SINGING IN THE RAIN...

They were trying hard to convince themselves and me that they were happy just staying under the patio.

Tanner couldn't stand it any longer, he gave in to the temptation!

We all learn from example!

Outfitted in some REALLY nice rain gear.

Fun times, just SINGING IN THE RAIN!

ONE THOUSAND, FOUR HUNDRED, EIGHTY SIX!!!

That's how many calories my favorite nutrition/diet site, Sparkpeople told me I worked off!  I'm not sure that I believe it was quite that many, but I do know this, I WORKED MY BUTT OFF on Saturday! 
George and I got up early, each with our own list of tasks we wanted to accomplish for the day.  On my list there was:
Wash Windows (outside)
Wash down patio furniture
Re-do DI chairs
Now even with only three items on my list, I still felt that I would be putting in a good day's work.  I started on the windows.  We had recently had some very gross mud storms that have left my windows looking opaque, not in a good way.  My intention was, since I HATE to wash windows, to just do the outside now and save the inside for later. But, as things generally go once you get into something, it just snowballs. So in the end I did the windows inside and out. Even though I have the high upstairs one left to do, the one I have to risk my life by literally hanging out of the window from way up in the air to do, and the two basement windows, I'm feeling SO HAPPY that I can actually see outside.
Wash Windows (inside and out)
While I was outside washing the living room window I couldn't help but notice the abdunance of freshly sprouting weeds in the flower bed.  So I thought, 'It will only take me a minute or two to pull them and then I can quickly get on to the other things on my list.'  Well as I mentioned before, and as we all know, the SNOWBALL THING! A few easy pull weeds quickly turned into an ENTIRE day of weeding, weedeating, trimming, pruning along with turning the sprinklers on and off while George tried to fix a broken sprinkler head.
It wasn't until late in the afternoon that I was finally back to my LIST. 
Wash down patio furniture
Although I was proud of all that we accomplished, the thing I was most excited about was the last thing on my list, the DI chairs.  I spotted some old folding chairs at DI in Logan several months ago.  They were exactly like the ones my Grandma Kay used to have. They were only $2.00 each so bought them and brought them home. I've had them hidden  from George because he doesn't like junk and I knew one look at them and he'd say that's just what they were! I'm sure the rest of us will agree that they are in fact not JUNK at all!

The "OLD" chairs

The Vision

I found some fun laminated fabric at Gracie Lou's and then luckily found some fun paint to match.

The poor naked chair, looking exposed for the world to see!

Putting clothes back on with a new coat(s) of paint

VIOLA! 

They are going to reside on the patio, at least for the summer.

(I painted the old tray while I was at it too!)

Re Do DI chairs!

So that's where the ONE THOUSAND, FOUR HUNDRED, EIGHTY SIX calories burned came from when I put all I had done on Sparkpeople.  A good and constructive day in many ways!

BABY ANIMAL DAYS...

I got to enjoy a few days in Logan during my spring break.  By the end Kylee and I encouraged everyone else in the family to come up and join us.  It was fun spending the time together.

I took A LOT of pictures, and of course they are all cute, because the kids in them are all cute. So I'm using a slide show. Hopefully it works.

Although I do have to post a couple of highlight pictures, along with captions.

I took the boys for a little adventure walk.  It was so much fun to listen to them talking to each other. You would have thought they were in the middle of the coolest jungles ever.  They kept handing me "TREASURES" to hold for them. COOL things I might say!

 

At "Baby Animal Days" they were having a sheep shearing demonstration.  The kids were wanting to go for a pony ride but we (I) insisted they watch the sheep getting a haircut first.  I went and stood on the opposite side so that I could get some pictures.  I was amused by watching the expressions on their faces, but then I heard the man doing the shearing say, "oh, this isn't good".  and then I noticed RED.

Luke said, "I can't believe you wanted us to watch this".

"PICK A PARTY.... ANY PARTY"!

We are determined to fight the WINTER BLUES by having one party after another.  It began with NIXON'S 1st BIRTHDAY. 

It would have been a perfect party, other than the poor little birthday boy just wasn't feeling well.  Kylee had gone to a lot of effort to pull off the shin-dig.  There were 47 people in and around my home, WOW!!  I'm glad that the day was at least somewhat decent so that some of them could hang out in the backyard.

In spite of the chaos it all comes down to the fact that it's awesome to have such wonderful family support! LOVE YOU ALL!

Here are a few highlights...

Our first try at using fondant

The finished product

Even the cute cake didn't make him feel better:(

Instead of blowing out his candles, Nixon spent his 1st birthday blowing his nose!

ANOTHER PARTY FOR THE PICKIN...

No foolin, Mike's birthday is April 1st, and for his birthday celebration he invited us to join him and his family at non other than SIZZLER'S.

AND STILL MORE PARTIES...

I LOVE the fact that our grandkids think that coming to Grandma and Bampa's house is a PARTY no matter the occasion.  The other night we got to tend them while their parents went on a date.  It was by no means any too warm outside, but they insisted on having some great adventures with Bampa, even in the COLD.

EASTER PARTIES POST TO FOLLOW SOON...

I CAN KEEP A SECRET!

Okay, so nearly a year ago my step sister, Angie, invited all of us to attend a bread making class. I wasn't able to make it but RaNae and DeAnn went and for the entire year they have been flaunting their new found talents in our faces.  I think deep down they were glad that none of the rest of us went because they truly had "SOMETHING" on us!

Well after realizing that they were never going to break down and share the "SECRET" recipe we finally got RaNae to schedule a class for us.  We all gathered our friends together, loaded in cars and traveled to Pleasant Grove to attend a Pantry Secrets bread making class. 

Jeannie and her daughter Mindy made it look so easy.  The end product was delicious. We had a great time learning their tricks of the trade.  They had all of the supplies you would ever need to become a professional baker.  It was hard not to splurge and buy everything they had to offer.  I bought the key ingredient, lecithin, cinnamon drops and some calazone molds.  Kristy called Tony and had him run to Costco and pick us up some bread flour before they closed.  We then met him in a parking lot to purchase the "white powder substance".  It looked kind of fishy, but we were grateful to him for making it possible for us to get right to baking.

                      

                      

It was great! I honestly couldn't wait to get home from work today to see if I would too have a new found talent.

In fact, we were ALL excited!

I was asked to take a dessert to someone in the ward and this was my chance to SHINE!  I ran to the store right after work, anxious to get a few things and get home and reinact the things that I had learned the night before. 

I gathered up my supplies and began the seven minute process of mixing the dough together, the one that is possible to do completely mess free.  It's true, I witnessed it! 

They made a big deal about keeping the dough "sticky".  I felt like I had this in the bag, that is until it came time to take the dough out of the mixing bowl.  Something just wasn't right!  The reinactment quickly started to fall apart from there.  Sticky is one thing but, this dough was beyond sticky!

They instructed us not handle the dough with flour, but I had no choice. In the end this batch went in the garbage and I began again, this time reducing the amount of  "extra" water.  Batch number two was a little less sticky, but still not quite right.  I was seriously beginning to doubt my new talent!  I managed to form a couple of dough gobs with this batch, which actually tasted pretty darn good, but I knew they could be better.

I was not giving up!  I went for batch three.  Now remember that I was planning on taking a yummy treat to a neighbor for dinner.  I had no choice but to try again.  This batch too, was a bit too sticky!  But, by now I'm nearly out of time to try again so I had no choice but to create this beautiful raspberry creamcheese braid, ha ha!

Too bad it's not Halloween time.  This would make a perfect MUMMY!

Well, in the end I smothered it with frosting, hoping to hide the imperfections and also hoping that the taste would overshadow the appearance.  I made me a smaller one after the fact to try so that if I needed to call and apoligize I could.

It looks like I'm going to have to do a lot of practicing before I have the talent that DeAnn and RaNae were apparently born with. I'm not giving up!  But in the meantime, I think it's safe to say that the SECRET IS SAFE WITH ME!

A "WICKED" TRIP...

Ever since I went to see the musical Wicked with my sisters in San Francisco last summer, I've been anxious about taking my girls to see it there too. Finally the day that we had been waiting for arrived!  We truly had a great time!  The weather was very pleasant, even during the little afternoon rain shower we experienced with our cheap umbrellas.

It was so much fun to spend time with the grandmas.  They had us laughing continuously!

We tried to squeeze in everything we possibly could in the three days we were there, and I've got to say we did a pretty good job at it.  We all came home $BROKE$ so I guess it's a good thing our time was limited. San Francisco truly is a shopper's paradise!

Enjoying the sunshine at Pier 39

Enjoying some delicious crepes at the best mall (not the typical) eatery  in the world!

You can't visit San Francisco without a few rides on the cable cars!

We even got lucky enough to help bring in the "Year of the Tiger" at the Chinese New Year Parade.

Doing what we do best, eating!  Thanks girls, for a great time. I loved spending time with all of you.  It was sooo much fun.

"B" is for...

BABYSITTING:

Recently we were called upon to BABYSIT a sweet little BABY BOY. 

Kylee and Conner had the opportunity to go to Florida to see Conner's dad race at Daytona.  They decided Nixon would have more fun at our house. I'd have to agree! I'm sure they had more fun having him at our house too!

While at our house I began to notice that the majority of the things that Nixon loves begins with "B". Hense, the title of this post.

BALL:

Seriously, this little guy has got some talent when it comes to throwing a ball.  He truly would have been content doing this all day, everyday.  He even began to throw one handed.  It's quite evident he's well on his way to being a lefty!

BABYFOOD:

While not much of a bottle drinker, this kid can eat!  Babyfood that is.  He's kind of gaggy when you try giving him something other than baby ceareal with fruit or sweet potatoes mixed in. Although in this picture he had decided that Chips Ahoy weren't so bad!

BLANKIE & BINKY:

All I have to say is, "good luck mommy and daddy"! This little guy has a couple of early addictions.  He loves his BLANKIE and his BINKY too.  I took it upon myself to break him of the binky while I had him.  He was only allowed to have it for bed. That worked great!  We'll see if his parents are more addicted than he is. As for his BLANKIE, he seriously gets so excited just by the sight of it.  His little arms and legs start going a million miles an hour. It's really pretty sweet;)

BAMPA:

Just like the other three grandkids, it hasn't taken Nixon long to figure out that he has his BAMPA completely wrapped around his little finger.  All it takes is one of his heart melting grins and you're a gonner!

BATHS AND BOOGERS:

As long as the BALL was involved, BATHS were tolerated!  Sadly I didn't realize as I was snapping pictures that BOOGERS were part of the theme too!  Oh well, it's real!

Best of All:

BIRTH PARENTS:

I met Kylee and Conner at the airport and was excited to see Nixon's reaction when he saw them.  I must say, it was pretty comical.  As they came up to us, he just stared them down. He was completely expressionless, just giving them "that look". Then all of a sudden, just as tears were starting to brim in his mother's eyes, he gave one of his signiture grins and all was well!

BLESSED:
So once again, I'm happy to be sharing how BLESSED I am.  It's pretty cool, how that all fits into the theme too!