Laptop drama

Andy's laptop cord died, so while we're waiting for a replacement he's using my laptop for school. So it's gone all day. It's not too bad, I am more productive around the house, and I've been able to read several books during nap time instead of read blogs.

yes, I took a picture. Because what's a blog post without a picture!?

But I miss the convenience of having it when I want to look something up. Or blog. So I pulled out our old laptop (it's been dropped, spilled on, beaten by Avery and who knows what else!) so I can blog, and so I can veg while the boys are sleeping today. It's little and I'm not used to it anymore, but it works...mostly.

I can't wait to get mine back though.

Anyway, I've done some much needed blogging, so be sure to check out the cute pictures below.

He's trying to grow up

Jack isn't crawling yet, but he's close. He can roll anywhere he wants, and the last few days if he can get close to the couch he tries so hard to pull himself up to it. He can't, yet. He's just getting so big. Who said it's okay for babies to learn so fast?!

Also, this past weekend we went to our Stake Humanitarian Service Project...I was supposed to sew bags, so I packed my sewing machine and we all headed over there. They weren't ready for sewing so I just cut fabric, but now I want to sew something. So we'll see what I can come up with. I did buy a new summer skirt pattern, maybe I'll make one...or two...

Avery and Andy helped stuff some little fabric footballs, I wish I'd had my camera because Avery was so cute sitting at the table stuffing the footballs with batting. He was sad he didn't get to take one home. I'd sew him one...but it'd get thrown around, probably hit Jack a few times and be confiscated. So, that's out. See how I don't even give him a chance? Poor kid. Maybe I will make him one...now I feel guilty.

The best thing we've purchased

So, maybe not the absolute best thing, but pretty darn close!You may remember that Avery has been climbing into Jack's crib, and that we moved Jack into the closet so both boys would get a good night sleep and Avery would be much less likely of crushing Jack in the middle of the night.I heard about crib tents, so I looked into it and decided to order one, and it is wonderful. They are normally meant to keep babies from climbing OUT of the crib, and also to keep pesky house pets out and away from sleeping babies.It also works great at keeping loving big brothers out!

It was so easy to put on the crib, and it's really easy to use. So, yeah, 2 thumbs up!

Can we get something in writing?

It's March 30th and there are several inches of snow on the ground outside. I'd like some assurance that this will be over soon. Really soon. Also, I hope my tulips survive.

Our modest beginnings... (part 1)

So, Kizzie and I went out to dinner last night, thanks to a birthday gift card from my parents. On our drive to the restaurant, we started talking about where we are now vs how things were when we first got married. So... we thought it would be fun to write about some of our fun old poor stories from our early months.

Therefore, I'll start with a very brief history of how we ended up together, and some other background information.

Kizzie and I met probably about 11-12 years ago in our ward in Missouri. I was friends with some of her brothers, and would do things with them on occasion, and would thus run into Kizzie every now and then. We probably actually became friends a few years later. We'd mostly talk at church, or correspond through emails... things like that. Obviously, it was nothing terribly thrilling. We would have fun talking/hanging out at church, and I think it was safe to say we were good friends, but it never really went beyond that.

When I was 19, I went on my mission, where Kizzie became one of my most diligent letter writers (as she was for most missionaries coming from our ward). We had our ups and downs through this correspondence, but remained close.
The day or so after I returned home, Kizzie came to visit. The next day she came back with Karen, another friend of ours, and I asked them if they wanted to come back that night to watch a movie we talked about. Karen was unable to come, but Kizzie said she would come.

So it began.

Over the next couple weeks before leaving for school, we spent a ridiculous amount of time together and had a lot of fun. The whole thing went much differently than either of us would have ever imagined. Within about 1 month of my return, we were engaged. 4 months after that we were married in the Winter Quarters Temple.

Pictures

Here are some fun, random pictures from the last week or so. Enjoy.

The boys being nice and playing together. A few second later Avery head butted Jack and the happy brothers playing ended.
He's so cute, that's all. And look at his little teeth. Adorable.
Just a fun picture of Avery playing outside last week. before it got cold. boo
Jack has a little curl in his hair. It shows up after we bath him, and if Andy doesn't make it dry flat. I think it's adorable. Love it.
Last night Avery tried to convince us to let him sleep in the dryer. He was a little sad when we said no. I think he thought since I was taking pictures it meant he could. He makes us laugh every day!

ugh

2 days ago we were all wearing shorts and t-shirts and playing at parks.

Today I see snow flurries out my window.

Blah

Saint Patrick's Day Recap

Yesterday we wore green, I wanted to do some fun craft with Avery, but we went to the park instead. And then I forgot.But for breakfast we had something called Boxty, an Irish potato pancake (this is the recipe I used) with toast buttered with green butter and Andy had green milk. Avery wanted nothing to do with that meal, so ate something else. The boxty was actually pretty good, if I made it again I'd just use less salt.For dinner we had Corned Beef (which I actually isn't a traditional Irish meal, surprise) with carrots, red potatoes, and green jello. And then we had a mint chocolate chip ice cream pie topped with mint oreos, for dessert. I didn't get a picture of any of this, we were too hungry!Not terribly exciting, but it was fun to try some new recipes. And the boys looked cute. :)

Avery a Deacon?

Ok... not yet... but it sure seems to be on his mind a lot! Back in mid-February, my nephew Jacob (the one on my side, not Kizzie's side) turned 12, and we went to their ward for his ordination. Before hand, we told Avery what we were doing and explained to him that Jacob would be receiving the Priesthood and that he would be a Deacon. We told him that one responsibility that a deacon does is to pass the Sacrament each week at church. This got Avery's attention. He very quickly got quite excited about passing the sacrament and asked when he is going to be a deacon, so he can pass the sacrament, and when Jackson will be a deacon so he can pass the sacrament. We then explained it as necessary and told him that he could be a deacon when he was 12. He was excited, but not satisfied… and would not stop talking about it. We appeased him by having him help us pass the sacrament trays down the row when they came our way. He was pretty pleased with being able to pass the sacrament like his cousin.

Several weeks has passed now since Jacob’s birthday, yet Avery continues to talk about it. By chance, the other night before putting the boys to bed, we read about Jesus giving the Priesthood to the 12 Apostles before he left them (in the scripture storybook). Avery immediately started talking about the Priesthood and asking questions about it. We explained to him that the Priesthood is the power that God gives us to do things in his place, and reminded him of times he’s seen it in action (such as baby blessings, sacrament, etc).

I love that Avery is at the age where he is so excited about all of these things. He loves Kizzie’s little family home evening lessons, and seems to really soak up all of our little teaching moments. It makes us proud parents.

Artisan Bread...crusty bread...whatever you call it's GOOD

My sister in law Heather has been making this amazing Artisan bread for a while that we all love. She posted the recipe on her blog and it is seriously the easiest bread to make. And so yummy.

Then not a week later my friend Amelia said she had a great new Artisan Bread recipe too. So I got that recipe.They're almost exactly the same, except the one from heather takes 12-18 hours (totally worth it!) and the one from Amelia takes closer to 3 or so. So we experimented, and combined certain aspects of each recipe...and this is the recipe/technique we use at our house. YUM!

Artisan Bread (makes one loaf)

3 Cups Flour
3/4 Tablespoon Yeast
3/4 Tablespoon Salt
1 1/2 Cups warm water

Mix together, cover with plastic wrap and let sit for 3 hours (longer if you want, or need)
With Olive Oil on your hands and counter take the dough (which will be gooey and sticky) and form into a round/circular loaf and place in a *round casserole dish with lid(if you spray it with cooking spray it comes out of the pan even easier).
Cover and bake at 450 for 30 minutes. Take the lid off and bake for another 15 minutes.

Let it cool so it's easier to cut and enjoy. Don't forget the butter :)

*I've also done it on a pizza stone, and it works fine. Just bake it for 40-45 minutes if you do it this way.

The olive oil seemed to make a big difference in the crust to me as opposed to using flour when forming the dough.

We're having some with dinner. We love it, and we hope you do too!

More of Jack's scrapbook

I'm pleased with myself for being current in Jack's first year scrapbook! Digital really is SO easy. So easy. And it's so great because if I decided I don't like something on the page I can change it really easily!

Here are a few pages I've done recently that I like.

Valentine page

Six months

4 month pages

He loves a party

Avery is REALLY into birthday parties lately. It seems like there's been one after another since January. And he loves it. If you ask him when his birthday is he'll proudly shout "at June!" and then tell you Jack's birthday party is in July. He's already excited!

Last night for our Relief Society Enrichment we had a birthday party(can I just say I'm SO glad it over...now onto next month's activity!), so after it was over I brought one of the party hats home for Avery. He's been wearing it off and on all morning, walking around telling me he's wearing his "birthday party hat".

We have some cake leftover from Chris' birthday cake he brought over, so I decided to let Avery have a mini party this morning. So for his snack he had a piece of cake and wore his hat. Then he made me sing the Happy Birthday song over and over. To all sorts of different people and objects. He was pretty excited though.

Here he is, at his un-birthday party. Happy as ever.

{ghetto} craft of the week

I saw this on a blog somewhere. It's not really my style but I thought I'd try it out anyway. maybe I was bored, maybe I just needed to try something I wouldn't normally do not sure...anyway, Avery likes to play with it.

The Sock Bunny. Don't worry, the sock is clean.

She's doing it again!

My sister Selissa, at Forever and a Day is doing another adorable giveaway, this time for one of her spring or summer items. And they're adorable! Go HERE and sign up, you won't be sorry!

I'm thinking one (or both!) of my boys would look adorable in this little sweater in blue tones. Cute!

Proverbs 22:6

Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

Look at my little crafty boy...And Jack, being jealous. He sure is cute. And we're just glad he's not spewing anymore. So far.

The party

Yesterday afternoon Avery and I made a birthday banner for the party. After our (delicious!) dinner, Andy opened his presents.He got a new Basket Ball and Batman, with Adam West, tv show on DVD.Then we had Ice Cream Pie. Yum. And SO easy to make! The one I made was mint chocolate chip ice cream with a layer of chocolate syrup then chocolate ice cream mixed with mint oreos for the top layer.Then we watched a couple Batman episodes. It was nice.

and here's a sad picture of our little sick Jack. This is day 3 of him being sick. poor kid.