine now so I don't think they really need to do anything about it. So the lesson here is watch out for blankets on the floor. They can be dangerous!

2008-06-20T20:45:00.003-06:00

One of the things I appreciate about kids is their enthusiasm for the little things that happen day to day. This morning I was dragged out of bed with Genevieve saying "Mom! You have to see this! There is a balloon outside our backyard!!!" So I rolled out and quickly got dressed for something so awesome. Actually I'm amazed it was cool enough for them to get the balloon up this far into "summer".

Another little kid moment with all of the kids today was we saw four fighter jets fly by (so loud) and they couldn't rest until everyone had actually seen them. Same with the double rainbow this evening.

At lunch we met up with Weston after swimming lessons and Ian was teasing Gena and Weston warned Ian a couple of times to stop. Finally Weston near the end of his patience said, "Ian next time I have to ask you it won't be nice." And Gena whispers to Weston, "Dad just don't say please."

Just torturing myself staying up

2008-06-09T23:54:00.003-06:00

I'm babysitting the washer again. I just thought since it's nearing midnight and I'm waiting for the rinse cycle to finish I might as well blog. Why don't we just fix the washer? I don't know. Maybe because I'm afraid they will charge the price of a new one to fix it. So instead I babysit it and get paranoid to leave it alone.

Wes and I have had a lot of company the last week and a half. One of the great side effects is that our house has been cleaner. Yes the piles of scrapbooking stuff is considered cleaner, for those of you who have actually been to the house. Next on my list is to steam the tile and the carpet.

Another project that I've been dreaming up is to further stream line the office. I've had this awesome Potter Barn Desk for a long time and the problem with it is it is too big for the space. I think I am going to Lowe's and buying some counter top material stuff and turning that into a long desk. That will give me an extra 18" of floor space in there. Then I am going to re organize the stuff in there like I was doing last summer. Really.

Yeah the washer was draining water again. So now I have to stick it on spin and then put it on a 2nd rinse cycle. So frustrating. Or maybe just time consuming. But Ian needs pants for tomorrow.

Oh also, Poppy is going to get her foot x-rayed tomorrow. She tripped on Saturday night -on a blanket of all things - and she has been limping ever since. Initially she was in a lot of pain and wouldn't walk on it Sunday morning without crying but today she's just limping around. If anything I think she sprained it but when I talked to the Dr's office they want to make sure. It was bugging me so I called. If she ends up in a cast tomorrow I'll be glad I forgot to sign the kids up for swimming lessons today. Is that bad?

Got my Wii Fit

2008-05-27T08:07:00.003-06:00

Weston bought the Wii Fit last week. It has been a lot of fun. The kids don't really exercise on it but Wes and I have been. I can get my 40 min in pretty easily but the interesting thing is how they figured out how people could use the Wii balance board for various exercises. (For running though you have to hold one of the Wii remotes and fun in place off of the board because the impact of running isn't good for the board.)

So this is the funny thing about the Wii Fit. I was commenting about this to Wes last night. If you quit during an exercise you don't get any points or are disqualified from a game. So I was doing the Super Hula Hoop that I unlocked at the end of my workout. First you have to hula to the right for 3 min as fast as you can (with up to 5 hoops) and then to the left for 3 min. Since I was trying to beat Weston's score I was totally dying at the end of the second round but I couldn't give up because then I wouldn't get any points. Maybe you'd have to play to understand.

The other cool thing is it tracks your physical progress and it can measure your BMI as well as your weight. You can even put a password on that if you don't want it disclosed.

Here's a cute video of Poppy trying Yoga after she saw me doing it. She's doing Sun Salutations.

Genevieve's new haircut

2008-05-26T11:46:00.007-06:00

Genevieve decided to cut a chunk out of the front of her hair so I decided we better even things out a bit. So I sat her down this morning and made her chop it off. You can see the before in the previous post.

She doesn't seem to mind, but she did ask "if I could put her hair up in pig tails after I was done cutting?" "Sorry, it's definitely going to be too short after the hair cut!"

Here's her modeling her new 'DO:

Wedding Trip

2008-05-25T20:09:00.016-06:00

The bride and groom:
David and Lisel Bass

Weston's brother Andy Poppy and Grandma Bass Yvonne trying a taste-test

Bass Family group picture Our little family
(hopefully the pro got a better picture)

Luka caught in mid-air

Last week we went up to Utah for my brother-in-law David's wedding. We were able to see many of the people we know that still live in the SLC area. So good to see all of you! The wedding took place on the 17th and before that we did the rounds of all the usual people and places. One of the many is Gateway mall. We let the kids take a day and play in the fountains. Gena really got into it. She had a lot of fun with her friend Luka. Poppy had fun but got tired after a while. Ian said he had fun but I didn't get very many action shots of him.

Happy Birthday Poppy (post belated)

2008-04-29T20:27:00.007-06:00

From this......

....To This!

Two years really is an amazing difference. I love looking at the pictures of that tiny little baby and seeing the features that really show her personality that we know now.

We took Poppy to the Zoo for her birthday but she was mad that I wouldn't let her run around willynilly (see picture below). Never-the-less I still think that she had fun. She really gets stubborn these days when she feels like we're forcing her to do something that she doesn't want to do.

Which Jane Austin Character Are You?

2008-04-10T07:56:00.002-06:00

Take the Quiz here!

Flowers and Spring Break

2008-03-27T08:07:00.016-06:00

Ian had a friend spend the night, one of his good friends from before we moved across town. I decided to take them for a picnic at the Botanic Gardens and the Aquarium for the day to get them to do something besides play video games all day.

Gena wasn't my most happy model today. She's increasingly becoming more camera
shy these days. But I didn't take any pictures on Easter this year so this was my plan
B. I just didn't feel like getting them dressed up for such a potentially messy trip though.

Tell us how you feel Poppy.

Poppy was not in a cooperative mood this trip. She just wanted to run around and if I tried to get her she would just throw herself on the ground and have a little tantrum. Many times I was dragging her behind me and she would just lift her feet off of the ground and make me carry her like a sack of potatoes.

Poppy is seriously thinking about jumping into the water!
She was happy to be an explorer but the water was calling out to her.

The boys had a lot of fun playing around together. We got plenty of exercise, but
I realized that I didn't put sunscreen on anyone so the last part of the trip I was
worrying about people coming home with sunburns.

There were daffodils every where, fields of them. I had to incorporate that into the picture.
I would just post a bunch of flower pictures but is that very interesting?

Our last stop was to the Aquarium to cool off from the hot sun. They had the learning tank out for the crowds of children and the kids are shown here checking out a sea urchin. The jellyfish shown above were facing out on the tank which I've never seen before. Can I just say this camera took better pictures of the animals in the Aquarium than I've ever been able to before?

Visit with Brian and Dona

2008-03-19T08:15:00.001-06:00

Brian and Dona came down from Utah for Spring Break. Olivia is going to get baptized with Dona's family down in southern NM this week. We always love visiting with the Wilsons. It felt like the old days when we lived in Utah. The girls are blossoming into beauties and Miles is full of vim and vigor. He's a good brother though. He loved playing with Poppy and Ian. We will miss all of you!

We went to the Basket shop in Old Town and the kids had a great time playing around trying on all of the crazy hats.

Warming up in front of a fire.

The Twins are Here!

2008-03-19T07:50:00.001-06:00

Me with my new cousins

These girls are obviously fraternal twins.

Chris and Kristy's (my cousin) that is. Maddison and Hailey formerly baby A and B were born on March 18th at 5:49 AM and 5:51 AM. Maddison was born first and she weighed 5 lb 10 oz and 18 3/4 in. Hailey (born breach!) was 5 lb 15 oz and 19 in. I was able to go visit them at the hospital yesterday and I had a hard time leaving them. I wont post any pictures of Kristy with out her approval of the picture. They are such sweethearts! Welcome to the family!

Sledding Video

2008-03-11T10:20:00.000-06:00

Our Trip to Colorado

2008-03-11T09:53:00.000-06:00

When we arrived in Colorado we found a Winter Wonderland. The main problem
was that the cabin driveway was blocked with 3 feet of packed snow. So Weston busted out
the shovel and tried to carve a place for our van to park. The next dilemma
was that by the time he got a space for our van to not block the road carved out
the car's heat melted the snow underneath the tires and we were bottomed out.
So we had to beg the neighbors across the road to help us move our car with their tow ropes.

The next day we tried to dig even more space for our car to park but after hours
of digging we still couldn't move the car. Oblivious to the car dilemma
Genevieve and Ian got the sleds out and proceeded to sled down the drifts
of snow off the cabin's porch. They couldn't wait to get out there!

This is why our family needed this vacation! Teamwork and
getting along.

Poppy didn't go out with the kids right away but when she saw what
they were doing she couldn't get outside fast enough. Weston forgot that
I bought snow boots for this trip. I had to go get them for her.
Poppy eating snow.
We went for a walk around the property and Weston just followed Poppy
the explorer around for about an hour. She didn't sink in any soft spots because she
i s so light. It was funny to see her so happy to wander.
Poppy thought she wanted to go for a swim when she saw the river. Luckily Weston
was able to switch her direction. Ian accidentally kicked his snow boot off into the river
and Weston had to run downstream to catch it. Meanwhile Poppy started heading toward
the river again and I was yelling at Ian to stop her and Ian wasn't trying very hard because he was missing a boot. Picture me running from about 15 yards away from them and I was trying to go down the hill to get her and I stepped into a soft spot and my entire leg sunk all the way into the snow. So I'm yelling at Ian trying to convey how serious it would be if Poppy got into the river and Weston's trying to hurry back up the river bank. Catastrophe was avoided nevertheless. Phew!
Genevieve and Ian looking for a good sledding hill.
Saturday we went into Durango and had lunch and later went to a
fun candy shop.
Gena playing while we loaded up the car.
Me by one of the huge drifts. The neighbor said the snow was 5 ft higher
the week before.
Poppy playing with a balloon in the car. Ian doing the usual for
a car trip.We had a really good time but were exhausted!

Grateful

2008-03-02T23:02:00.000-07:00

My sister wrote about something last week and it reminded me of a good moment I had last Tuesday. I was eating diner at Souper Salad ( my kids love that place), and I invited my parents along. So we're sitting there eating and when Genevieve decided she was "done" and took off to get ice cream for herself- yeah right- this lady stopped me and I'm thinking she's just going to point out that Poppy is standing up in the high chair or something. She says " I just thought I'd tell you that you have the most beautiful little girls." It really took me by surprise and I thanked her and smiled and sighed with relief. I really had a rough week. The previous week Ian kept getting in trouble at school and really was needing a lift. So thank you lady eating at Souper Salad!

Illness Round 2

2008-02-29T16:44:00.000-07:00

Poppy letting me know how she feels Genevieve just fell asleep on the floor

So just when my family was enjoying being healthy again we were hit with another round of the fierce viruses this year. I've only been sick since yesterday morning, but this morning when I woke up I felt like I had been run over by a truck. I guess I slept so terribly last night with a fever that I made it impossible for Weston to sleep as well. So when Weston left for work this morning he left Genevieve Poppy and I all on the couch miserable with fevers and coughing. Today I decided to forgo the cold medicine and just stick to ibuprofen. It seems to work better.

2 days later last night was the worst. I actually thought I was getting better yesterday morning and got a few errands done and by 5pm I actually thought I was as wrong as could be (except for actually being on a deathbed maybe). Weston had just left to run an errand for me and about half an hour after he left I was feverish and in severe pain, may legs were hurting so bad. Genevieve was so sweet, she got a bottle of lotion and started rubbing my legs and it made me want to cry. Ian came and gave me a hug and told me he loved me and I wanted to cry. Poppy came and sat on me and pulled on my hair (she has a hair feeling thing) and was crying because she didn't feel good either and I wanted to cry. Oh what a day. But the two oldest were so good. Poppy cheered up when daddy got home and could take care of her.

Today (Sunday) I think I am better and hopefully I actually am. (Sigh) Let the warm weather come and take this all away.

A day in NYC

2008-02-09T00:11:00.001-07:00

The view from Jared's office. (The Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building, just in case you didn't know.) Sorry about the glare.

Alyssa and Jared invited me to their date celebrating Alyssa's birthday. We went to dinner at the Roxy ( It had really big portions but was not the most exciting food) and later went to Wicked. Afterwards we had a little time to meander the streets and we managed not to get mugged even though I kept pulling out my camera like a tourist.

The picture below is us at the outside of the Gershwin Theater before the show. I have my classic weird blink face but it is the only picture we have to commemorate the event.

Sick

2008-01-30T11:02:00.000-07:00

I am so sick of having sick people in the family. It started about Jan 3rd Ian started with a high fever on and off for a couple of days. A week later Weston my husband got really sick with a high fever a cough and aches and pains. Next was Poppy a couple of days later. She has been the most challenging because she is so young and she got an ear infection on the tail end of it and was sick for almost three weeks. Now I'm the last straggler and I'm getting close to the two week mark and still have a sore throat and am just not running at 100% yet. Luckily it looks like Genevieve has been passed over. She attributes it to eating salad and washing her hands a lot.

Experimenting with Scale

2008-01-21T17:17:00.000-07:00

Poppy got this doll house for Christmas and the girls have had so much fun playing with it. The most amusing part about having this is she recognizes the furniture for what it really is. She keeps trying to sit on the couches and lay on the bed etc. Below is a picture of her trying to ride a toy horse of Genevieve's. I wish I could get a better shot of her with the furniture but running and getting the camera out kind of ruins the mood.

Devery's Wedding

2008-01-02T09:51:00.000-07:00

My younger cousin Devery just got married to a really nice guy Easton Friday December 28th. I took my camera along so I could have my own record of the event. (I never actually get any of the professional copies anyway.) Besides I think it's fun to have a few candids on hand.

This is Devery with her mom and dad Dorine and Kevin and all of her sisters.

Below is Weston and I (left) and (right) My parents right after the wedding.

The next picture is of my sister Hillery she caught the bouquet. The next is a picture of all the little girls in their fancy dresses, from left Alexis, Kayla, Genevieve and Rosita. They had a lot of fun running around during the reception.

I didn't post a picture of the boys but they got into some mischief. They were downstairs playing with the melted wax in the candles. My mom and I had to figure out how to clean the caterer's table cloths afterwards. Ugh.

Lastly the happy couple at the end of the evening. And of course the beautiful cake. The chocolate Fondant was beautiful.

Recipes for Christmas morning

2007-12-22T08:02:00.000-07:00

Are you looking for something yummy to serve on Christmas morning? Here are a couple of family favorites that will make any morning special!

Overnight Waffles

This is my favorite breakfast because they are delicious. I like helping my mom make the waffle batter. They taste best with syrup. – Ian Bass

½ teaspoon instant yeast

2 cups all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon salt

2 cups milk

1 stick butter (melted, cooled)

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

2 eggs

Before going to bed, combine dry ingredients and stir in milk, then butter and vanilla. The mixture will be loose. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside overnight at room temperature. This should sit for at least 8 hours.

The next morning brush waffle iron lightly with vegetable oil (or spray PAM) and preheat.

Separate the eggs and stir the yolks into the batter. Beat the whites until they hold soft peaks. Stir them gently into the batter.

Spread a ladleful or so of batter onto the waffle iron and bake until done.

Banana Pancakes

This was an experiment of mine that turned out really well. Everyone in the family likes this one --even Weston who doesn't care for pancakes.

1 c all purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 eggs

1 cup banana yogurt ( We use Trader Joe's Vanana Yogurt)

1 T veg. oil

milk

Mix all of the dry ingredients together with a whisk. In a separate bowl mix the liquid ingredients (except the milk) until the eggs are combined. Mix into dry ingredients. Add milk until you reach desired consistency. Cook as usual.

Want to leave a present for the kids?

2007-12-20T07:43:00.001-07:00

We've been decorating finally

2007-12-08T17:13:00.000-07:00

The kids and I bought this kit last week and put it together on Sunday night. The frosting was so stiff in the piping bag my hand kept cramping up but hey it turned out ok! We used the left over frosting to make a little snowman ( who is quite squat) for the back of the house. It will be demolished right after Christmas but we're creating memories right?

All I want for Christmas...

2007-12-05T13:49:00.000-07:00

Sony DSC-H7

If anyone actually knows my husband well, they know that he cannot wait to give presents. If he has them in hand he wants to give it right away. That is why I have this awesome camera right now. I love it! It is the perfect digital camera for a person like me who doesn't have a steady hand, but likes high quality images. He also got me a 4 gig card so I don't run out of space very quickly. I can store about 1200 photos at 8.1 mega pixels. And if you forget your memory stick the best part is there is 32 megs of storage space built into the camera itself. The coolest thing about the video feature is that I can fill the available card space with one continuous shot. I'm just so excited so I had to share!

Spider Man, a butterfly and a princess

2007-11-02T10:12:00.001-06:00

This is what we did on Halloween.... The beginning of the day Gena had Speech Therapy so we piled in the car and rushed off in costume. Penelope was the only kid to stay in costume the whole day. After a brief shopping stint looking for a Master Sword (Legend of Zelda) that I had been promising Ian we went over to Grandma's so she could see the kids dressed up. Then we went over to the park next to Grandma's to take pictures of the kids looking cute in their costumes.

As a last minute decision we decided to go to the botanical garden for a stroll. Right off the bat Genevieve loses her shoes. She didn't mind but we wasted about 40 minutes looking all over the place for them. I gave up after that and told her she either had to walk barefoot or we could just go home. She chose barefoot. There was such a huge contrast between the two weeks we had been there. The leaves were all changing and falling down this time. It was beautiful.

The last activity of the day was a Trunk or Treat at our church. The wind picked up so the kids were pretty cold. Nevertheless they didn't want to miss out on the candy. As soon as Poppy got her first piece of candy she just wanted to sit down and eat it. She was quick to pick up if she keptgoing down the line she would get even more candy.

Check my other blog

2007-11-02T10:02:00.000-06:00

I just posted on my other blog Stamping Starlette the finished layouts from my scrapbooking stamp camp. Check them out, they turned out so good! It took me a while to post because I was so exhausted from all of the preparation. Weston hates me to do stamp camps because there is so much work involved compared to workshops and I think I actually make the same amount of money. Sigh, what can I do? Anyway I have leftover kits if anyone is interested in buying one. I will pre stamp everything.

BOO!

2007-10-31T07:45:00.001-06:00

You'll never guess what we did last night... Yeah you got it. We carved our pumpkins. Now I know you're thinking of course that's what every one does, right? The funny thing is, for the last two years that has not been the case. I always buy each of the kids a pumpkin with the best intentions of carving them and Halloween just sneaks up on me and it's over. Too late to do anything with them but use them as decor for Thanksgiving.

This is a picture of Ian being a pumpkin head. I'll post more pictures of the kids later in their costumes. Happy Halloween!

Farewell to the Barlows

2007-10-27T21:55:00.000-06:00

My sister and her kids finally get to go get settled in their new home on the east coast. We've had a lot of fun with them here this month. My kids started referring to grandma's house as "Sam and Mia's house". I guess they did make themselves at home. The good news is while we are sad to see them go, we will see them very soon at Thanksgiving. I'm sure that they will be overjoyed to see their daddy tomorrow. So goodbye Super Sam and MiMi (she keeps telling me that isn't her name, but I refuse to give in), Alyssa and the little bun in the oven.

Flashback to last November

2007-10-18T17:03:00.000-06:00

Last year was unseasonably cold through the whole winter. I came across this photo and I just love how it turned out! Crossing our fingers for this year!

Big Head

2007-09-26T12:37:00.000-06:00

I guess I'm just a visual person but my blog feels empty if it doesn't
have a picture almost every post. So here's an interesting sculpture I
made in highschool. It now is a planter in my mom's yard. It was the head
sculpture assignment that just got bigger and bigger until it had
to be fired all by itself. Now she plants crazy looking plants in it every year.
It still makes me laugh when I think about it. Sized at about 18" tall...

Time to blog

2007-09-26T11:00:00.000-06:00

So I think I got tagged by Jacque I ran across it yesterday and I think I am the Erica in question... Read her blog she's hilarious!

What is his name? Weston Allen Bass (Three last names)
How long have you been married? eight years
Who eats more? It depends on what day it is. Maybe the question is who has the bigger mouth?
How long did you date? umm date? I guess we had one date before we were engaged, then engaged for 3 months
How old is he? 30
Who said I love you first? Honestly don't remember the exact time, but it must have been good!
Who is taller? Wes by about 3 or 4 if he stands up straight.
Who sings better? That would be me. He only sings one note LOW
Who is smarter? Him
Whose temper is worse? Mine if it builds up
Who does the laundry? Him if he wants clean clothes lately (I don't know when the laundry strike started. Oh yeah we got a cat and it lives in the laundry room!)
Who does the dishes? Me?
Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Me
Who mows the lawn? Lawn? You mean the big ugly brown patch of dead grass? Him a few months ago.
Who cooks dinner? Me or Wes will order pizza his specialty
Who kissed who first? That would have been me. It was an accident, I didn't mean to..
Who asked who out? I think it was mutual.
Who proposed? Weston warned me in an email that he might and he did
Who has more friends? I don't know
Who is more sensitive? I am the cry baby
Who has more siblings? I have 5 he has 4
Who wears the pants? He does. I just get after the kids too.

And I'll tag.....
Misty, Michelle, Kristy and Alyssa... Let's have a race and whoever posts first wins a prize!!

2007-09-22T13:52:00.001-06:00

Brendon and Danelle

2007-09-22T13:47:00.000-06:00

Brendon and Danelle were just here for the last few weeks.... And the kids had a lot of fun playing with them, Yes I said playing with them. They play with the kids. Ha. I don't know when the last time I actually did that but anyway, it was cute. Danelle took some gorgeous pictures of the kids that I am going to print up soon and finally put something on the wall. Oh and Brendon sprayed my lawn for me which I was dreading. So helpful! He's doing interviews for dental school right now. I hope they end up in a not so remote place. Denver would be good. Thats only five hours away.

All dressed up

2007-09-19T07:28:00.000-06:00

I caught a great sale on Labor day and got the girls' costumes for Halloween. They couldn't wait to try them out. So here is Genevieve as a pink princess and Poppy as a butterfly ballerina. ( Ian got so skeleton gloves that glow in the dark.

Summer rainstorm

2007-09-19T07:24:00.000-06:00

I shot this picture earlier this summer when we were still getting
rain. There was some awesome lightning but it's hard to predict so
I wasn't lucky enough to get a picture of it. The sunsets here are
usually spectacular but this one was unusual.

Little Dancer

2007-09-14T10:14:00.000-06:00

I'm working on making some tutus for a craft fair this fall.
This is my first "draft". It still needs some tweaking. I
just love how this picture of Poppy turned out wearing
the tutu while watching the kids swim. I promise the
reason why she wasn't in the pool was her choice.

A couple of MUST SEE movies

2007-09-04T11:28:00.000-06:00

I just saw Becoming Jane last night and am still thinking about it. I've read everything by Jane Austin including The History of the World by Jane Austin. What a lovely movie. I've always wondered about what induced her to never marry so it was fun to see someone else's take on it.

A couple of weeks ago I went to see Stardust and I just have to say that it is another kooky romance that will become or should become a classic. Besides who doesn't want to see Michelle Pfeiffer dressed up as an ugly witch?

Guess Who is 7 now

2007-09-04T11:20:00.000-06:00

Ian just had his 7th birthday party this weekend. We
met his friends at the park and had a lot of fun.
The theme was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
and it was surprisingly hard to find that theme of
favors for the party. Wes and I spent our whole
date running around town looking for party stuff
but were rewarded by one of the kids telling us
"This is the best birthday party ever!"

Cruel and Unusual Punishment

2007-08-27T08:20:00.000-06:00

I was shopping at Target a couple of weeks ago and poor Poppy didn't get a nap yet. We were almost to the car but she couldn't stay awake one more minute.

I just realized that I got tagged!

2007-08-23T12:24:00.001-06:00

Jobs I've had: (in chronological order)
1. Working as a receptionist/ slave at my father's business
2. Sales Associate at Lerner New York (now NY & Co)
3. Sales Associate > Assistant Manager > Store Manager at Sporting Eyes
4. MOM
5. Book keeper for my dad's business
6. Stampin' Up! Demo

Movies I can watch over and over:
1. Pride and Prejudice the A&E version (6 hours)
2. Stardust
3. The Bourne Identity (all three)
4. An Ideal Husband
5. To Catch A Thief

Places I've lived:
1. Provo, UT
2. Albuquerque, NM
3. Kearns, UT
4. Salt Lake City, UT
5. back in ABQ

Favorite T.V. Shows:
1. The Office
2. LOST
3. CSI (original & NY)
4. Ramsey's Kitchen Nighmares
5. Survivor

Places I've been on Holiday:
1. Seattle
2. San Francisco
3. Boston
4. The Gulf of California Mexico
5. Hawaii

Favorite Dishes:
1. Fondue
2. Chinese Chicken Salad
3. Green Chile Chicken Enchaladas
4. Fresh baked bread
5. chips and salsa

Websites I visit:
1. Wilde-Ideas paper arts supply
2. Splitcoast Stampers
3. simplescrapbooksmag.com
4. Stampinup.com
5. Blogs

Places I'd rather be:
1. Anywhere but cleaning my house
2. Culinary school
3. Getting a facial
4. In Switzerland with Alyssa
5. At the beach

People I'm tagging:
This means that you are supposed to do it on your blog.
1. Misty
2. Alyssa
3. Angie
4. Michelle
5. Jessica

Encouraging Good Behavior

2007-08-23T11:23:00.000-06:00

These are my new idea for rewards and consequences for the kids. I bought some vases and those decorative pebbles and let the kids pick out an alphabet sticker set. Each kid has their own color of pebbles. Even though Poppy is only 1 1/2 I decided she should be included for fairness.

Then on family night we went over what should be our Family rules. I am going to frame and post them under the shelf that holds the jars. The kids earn two pebbles for obeying and doing things like staying buckled in the car (we have a particular problem with that right now.) We also will award 6 pebbles when the kids do something without being asked such as clean a room, etc. When the kids do something against the rules Mom or Dad can remove X amount of pebbles they have earned from their jar. Part of the effectiveness is they can see that they have made progress or lost progress.

The idea came to me while I was driving. I was thinking about the house points in the Harry Potter books. Lately I've been on the kids' cases so much and I was trying to think of a way to get their attention without raising my voice. So far it has been working out great.

Finished

2007-08-21T08:48:00.000-06:00

Cover of 1995 Norton edition of The Portrait of a Lady

I thought it was worth mentioning that I finished The Portrait of a Lady this weekend. I feel bad that I was complaining that it took so long to get through but after all is said and done I can say I didn't give up. It was good but just complex. There are descriptions that seem to go on like a history of a people in Tolkien. I really felt invested in the character of Isabel but she made me so mad sometimes! I hate to say too much about the plot of a book but overall agreed that it was a very modern book for it's time.

Garden Stroll

2007-08-18T11:36:00.000-06:00

The first view of the Aquarium and Botanical Garden.

This is one of my favorite shots I got this day. The girls got creative and got a good long drink after coming out of the hot sun.

Poppy resting in the shade.

Genevieve by the castle and inside of a giant pumpkin.

Genevieve and Poppy with friends, and Gena navigates through a carrot.

The Butterfly garden is open, this one held still enough that I got a shot.

Genevieve makes friends with a fish and a stingray.

Poppy moves as fast as the fish. She had a lot of fun but it was hard to keep track of her.

A "real" picture of myself

2007-08-18T11:30:00.000-06:00

My sister Alyssa said that I should post a real picture of myself after posting that last one. I posted it because I thought it was funny. But I guess people might start thinking that I let myself go. I really don't have a lot of pictures of myself, since I am the primary photographer in the family. So here's one of me in San Francisco.

Saying "Cheese"

2007-08-14T08:40:00.000-06:00

I never take pictures of myself. For one thing look at the angle
that is inevitable unless you have a tripod. Then you have no Idea
what kind of expression you are making. I mean look at the eyes there!
I was just trying to pose by the sunflowers and all I got was one right in
front of my face. So here's a picture of me in memorandum of my
30th birthday! (last Sunday)

Penelope's Garden

2007-08-14T08:36:00.000-06:00

I took this on Ian's first day of school a couple of weeks ago. The girls wanted to pose for pictures too. Penelope sitting on Grandma's porch. Even though it's taken with the camera phone I love how it turned out. I just wish I had a higher quality version.

2007-08-07T00:44:00.000-06:00

Washer Woes:

Ok, it's 12:45 am and I'm babysitting the washer because after the first wash water drains and the rinse water starts going in sometimes the drain valve gets stuck open and if I'm not paying attention i might end up having gallons and gallons of water go down the drain for who knows how long! (please excuse the run-on, keep in mind the time) I think I started this load at 10:30 pm... Ian just needs a clean shirt and pants for heaven's sakes. Somehow I did about 5 loads of wash over the weekend and failed to wash any of his clothes.

I am still reading...

2007-08-02T19:52:00.000-06:00

I'm still working on A Portrait of a Lady by Henry James. I'm not used for a book taking me so long to get through. I usually won't start a new book until I finish the current one but I do admit that I made an exception for the last Harry Potter book. (That one only took 3 days and I managed not to neglect my children too much.) So far I see the merits of Henry James as an author and I see how he really was one of the first modern authors, but the long paragraphs of descriptions kill me! I just really have to hang on until he gets into dialog. Ugh! It might actually take me 3 months to finish!

Dinner Disaster or not?

2007-08-02T19:51:00.000-06:00

This was supposed to be our dinner tonight. However, when one put's the pizza on top of the
car to buckle kids in their seat belts, one should remember to put the said pizza into the car
afterwards. I didn't even realize it was still there when I heard a loud falling sound
when I got down the street. All I could think was "What was that? I'm sure I'll figure it out later..."

This is the dinner we had after the pizza was out of the picture. The salad I had planned,
the cantelope that the kids begged for yesterday at the store, flat bread and hummus,
and fresh figs that I couln't resist. Too bad I didn't buy any fetta today.

This is the face of a boy that was crying about not having pizza tonight.
He looks pretty happy for someone that acted like his day
was ruined!

Crazy thing happened last night...

2007-07-31T07:53:00.000-06:00

(not actual photo)

So last night Weston was watching a movie while I prepared for my card club. Suddenly he shouts "Scorpion!" I look down and there is a small scorpion about 1 1/2 feet away from me. I ran and got a paper and a cup and caught it using the spider trick. Well then Poppy who was asleep on the couch wakes up so I go grab her while Weston tries to pick up the cup with paper without letting the scorpion escape. I've never seen an alive scorpion before unless it was in some zoo or on TV.

For the rest of the night I was looking where I walked. At least I didn't have dreams about scorpions...

2007-07-30T10:36:00.000-06:00

This is a fuzzy face sunflower. It is a shorter variety
standing about 12 inches. It is so cute! This year I
started them inside but next year I am just going
to plant them directly into the ground. All of the sunflowers I
transplanted grew a little more crooked.

Sunflower Garden

2007-07-30T10:23:00.000-06:00

Here is one of the sunset sunflowers that is blooming
in my garden right now. The colors are so beautiful.

On the News

2007-07-28T08:28:00.000-06:00

My brother posted a longboarding video on You Tube last year and a news station in Utah took clips from it and used the footage on a story about the dangers of longboarding. How is it to be made example of on a state wide news station?

"A friend of mine came up to me this morning and said that he saw me on the news last night- I thought he was joking, but apparently they recently banned longboarding down the Provo Canyon trail, and they used clips from our longboarding video to demonstrate people riding down the trail."

Ryan is the first person you see on the paused screen (with the black shirt). Anyway here is the link to the news story. Luckily he wasn't one of the people interviewed, they didn't exactly have time to make intelligent arguments. Above is the original video.

The rogue garden

2007-07-27T23:04:00.000-06:00

I've been stressing about the dying grass so much that I was surprised when I was looking at the view of my back yard from the front yard. (Does that even make sense?) Anyway I'm looking at it and I thought "It actually doesn't look that bad..." Anyway this view isn't from the front yard but Genevieve took this picture of the back yard today and it shows the roses and the sunflowers well. Too bad it doesn't show the latest sunflower "Fuzzy Face" which is a smaller one and quite cute. I think I'll post a picture soon. But the veggies are growing like crazy too. Now if I could only solve the grass problem too!

The Life of a Princess

2007-07-18T16:17:00.001-06:00

Here are more pictures of princess Genevieve on her birthday.
Over all she is really happy to be a four year old. She even commented
that she "didn't even poop her panties today!" (which she hasn't done for a year!)

Genevieve turns Four

2007-07-18T15:37:00.001-06:00

Happy Birthday Gena!! She's had a great day. We went to Chuck E. Cheese and played games with friends and went out to Pizza at Dion's (much better pizza I might add). We even let her go into the restaurant and eat instead of takeout. We also had this cake pictured above at Grandma's house. She wore her new princess dress all day that Grandma gave her.

Excited for Wii Fitness

2007-07-12T09:43:00.000-06:00

Nintendo announced Wii Fitness at E3 yesterday. Weston had to watch the teleconferences from home this year. He does reviews for advanced media's website and they were only allowed to send three people this year. Honestly that is not enough for a large media site to be able to cover everything in three days.

One of the other cool features of this game is that the pad that you stand on can measure your BMI and track your personal progress as you keep up with your regime.

I honestly can say I can't wait for this to come out! I even don't mind what Weston spends on it. Having a tech junkie for a husband comes in handy once in a while.

Miserable Business

2007-07-12T08:54:00.000-06:00

We've had a whole lot of fun this week. Starting on Sunday night Poppy got some kind of stomach bug and we've all gotten sick at the rate of one person to every 12-24 hours. I was the last person and now I've been watching Genevieve like a hawk because she is the only person in the family who hasn't gotten sick. She seems perfectly fine but I don't think I can relax until a couple more days go by.

Babies in Sinks

2007-07-10T11:27:00.000-06:00

I just love pictures of babies in the sink. I was just
going to was Poppy's hands but she had a different idea...

This is What Happened the Year I was Born

2007-07-09T04:15:00.001-06:00

In 1977 (the year you were born)

Jimmy Carter becomes president of the US

Most of the 10,000 Vietnam War draft evaders are pardoned by President Carter

Singer Anita Bryant starts her "Save Our Children" crusade against gay rights

Elvis Presley dies in his Graceland bathroom

Congress creates a Department of Energy

Anwar Sadat flies to Jerusalem in a dramatic gesture of willingness to discuss peace

Orlando Bloom, Shakira, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Liv Tyler, and Ludacris are born

New York Yankees win the World Series

Oakland Raiders win Superbowl XI

Montreal Canadiens win the Stanley Cup

Swedish music group ABBA passes The Beatles as having most records sold

Star Wars is the top grossing film

The Shining by Stephen King is published

"You Light Up My Life" by Debby Boone spends the most time at the top of the US charts

Three's Company premieres

What Happened the Year You Were Born?

Ugly Foul Beast

2007-07-05T10:03:00.000-06:00

Tobacco hornworm: Stephen Younge

I hate hornworms!!! I found two last night demolishing my plants and now I found another this morning. My tomatoes look so sad! I gave Ian a shovel and told him to kill it. They are so disgusting! Hopefully there aren't any more.

What are sisters for?

2007-07-04T23:04:00.000-06:00

You've got to check out my sister's post about my husband's birthday. She is always great for a laugh! Don't be shocked though, Alyssa and Weston have a great time joking around.

Libray Card Pocket Book

2007-07-02T09:52:00.000-06:00

I made this book this weekend. Check out my stamping blog for a detailed description. Stampingstarlette.blogspot.com

July means Watermelon

2007-06-29T11:07:00.001-06:00

This is Poppy's first slice ever.

Does any one know what's wrong with my grass?

2007-06-29T10:58:00.000-06:00

Apparently when it comes to keeping grass alive I am clueless. By looking at this picture what am I doing wrong? I water every two days... And every once in a while when I try to give it a good 30 min soak, and my water mysteriously gets turned off. I almost am starting to think one of my neighbors is sneaking into the yard and turning it off.

Enough Fun for the day

2007-06-29T00:36:00.001-06:00

Looks Like Fun!

Ian and Genevieve trying to catch the water inside of the umbrella. A little backwards...

Poppy had fun running around in the fountain, but now she's cold and tired.

Just for Sam and Mia

2007-06-27T08:49:00.000-06:00

By special request a video for my niece and nephew of my children playing in the park. Just every day stuff, but those cousins need something else to watch. Notice how Genevieve plays with Poppy. For some reason it has been taking a long time to upload my videos. I must be oblivious as to how long certain file sizes should take. Anyway here it is. I apologize for the bad camera work I was still getting used to the camera.

Life has been crazy

2007-06-21T18:38:00.000-06:00

This is a flash back photo from when I was 16. Maybe it will inspire me to shrink down a few sizes!!
The last couple of weeks have felt very jumbled and I apologize for not posting for so long (for those of you who might care). I've been trying to play catch up on all of the household chores, laundry and prepare for three workshops this week. I also had a card swap that I participate in also that was today. Luckily I had a kit ready to go for that one. Phew!

I've Fixed the Glitches

2007-06-07T00:09:00.001-06:00

I was trying to post some pictures yesterday through Picasa but was having some trouble. I will just blame it on Windows Vista. It makes this computer act crazy. So hopefully all of you who check back will find it working properly.

Pony Heaven

2007-06-05T20:44:00.000-06:00

Gena and Charlie the Pony.