And again more time has passed than I wanted to between posts! Oh well, at least I'm consistent in my lateness. Here are the kids on April 30th playing dress up while I worked on my blog. Hey, Christian's not in girly clothes!! Faith has so much fun dressing up her little bro.





Another fun activity is riding the three wheeler in the house. Not a big hit with mom & dad, but at least it keeps them busy.




Here they are getting in a tickle fight session with dad on May 3rd. It's so fun to have a daddy that loves to chase, tickle and wrestle. I get in a little myself, but I definately don't have his stamina.




We have been spending more and more time outside lately when it's been nice. Faith's been getting pretty good at hula hooping. I'm surprised that in this picture she doesn't have her tongue sticking out and making a funny face. Observing her, I have noticed that she does much better like that than when she's making a cute smile. I think that's her secret tip :D




We put up two hanging baskets of petunias on our front porch. So cute and springy!


Faith had her dance pictures May 7th and then we came home and I took some myself. Faith looked so cute, but she remarked after I got done doing her makeup (as instructed by her dance studio), "I don't even look like myself! How will anyone know which one I am in the group picture"? I also tried my hand at altering the picture a little in Paint Shop Pro X. It's not Photoshop, but I'm starting to pick up some tips from people who use that and then figure out how to do it in my program. I've especially been inspired by the Pioneer Woman. You have to check out her awsome pictures in her gallery (click here). I especially love her horse, cow and ranch pics. Speaking of Pioneer woman, if you're interested in getting addicted to the love story of how she met her husband, it's here (start at the bottom and work your way up, chapter by chapter) and she has an AWESOME (and surprisingly funny) recipe site here.

Anyway, back to me. Here are the before and after.





















Not too bad for a beginner, eh? Well, if you can get past the creepy JonBenét-ness of the makeup, anyway.







Here Faith is giving Buddy a ride in her arm-powered "boat". She finds so many ways to keep that little guy laughing.








On May 9th we met up with Ann & kids and Natalie & girls at McDonalds. We have so much fun at our "mommy playdate"! The kids have some fun, themselves. Here are Ella, Faith, Christian & Kynan holding hands, making their way to the play equipment.





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That evening we went to the "Heritage Hike" which was a 5K and carnival at Faith's elementary. The kids did lots of games and this giant inflatable slide. It took FOREVER for Christian to climb the ladder part of this, the rungs are just a little too far apart for him. His sweet sister hoisted his little bum all the way up the thing!







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Faith got her face painted and was a white kitty,
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and Christian scarfed an entire cotton candy in no time flat.










The next day, Faith lost her other top front tooth! Then we went to Lagoon.










I LOVE this picture!! Just as I snapped it, Christian did a giant sneeze and I got the end of the air intake part. Isn't it hillarious?









It wasn't very busy and the weather was perfect, so it was a great trip.



Tony doesn't do merry-g0-rounds, so he had the camera and snapped this pick while the kids and I were waiting in line. I wanted to crop myself out, but I resisted the temptation ;)


After Lagoon, we went to Krispy Kreme for a treat. Faith wanted a churro at the park, but those things are like three bucks there!! The kids love watching the donuts being made.



Amusement, great donuts and free dress up, you can't beat that! We especially love the free sample, hot & fresh.

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Last Monday, I watched Joy's kids for a little while. Christain loves Lily so much, he is just staring at her with his head twisted upside down. He also loves to hug her and hold her (with me helping, of course).



And that evening we met up with Lana, Tammy & Zach at Arctic Circle in Roy for some dinner and playland fun. Here Christian is showing grandma how much he enjoys eating ice cream cones.

And the newer pictures have not been uploaded to my computer yet, so I'll have to catch them next time. Off to get in at least a little house cleaning!!

Several of my friends have been posting recipes on their blogs recently and this has inspired me to do a few myself. On May 2nd, I decided that I had better get to making Tony his favorite birthday dessert, a little late since his birthday is on April 20th. (If you recall, his sister Tammy had made him a cake since we had been in Park city earlier that day.) So here is the recipe for our family's beloved

Chocolate Lush:

1 stick butter or margarine
1 c. flour
1 - 8 oz. pkg. cream cheese
1 c. powdered sugar
2 sm. pkgs. instant chocolate pudding
3 c. milk
1 - 12 oz. container of Cool Whip
1 chocolate bar

Cut butter and flour together with a fork or pastry knife and then press into a 9"x13" pan. Bake until light brown (about 15 min.) at 375°. Cream together cream cheese and powdered sugar. Fold in 1 c. of Cool Whip. Spread mixture over cooled crust. Mix pudding with milk and spread over cream cheese layer. Spread remaining Cool Whip on top and shave bits of chocolate bar over dessert with a potato peeler. Refrigerate 3-4 hours.

Make sure after you're done mixing the pudding layer that you clean your utinsils immediately:

And here is a side view of a piece that I took using the macro setting on my camera and I thought it came out looking very luscious:

A couple of days later I decided to make crêpes. My dad learned how to make them while on his mission in France and made them often when I was young. After I got married, I asked for the recipe and he told me that he didn't have one, but that he would teach me how to make them. By the way, we pronounce them "crep" instead of "crape" like most people do here because it's closer to the French pronunciation which is basically "crep" but with a rolling "r".

I'm just going to be guessing on the recipe here, because I didn't decide to document this until after the batter was made. Next time I'll have to dump the amount I use into a measuring cup before it goes in the bowl so I can have a better idea of the amounts. The thing is, it's not a precise science and the final result tastes amazing with quite a large difference in amounts and/or ingredients. So here goes:

Crêpes

2 c. flour
2 T. sugar
1/4 t. salt
Mix these together with a wire whisk and then make a well in the center. Add
2 eggs
1 t. vanilla
1/2 c. milk
and start whisking these into the dry ingredients. Keep adding more milk until the batter is the consistency of heavy cream. At this point I always taste the batter and add more salt and/or sugar.

Heat a non-stick skillet on medium to med/high heat and then wipe the bottom and sides with waxed paper.
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Using a 1/4 c. measuring cup, pour some batter into the middle of the skillet and immediately tilt the pan around in a circular motion



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so that the batter coats the bottom in a thin layer. If it doesn't spread thin enough, whisk more milk into your batter.






When batter has tiny bubbles and the edges are starting to brown (maybe about a minute or so, loosen the edge with t a butter knife
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then grab the edge with your fingers and flip it! Caution--it is pretty hot.
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Wait for about 20-30 seconds and then slide your finished crêpe out of the pan.

We usually eat them with a little butter and powdered sugar (my mom & dad love to also sprinkle lemon juice on the top) and then rolled. Of course you can use any kind of fruit filling and whipped cream or go the savory route and fill them with eggs, ham & cheese (if you are doing a savory filling you might want to lessen the sugar in the recipe and omit the vanilla).

I hope that if anyone is brave enough to try this that the ingredient amounts aren't completely off. Not only was I trying to estimate in my mind what I dump in, I also lessened it by about a third. I usually have two pans going at once and make lots because they freeze and reheat modestly well. And I almost forgot, kudos to Faith who was the photographer for this recipe!!!

This is the second part of my post today. I can't believe I had so many pictures from the last couple of weeks!

Here's one from the 22nd of Faith and Christian riding Dolphy Dolphin. They were so cute at taking turns! Faith would have Christian sit on it and pull it across the playroom, then she would tell him to go and sit in his little chair, which he would do so obediently. Then Faith would go to the end of the room, start running, and then leap onto the dolphin and slide over to the other end of the room! Also note, this is the first time that Faith dressed Christian up in his own swimming suit--no more Disney princess tankinis for him!!

On the evening of the 23rd, I met up at Layton Chili's with my friends from the old book club in Clinton. I wanted to make sure we had a get together before Carolyn moved to Colorado. They are such a blast to hang out with!

We had such a fun time catching up with each other. Half the group had to leave around nine, but the rest of us stayed until after ten! Actually, I thought we were showing restraint to get home to our families before midnight :D

On Friday night, the kids and I met up with Grandma Braegger, Tammy & Zach at Classic Fun Center. It was Heritage Elementary night so we got free entry and discounted activity passes. First the kids enjoyed some nachos,

then they played on the inflatables and "Pirate Cove" which was a huge climbing activity with slides and rope swings,

and then had fun in the arcade. Faith slept over that night with Zach at Braegger's. The next day they ate at IHOP, went to see "Horton Hears a Who" and played at the arcade at Fat Cat's (where Ogden City Mall used to be). She had a full weekend!!!

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On Saturday, we got some Roman shades to go on our french doors. They look so pretty! And how fortunate for our neighbors that they won't glimpse me in various stages of undress through those windows anymore!

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Tony took the day off on Monday to get our planting areas done. We took Christian to Home Depot while Faith was in school. He loved seeing (and smelling!) all the plants. Unfortunately, he is so fair skinned that he got his head sunburned just from that trip!

Here's a picture of how the planting beds turned out:

Good work, Tony! Also, Faith and I helped--I dug the small holes and Faith planted the petunias and pansies.

And here are the kids striking a pose because I have the camera out taking the pictures of the yard.

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Last night, we decided to take a ride on the new commuter rail "Frontrunner" because it is free until May 1st. Christian was pretty happy showing off the new outfit I dressed him in.

Here we are getting ready to board. Christian was so excited to get to ride a "choo-choo" (actually the way he says it, it sounds more like "tutu")

What adorable little train passengers! We rode to Salt Lake and back which took about an hour and a half because of a 25 min layover downtown. Not the most exciting thing ever, but at least we can say that we've ridden it!

It has been so long since I've updated my blog, Im going to do it in two parts! The main person who usually bugs me about updating hasn't said anything about it lately because I created a blog for her several MONTHS ago and she hasn't even made one post yet!!!

Christian is usually at Faith's mercy when it comes to playing dress up and he happily puts up with whatever she wants him to wear, but on April 10th, he put his own artistic fashion sense to work. This is the first time I've seen him create his very own ensemble! Soon wearing purses around the neck, hanging between the legs will be all the rage.

The kids were playing basketball in the playroom later that day and I got this cool shot. There are two balls in motion (look for the second one under the net) and Faith's arms look almost nonexistent in the sleeves!

On the 12th, we went to Sarah & Brad's house for Noah's 2nd birthday party. The kids played "pin the balloon on the fire truck,"

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a game where they sprayed cups over with the hose (and Faith won first place!), and an obstacle course where they had to go through a tunnel, step in multiple hoola hoops, then climb a small step ladder to rescue a stuffed kitty from a tree and then back.

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Here is my youngest sister Joy's husband, Jordan, cheating by tossing the tunnel over his head and then pushing it down his body.

Noah got this awesome teeter-totter from his mom and dad. Here Faith and Celeste are enjoying it.

And, as usual, Sarah's cake was amazing!

We also enjoyed another Lagoon trip that weekend.

Tammy took Faith and Tony took Christian on the new ride "The Odysea". It's kind of like the Dumbo ride at Disneyland in that you're in little animals (I guess they are actually fish shaped boats or submarines or something like that) which you can move up and down with a control stick. The difference is that there are animals around the outside that spit streams of water and you can try to miss them to stay dry, or the opposite when it gets hot outside. Faith steered her "craft" and ended up with a soggy head, but Tammy was lucky and the water missed her!

Faith recently learned how to blow bubblegum bubbles and now she is doing it constantly! I can find where she is in the house by listening for the popping sounds!!!

Here is annother game of "swimming", this time with Dolphy Dolphin.

Here is a tired Buddy being snuggled by his sister.

We went up to the condo on the 18-20th. We did some shopping, went out to dinner at Ruby Tuesdays, and had lots of fun with Grandma & Grandpa and Sarah's family.

Here are the kids enjoying a little ride outside at the outlet mall.

Christian loves stuffing his face beyond capacity. Even if I break the item up into little bites, he just stuffs them all in at once.

April 20th was Tony's 37th birthday and that evening after getting back from the condo, we went over to his mom & dad's and Tammy made him a cake.






Here is my cutie who wanted her hair up in a towel "like mom." She's getting so grown up (but not as grown up as she thinks she is!!!)

And here are the kids on the 22nd playing their new favorite game: school. Faith makes the cutest papers for Christian to color and then she helps him do addition & subtraction problems, spelling, and cutting & pasting. She's a great teacher!!