Onions and Pull-ups

In a rush to get the house clean, I found some of Anna's pull-ups stuffed into the magazine bin. They seemed to be filled with something, but this wasn't too surprising to me at the time.



Anytime I put shoes on, I know that it's likely that one of the kids, or perhaps one of the cats has left me a hidden treat. Imagine my surprise when I encountered this.



Grateful as I was to find the red onion, I began to wonder what on earth could be hidden in the other pull-ups.



These kids keep me laughing, and I hope that's enough to keep me young!

:)

I'm Back!

I know it's been a while, and my only excuse is laziness. Well, laziness, and a lack of material to blog about. I have been playing on facebook where telling stories and completing sentences isn't really needed. I've been scrap booking as well, and sometimes when the mood hits, I actually do something productive, like clean the house and comb my hair.

Over the last few months, we have had some excitement. Levi is set to graduate on May 1st this year, and Anna is set to start a local preschool this fall. We are getting the garden ready for planting, and as of last weekend I have 4 rows of peas in the ground. We planted a cherry tree last night and are so excited to someday harvest fresh cherries from our own tree.

I am in the process of reading more Indiana Jones books. These are super fun and addicting. There are several authors of these books, including Rob Macgregor, Max McCoy (my favorite), and Martin Caidin. If you're looking for a super fun adventure, I highly recommend reading these books. There are 12+ out there.

We had a bit of excitement here a few weeks ago. Apparently someone (it might have been me, but that's not terribly important) left the door between the garage and the mud room open for an extended period of time (like a whole hour). We had an unpleasant creature enter our house and move into our kitchen. It chose to live under the kitchen sink. I know what you're thinking. A skunk, raccoon, mountain lion or such. Well, you're close. It was a mouse! We set up sticky traps and food traps all over the place. After 2 weeks, the mouse was still there and smart enough to avoid every trap. We discovered that it was living on peroline cookies that were in my pantry, so it must have been on a major sugar high the entire time it was in my house. No wonder if left plain old boring peanut butter and cheese traps alone. After weeks of having this unwanted visitor, I finally decided to abandon the sit and wait tactic and declared war (truth be told, I grew tired of all the involuntary piercing screams that would escape from my mouth every time I made contact with the creature.... which happened too often). One evening I set up a few sneaky traps to catch the mouse when he/she wasn't paying attention and would accidentally run directly into the sticky trap. It was difficult, as I had to keep Atticus from getting caught in those traps, but it worked! I caught the mouse in only 10 hours. Of course, when using the sticky traps, the box doesn't remind you that the mouse is still alive and is squirming and screaming for every kid in the house to hear and come running for a quick mouse rescue. It was difficult to teach Anna that a mouse is bad and shouldn't be touched, even if it's squealing and squirming to get free. The most difficult thing I've had to do this month is "take care" of a trapped mouse. I bawled and shook the whole time. It was awful! It did receive a quick death, traumatic as it was for me to do. I came to realize that Atticus needs to learn to pull his own weight (and he has a whole 17 pounds of weight to pull). We now have the house back to ourselves and life is grand. There was a major clean-up job for me to take care of in the kitchen, but the happy news is that we are once again mouse free. :) I'm embarrassed that Anna still talks about "that mouse in our house" in front of other people. Ah, children are delightful.

Autumn Colors

I love Autumn. The vibrant colors of the leaves, the final harvesting of vegetables and the preparations for Halloween. This isn't my favorite season, but it's certainly one I love. We spent many weekends through September and October taking pictures through the canyons and in our own yard. We visited Squaw Peak in time to see these vibrant colors.


We also visited a nice spot somewhere in American Fork Canyon right before the big color change. We roasted marshmallows and hotdogs and loved the scenery found in every direction. I feel so blessed to live in an area where there are so many beautiful places to visit.




Here are some fun photos we took in our yard. I am so delighted that we have one of the most colorful yards in the neighborhood.







We also visited Gardner Village this year as a family and enjoyed the festive atmosphere. Although the crowds were a bit much, it's one of my favorite memories in the month of October.

Halloween 2008

Halloween for the Pearson family was quite exciting this year. Anna thorougly enjoyed trick or treating, and always went straight for the sucker candies. Several days after Halloween, she continued to say "Trick or Treat" hoping that I would give her more candy.

I didn't make all our Halloween costumes this year, as I have in years past. My days are far too busy chasing after my baby and toddler, and my evenings are often spent cleaning the house. This year I only made one costume and that was for Levi. He decided a month ago to dress as a wizard to match Anna's witch costume. I'm very excited that the costume turned out quite well. This is also the first time I have seen Levi actually get excited over a costume. We used a broom handle wrapped in natural fibers for his staff. I even attached an orb to the end, but Anna decided to play with the staff and destroyed the orb.



Ian dressed as a Dalmatian puppy to match my Cruella DeVil costume. Ian made it quite clear that he disliked his costume, so we have very few pictures of him dressed up, and even less of him smiling.



We attended a party at Levi's work, a trunk or treat at the church then the neighborhood trick or treating. We have a lot of candy, and Anna is constantly searching the house to find where it is hiding. She just doesn't understand why she has eat real food when there is candy available. This is one battle I'll be fighting for a very long time.



Now that things have settled down a bit. I hope to start potty training my adorable 2 1/2 year old. I can start putting all the candy to good use as an incentive in this next challenge.

Scrapbooking Like Crazy!

I haven't been around the blogging block in a while and that is because I have been spending my very limited free time doing scrapbooking. It all started when the Scrapbook Expo visited about a month ago. I found deals that were 75% or more off retail. I spent 2 hours at the expo and left with enough supplies to keep me busy for a very long time. I have been creating fabulous page layouts almost every night, and I am happy. I am more patient with the kids, I am excited to see my works of art and I am doing something that is just for fun with no kid intervention. I love it!

I do have a question for all you scrapbookers out there. I'm curious to find out what adhesives you use on your layouts and pictures, and why you use them. I have recently discovered that adhesives go fast and are rather expensive to replace. Next time I purchase some, I'd like to be armed with the advice from my best scrapbooker gals!

French Fruit Tarts

I have joined a local cooking club, and last Tuesday we were all asked to bring something from a bakery. When I think of a bakery, I remember the delicious looking items I saw in the windows as I backpacked through Europe. I decided to recreate some one of these items, and it was a success.



French Fruit Tarts
Chef Melissa Pearson


Ingredients
2 cups all purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
½ cup butter
2 teaspoons sugar
1 egg yolk, beaten
cold water

For the filling
8 oz soft cream cheese
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
Raspberries and/or blueberries

For glaze
4 tablespoons apricot, peach or mango jam
4 tablespoons water

Makes 24

Sift the flour and salt into a bowl. Cut the butter into the flour. Add the sugar. Add the egg yolk and enough cold water to make a smooth dough. Knead lightly and cover with plastic wrap. Put into the fridge for thirty minutes. Roll out the pastry 1/4 inch and cut out rounds of pastry using a 2 to 3 inch pastry cutter. Line the tins with the pastry rounds and put into the fridge for 15 minutes. Heat the oven to 400 degrees.

Prick the bases of the tartlet cases with a fork. Bake in the oven for twelve minutes. Put on a wire rack to cool.

Make the glaze by putting the jam and water into a small pan. Bring to a boil, stirring all the time. Put jam mixture into a clean pan and keep warm. To make the filling, beat the cream cheese with the sugar and lemon zest. Spread a little in each pastry case. Top with a selection of fruits and using a pastry brush, brush a little glaze onto the fruit, covering the tartlets up to the pastry edge.

Keep in mind that you will need one or two mini muffin pans to make the tarts.

Dancing with Levi

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9 Months Old

Today Ian turned 9 months old. He's celebrated the day by going to the doctor for shots, which he was very unhappy about. He then spent many hours playing toys with Anna, or I should say that he spent many hours trying to play with toys that Anna kept taking away from him.

Ian is my tall skinny boy. His height is in the 75th percentile while his weight is in the 25th. He's been crawling around the house since 7 months old, and is fast enough to keep Atticus the cat running for cover. Ian is very curious about everything and rarely misses anything happening around him. In only 9 months, he's grown so much and still fills my life with joy. How on earth did I ever get by without him?

Tonsillectomy

On July 31st I had my tonsils savagely ripped from my throat and placed in the garbage. What sort of cruel world do we live in where people walk into these torture chambers (called hospitals), willingly sign the consent forms saying they acknowledge that they could "die" from the procedure and won't sue the doctor, and then allow themselves to be put to sleep while crazed doctors and their sidekick nurses go to town cutting into their bodies? It is our world! We are the people who sit by and let these things happen. the Doctors and Nurses could very well be vacationing in Hawaii during our painful recoveries. They give us drugs like Percoet and Loratab to keep us happy until the pain subsides, but what we don't realize is that we're given just enough medicine to keep us happy for like 4-5 days, and the pain doesn't stop that early. No my friends, the pain rarely stops that early.

I stumbled across this website before my surgery and boy did the advice on it help! Most people think that tonsil removal for an adult would be easy, but let me assure you that it is quite difficult.

I am so grateful that Levi took a week off work to take care of me and the kids through the most difficult stage of my recovery. He was wonderful! He made sure I stayed hydrated, ate at least a little food, and kept me up on my meds. He took complete care of the kids, the cat and the house as well. By the end of the week, he was anxious to get back to work! I imagine that he found homemaking life a bit more challenging then he expected. :) Thank you Levi!

4th of July Fun

The month of July is almost over and I'm finally getting around to post our adventures over the 4th of July weekend. We drove to Washington to spend some time with Levi's parents. When we arrived, Anna was thrilled to discover a big house to explore, a young Doberman Pincher, a pink bed with her name on it, and a basket of new toys. What more could a 2 year old ask for? One of those new toys was a stick horse. Anna would drag it downstairs, place it on the coffee table and put it to sleep. Thinking back, I still giggle at my funny girl.


On the 4th of July, we attended a local parade and browsed stalls for trinkets. Anna received so much candy from the parade, we were having to sneak much of it away while she wasn't looking.

That evening we were able to watch the fireworks off the balcony as they exploded over the Puget Sound. That view will always be one of my favorites. It was fun to eat kettle popcorn and watch the fireworks explode. This year they had some fun heart shapes and smiley faces. Loved those!

During our visit we were able to make arrangements to visit with our friends Jason, Carla and their toddler Cora. They now live under 20 miles away from Levi's parents, so it was exciting to visit with them after being apart for a year. Anna and Cora were born a week apart and spent much of their first year together. After a year apart, it was so exciting to see the girls play together again. They ran through the house laughing, hugging and getting into general mischief. It was fun to see Jason and Carla again after so long. Even though it's been a year, it felt like old times with our visit.



We visited the Tall Ships museum and saw a replica of Columbus's ship. I was very surprised at the small size of the ship. During that visit, we were able to board a military boat and see the ships up close. On the dock, there were people dressed in pirate costumes and making the general atmosphere fun. One pirate had a pet rat that Ian enjoyed touching with his pointer finger. I wasn't fast enough catching the picture, but here is a cute one.





Our last days there were spent at the Tacoma zoo and at the beach. The zoo was exciting for the kids and Anna especially enjoyed feeding the petting zoo animals. The beach is in walking distance from the Pearson's home. Anna delighted in playing in the water and couldn't understand why us adults kept trying to point out sea shells and other boring things. Water is so much more exciting.





We enjoyed our 4 of July weekend and are grateful to Levi's parents for opening up their home for our family.

Little Red Riding Hood

On June 7th I participated in an organized cycling ride called the "Little Red Riding Hood". It's a women's only ride and started in Wellsville Utah. Depending on the rout and distance you choose, can take you up to the Idaho border. As I had only given birth to Ian 6 months ago, I choose to do a shorter distance ride. I was shooting for 45 miles, but realized that my body had had enough by 30 miles. I decided to ride long enough to make it to the next rest stop, and ended up riding a total of 40 miles. I was able to borrow a cell phone and called Levi to come find me.

Although I was disappointed that I couldn't finish the last 5 miles, I am proud that I didn't completely give up at 30 miles. I weigh 25 pounds more than I did 4 years ago when I first participated, and that extra weight certainly made a big difference in my performance. Last time I was able to finish 70 miles, and I was certainly tired afterward. I hope to be lighter and in better shape for next year's event.

Happy Anniversary!

Today we are celebrating our 4 year wedding anniversary. It's been an interesting and fun 4 years. I have grown so much since I first met Levi. He truly makes me want to be a better person. He has introduced me to so many new things, like the world of sci-fi, road cycling (jerseys and all), interesting books, different perspectives on situations, the thrill of science, and yummy gourmet food. He willingly listens to my endless chatter and still has time to listen to the kids talk on and on. Each morning he wakes up early to take care of Anna so I can get a few extra minutes of sleep before Ian wakes up. He often takes the kids and Atticus off my hands so I can get things done around the house, or just enjoy some personal time. He is quick to notice my hard work and shows his appreciation. Levi truly takes excellent care of our family. Happy Anniversary to my wonderful husband!

I'm a what?

You Are An Exclamation Point

You are a bundle of... well, something. You're often a bundle of joy, passion, or drama. You're loud, brash, and outgoing. If you think it, you say it. Definitely not the quiet type, you really don't keep a lot to yourself. You're lively and inspiring. People love to be around your energy. (But they do secretly worry that you'll spill their secrets without even realizing it.) You excel in: Public speaking You get along best with: the Dash

What Punctuation Mark Are You?

Sick, Sick, Sick!

Lucky me, I'm sick again! For the last 6 or so months I've had a constant sore tonsil. I visited the doctor and discovered that I have Strep. I've been on antibiotics for the last 2 weeks, but yesterday I woke up with a fever, chills and lower back pain. I was refusing to believe that my kidney was giving me trouble, so I took some Advil and tried to ignore the rest. I know that sounds like a stupid thing to do, but you have to understand how horrible it's been to suffer from constant kidney troubles for the last 7 months (since October 31st when I had my first kidney stone).

I woke up this morning feeling awful once again, but decided that maybe I should have my new doctor take a look at the situation. I'm so glad I did. I have a swollen lymph node that's concerning him almost as much as my kidney. He gave me some different drugs and insisted that I keep him very well informed on all three problems I'm struggling with right now. I just love my new doctor! I am a person, not a record number. He's knowledgeable, kind and funny. It was a fluke that we chose him, and I'm so glad we did.

With the women's only organized ride The Little Red Riding Hood coming up next weekend, it's a critical time for me to get more riding time on my bike. It's frustrating to get ready for the ride while struggling with one health problem after another. I may be the slowest rider, and the only one who takes one of the shorter paths, but I'm going to do it this year!

6 Months Old

As of yesterday, Ian is now 6 months old. It seems like I just got home from the hospital with him. He's eating solid food, and loves to eat rice puffs and the freeze dried apples. He also took Anna's sippy cup from her to take a few swigs. It was quite funny to watch his expression as he drank from a sippy for the first time to discover it was filled with ice cold water. He is anxious to keep up with his big sister and rolls, inches and squirms his way quickly around the floor to keep up with her games and play.

Ian wakes up every morning with smiles, coos and giggles. It's a delight to hear his noises, even when I'm overly tired. He has recently decided that Atticus is the most interesting to watch, and I often have to remove him from view when it's meal time for Ian.

Oh, how I love my big boy Ian.

A New Game

I have been challenged to a new game. It happened several weeks ago, but I've been missing from the blog world for a while due to my health. I went to the doctor finally and it looks like I've had strep throat for quite a while. I had no idea! Anyway, on with the challenge!

4 Things I Did 10 Years Ago (1998)

1- My cousin and I backpacked through Europe for the first time. We left almost exactly at this time (first part of June). Four hours before flying out, the guy I was crazy about broke up with me. I was also still recovering from the worst sunburn I had ever had.

2- I was attending SLCC and my favorite class was Geology.

3- I had long permed hair and thought I looked fabulous!

4- I was working at Matrix Marketing in the credit department.

4 Things I Did 5 Years Ago (2003)

1- 2003 was a fabulous year for me. I had just purchased my own condo and was starting fresh in the area. I met Michelle (who challenged me to this game) and I went to Karate with her a couple times. I dated lots and lots of guys from my ward. Loved it!

2- I had my first roommate and discovered the ups and downs of living with other people not related. I honestly can say that I didn't enjoy this experience. We often fought over the same men.

3- I lost hearing in my left ear and suffered from horrible dizziness. I was finally diagnosed with Meniere's Syndrome early the following year.

4- I had two blind dates right around the same time and both were disasters. Liz set me up with a friend who was used to women flinging themselves over him. Blah! I think I'm the first person to be unimpressed by him. The second blind date Michelle set me up with her cousin. That was a disaster. A few weeks later I started to date Levi. We were with a group of friends on vacation when I realized my true feelings for this man. It took 2 blind date disasters for me to finally see what I had been looking for.

4 Things I Did Yesterday

1- I put flowers on Liz's grave. This is the first time I've been there since the funeral.

2- Made Orange Chicken and Pot Stickers.

3- Made curtains for the VW van.

4- Saved the lives of many earth worms who came to the cement to dry off. I also pulled Anna out of the mud where she had been having the time of her life playing.

4 Shows I Love to Watch

1- LOST

2- Moonlight

3- Farmer Wants a Wife

4- Stargate SG1

4 Things I Love to Do

1- Sleep

2- Craft, sew, scrapbook

3- Play on computer

4- Laugh and play with Levi and the kids.

I tag Abby, Wendi, Missy, Sarah, and Jaynie

Memorial Day

This year for the Memorial weekend, we got together with my family for a big dutch oven cook-off. My sister made some BBQ chicken, my mom made her dutch oven enchiladas, and I made some onion corn bread. Darrell brought some ice cream and Dave brought chips. Darren wasn't able to join us for this event. Not to sound so proud, but I think my corn bread was the best dish there. Although I'm not sure the other competing chefs would agree.
Linda was kind enough to host the event in her back yard, and the weather turned out to be perfect. At one point Linda took me for a ride on her new 4-wheeler. She can drive down the street a short distance and jump on trails that take her up into some very beautiful hills. Many wildflowers are out and added so much color to the area. Anna also took her first ride on a 4-wheeler, and enjoyed it for a very short time.

Today we did something I've been meaning to do for quite some time. We visited Liz's grave for the first time since her funeral. I knew it would be difficult to go see her, but didn't realize how emotional I would feel. As we approached the area, I kept remembering things about her that made her so unique. I loved the way that she would take a genuine interest in everyone around her. She was so quick to pick up on even the smallest things. For instance, if I lost even a few pounds, Liz would notice. Or if I bought something new, she was quick to ask about it. I remembered times when I would just sit and chat with her for hours. Many years ago when I was still single, Liz set me up with a guy who turned out to be awful. I remembered how we would laugh at those date stories.

It seems so cruel that we all have to move forward with our lives. We are expected to mourn for our loved ones and be back to normal life in less than a week. It seems like time should stand still, at least for a while. This week marks 5 months since we lost Liz. It's shocking to realize how quickly the time has passed.

I'm so grateful that I have my husband and two beautiful kids to help me move forward, even when I want time to stand still. It feels wonderful to be loved and needed!

Here are some pictures of Anna playing baseball with the neighbors over the weekend.

Ian's First Solids

I was being pressured by many to start feeding Ian solids to help him sleep better through the night. It didn't work, he still wakes up 3 times through the night. On the bright side, he's sure adorable eating his cereal and carrots.

Like Mother, Like Daughter

I should be more flattered that Anna wants to be just like me. She repeats far too many of the things I say, she likes to wear my big shoes on her tiny feet, she even likes to dance when she sees me moving to music. Lately she's been wanting to be a mom too. Her doll is her "Baby", and goes all over with her. If I place Ian in his car seat, Anna feels that her doll should also go into that car seat. Where ever Ian is, her doll should be there as well. This isn't a problem unless she feels that Ian is hogging a certain toy. For instance, if Ian is in the exersaucer and Anna feels her doll should be there, it's war. Here are some pictures of Anna treating her baby doll as well has her baby brother gets treated. Everywhere you see her doll is where Ian is usually sitting.

Here Anna is feeding (nursing) her doll. She's even using my nursing pillow and sitting in my favorite spot.




Here Anna is letting her doll play in Ian's tent.



To get the kids around, I use a double stroller. One day I hear Anna yelling for me and discovered that she placed her doll in the back seat (where Ian usually sits) and she climbed into the front seat. She was begging for a stroller ride.



This sweet girl keeps me young.

Blessed Boy

On April 13th, 2008 we blessed Ian. We have been wanting to bless him for many months, but have been waiting for a time when Levi's parents could be in town for the event. We were so fortunate that the weather was in the 70's and could have a luncheon at our home after the blessing.

The blessing Levi gave Ian was so very beautiful. The Bishop later told me that he asked Levi before the blessing if he was a one or two hand baby (as in how many hands to help support Ian's weight). Levi replied "two hands". The Bishop later laughed at this, as Ian must be one of the heaviest babies blessed in my ward. He's rather older than many babies blessed as well (4 months old and near 15 pounds).





After the blessing we came back to our home for a luncheon of pinwheels, salads, fruit and tons of warm weather and sunshine. We rented several tables and chairs for the back yard, and had I thought things through better, I would have set out plenty of sunscreen for all our guests.





Those that came are Levi's parents, my parents, Linda, Brandie, Tilly, David, Emma, Tyler, Heidi, Alan and Logan.
Thank you all for sharing that special day with us.