Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Back from Texas!

The girls and I made it all in ONE piece to Texas!! Yeah!! I ended up forgetting my camera half the time we did anything or had my hands full so didn't take pics! This is what I got...!!!

My Mother-In-law Jenny, took the girls and I to a near by kiddie pool and had loads of fun! Lizzy didn't really know what to do but Bells went right on in!



This is the new POTTY!!! It sings when you do your deed in it! How fancy in that! First time I saw this in wal-mart I couldn't stop laughing! What ever works right! We shall see with Lizzy. Nothing yet. But we let her test it out often!


Lizzy passed out on the couch one afternoon. Funny how they fall asleep sometimes!


This is my SIS-DER Ashley! She helped out a ton on the way back home! She just started her week at EFY on Monday so we wont really see her until she gets back from that. Thanks for all your help Ash!


Melatthew


I got this idea from my sister!! Hilarious!! You have to try it! Matt and I together doesn't look so bad!

Monday, June 22, 2009

The Walking Bells!

Sweet Bells decided to start walking recently. I'm so excited!! That means less of me toting her around everywhere. Go Bells! We love you!


Thursday, June 18, 2009

Williams-Sonoma Meatballs!!

Yesterday I had the chance to cook for another family that just had a baby girl!! Homemade spaghetti sauce and meatballs!

Last August when I was visiting my Grams in St. George she showed me how to make a very simple fresh tomato sauce. She had recently been to Italy and the family she stayed with made this for her! So..you know it's gotta be the best!!

Tomato Sauce

2 28 oz. cans of whole peeled tomatoes.
1 onion chopped
Olive oil
1 6 oz can of tomato paste
Parsley
Basil
Oregano
Garlic powder
salt
pepper
crushed red peppers
sugar

In the bottom of a large pot, drizzle enough olive oil to coat the bottom and let it heat up on medium heat. Throw in your chopped onion, saute until they start to brown up. Put your whole tomatoes in a blender or food processor until it becomes smooth and pour into your pot. Add spices that you want. let is simmer for and hour or so. I usually only use a pinch of sugar..it adds a little to the flavor. So...its simple..and homemade! You can tweak it however you want. The main thing is the tomatoes..whole canned Roma tomatoes!

There are a million recipes on making your own sauce, so do what you like and make a ton of it at once and store some of it for pasta dishes.


From this fancy little Williams-Sonoma pasta cookbook I found some amazing Meatballs!

3/4 cup crusted removed cubed bread
1/3 cup Milk
1 lb Ground beef
1 small shredded onion
2 tbsp fresh Italian parsley
1 tsp fresh thyme
1 beaten egg
3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper
olive oil for frying

1) Prepare the meatballs

In a small bowl, combine the bread cubes and milk. Let stand about 3 minutes, then squeeze the bread dry, discarding the milk. In a bowl, cobine the softened bread, beef, onion parsley, thyme, and egg, 1/4 cup of the Parmesan, 1 tsp salt, and 1/2 tsp pepper. Mix gently with your hands. Form into balls about 1 in in diameter

2) Cook the meatballs

In a large frying pan over medium heat, pour oil to a depth of 1/2 in. When the oil is hot, add the meatballs, in batches if necessary, and cook, turning occasionally, until browned on all sides, about 12 minutes. Transfer to a plate lined with paper towels to drain.

I had some requests last night for this so I'm passing it along to you!! Have fun with it! Any neighbors that want to borrow this book, come get it!!

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Love Me, But Don't Show Me

Matt showed me this last night and I thought it was hilarious! I think the song is from the movie Sons of Provo. Way to send a great message about keeping yourself moraly clean before marriage. Amber, this totally reminds me of when we used to make up dances to the EFY songs! Some of you may have seen this already, but I hope you still enjoy!

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Happy Birthday B Bell!!!!

Isabelle turned 1 today!!! All I can say is....TIME FLIES!!! And I know you all know that when you have little ones.

We didn't have any big kind of celebration. Just our little family of 4. Bells was a little cranky all day probably teething....but LOVED the cake and gifts!!

The BEST cake I have EVER made!!!



Having a rough day with all the attention on Bells. She was crying for Daddy.

Oh yeah! Cake makes everything better right!










Happy Happy Birthday B Bells!!! We love having your adorable little self in our lives!! Love Mommy, Daddy and Lizzy!!

Matt is BACK!!!

From DC! What a relief! He still has to work 8 hours a day, but seeing him come home in the evenings and play with the girls is wonderful. Matt had a BLAST on his trip!

Sure looks like it huh!

That kiss was for me!!!


I think its his favorite pose!!

Matt is dead set on wanting to be an Airborne Ranger!!

Some of Matt's friends playing and the battlefields.
He got to spend Saturday and Sunday night with my family in Maryland. I was super jealous! I haven't seen them in a year and they have a new house! The girls and I just couldn't afford to make that trip, and I can't imagine what that trip would be like with just the girls and I on a plane!!! Overall he said it was a great trip! He took a ton of pics but couldn't really remember what they were about. The girls and I are happy you're home now!


Thursday, May 14, 2009

Single Parent This Week

Matt left Tuesday morning for DC. He signed up for a class at the beginning of the spring semester where you get credit for doing an assignment and going on this trip. Way cool huh...wish I could have gone. He won't be back until Monday night, so lets see, I'm only on day 3 and I already have to blog about my problems...

First issue.....NURSERY!!! When is it ever safe for your kids to be in there? Every week we take Lizzy to nursery and she loves it, goes right in. BUT, Tuesday comes along and I see runny noses, fevers and coughing, all that yucky stuff. It's not even winter season anymore! Come on parents, leave you kids at home if they have any sign of a runny nose. Lizzy and Isabelle have been miserable the last 2 1/2 days droopy eyes, constant runny noses and Isabelle had a fever of 101 for half the day. Nothing would bring it down. I don't know how people can handle there sick kids. It's 10 x worst when they are. They're cranky, following you around and crying at everything. So, I think we are going to pass on the nursery part this Sunday.

I have awesome neighbors!!! Definitely a huge difference compared to Texas neighbors. No one said hi at our old apartments, maybe we had cooties. We love it here, everyone has kids and going to school. I have had tons of help already to get through parts of the day. And I'm sure it wouldn't be half as bad if the girls were actually feeling well. I can't put Bell's down for a second without her crying.

When do I take a shower? Probably right now right! I actually did today already, I set the girls in front of the t.v and took the fastest shower of my life. I can take it when they are napping but I feel like I either have to nap too or finishing cleaning something while they aren't messing it up again. The girls are usually up by 6:30 in the morning, no way I'm waking up an hour earlier to take a shower.

So that's all...I always have pics on when I post. It doesn't feel like a good enough post without pics. Thanks for enduring my venting. You get to be in Matts position this week, just listen and nod and maybe some of you can relate in small ways.

I think tomorrow will be a much better day, back to normal with the girls getting better. We can't wait to have you home Matt, just having another human adult here keeps me sane.

Monday, May 4, 2009

New Moon

I was browsing around today and found out that.....

Dakota Fanning

will be playing the role as Jane in New Moon! Perfect fit I think! Alec, the twin brother of Jane in the book, will be played by Cameron Bright....

I haven't seen him before but I guess he played in X-Men: The last stand.

Michael Sheen will play as Aro, one of the Volturi dudes. He looks a little creepy to me but that would fit the role wouldn't it!

Awww, this will be Emily (Tinsel Korey), Sams fiancee! How perfectly cute! Well I guess she'll look a bit different when they have to make-up the scars on her face.

Some of the other Quileute guys: Alex Meraz (left), Chaske Spencer (center), Kiowa Gordon (right). Not bad!
After seeing all these on EW, (there are more I didn't post about)I'm starting to get super exciting for the movie to come out in November! Call me a Twilight nerd! What do you think?

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Busy Weekend

Well, sorry I haven't posted in a while. That just means there's nothing exciting going on or my brain is just dead. This weekend however was a little more eventful. Matt had the opportunity to be a groomsmen in a wedding for one of his fellow ROTC cadets. His friend graduated, was commissioned into the Army and got married all in the same weekend. Instead of renting a tux, Matt insisted on purchasing his Dress blue uniform, not really needed until he graduates. He looked totally handsome in it though!!

Lizzy was adoring Daddy! Once he commissions into the Army he gets to add some ribbons on the sleeves and shoulders. It looks a little bare now but still good looking.


Matt and his friend.


It was a long day! We got to the church at noon and stayed until six. Lizzy was running wild. Overall it was a fun day.

We tried pawning our kids off to them! They've babysat for us a few time before so the girls are some what comfortable to them. Congrats to the new married couple!

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Daddy in The Helicopter

Every Thursday Matt has an ROTC lab to attend as a class. They usually go to the nearest canyon and do land navigation, but today a pair of helicopters came to USU and they got to take some fun rides!! Some fun neighbors of mine decided they wanted to check these things out too. So we made a FUN trek up a gigantic hill while pushing our babies and feeling our legs burn! I had NO idea what to expect with the helicopters. I totally didn't know about the WIND, and the NOISE, that those things make!! There I was trying to take a picture, hold Bells ears, and stop the stroller from spinning and flying away!! Everyone was looking at us like we were totally crazy bringing our kids up here. It was all worth it though. I love seeing my soldier work hard and I will take any chance I can to support him, and embarrass him.


We love you Daddy!

Monday, April 6, 2009

Lizzy Looks Like....

This cute picture of Lizzy was taken May 2008. Every time I look at it she reminds me of the girl in Napoleon Dynamite, Tina Majorino. So I looked up some pictures of her. Tell me what you think! Am I just crazy!?


They both have that side pointy tail going on!