Crafting my Heart Away

I've been feeling pretty crafty lately- maybe that's the motherly side of me coming out or perhaps it is boredom begging to be stifled. Either way- this is one of my newest carseat blankets I made for a friend. Jake works with her husband and we used to live in their basement. Well after five years they are adopting a little girl! Congratulations guys!

This is NOT my boyfriend ;)

Woo- but I sure wish it was! This is Timothy Olyphant- but I just like to think of him as Deputy Marshall Raylan Givens from Kentucky. He's from the new FX original tv series Justified- I highly recommend it. Not only is it a darn good show to watch but he is just dreamy. The only other show I've ever seen with him in it is Live Free or Die Hard, the latest of the Die Hard movied starring Bruce Willis. Olyphant plays the bad guy in charge of the fire sale. Well I HATED him in that movie. And when this new series came out Jake said he wanted to watch it. I wasn't looking forward to that too much, considering how lame I thought Olyphant was. But let's just say that on the good guy side, tempermental, and underneath a cowboy hat this guy is, is, is... well he's just beautiful!
Tuesday nights on FX at 11:00 pm- yes I will stay up for that!!

Versus

This is to be the first of my many Versus blogs! I have a hard time making decisions. It's quite a problem really. If Jake and I ever decide to go out to eat we can sit for hours talking about where we want to eat and eventually we have popcorn! It's terrible. So the first of my conflicting issues on which I wish to blog is that of Wal-Mart vs. Costco.
Wal-Mart Pros: Everything is at your fingertips. Everything is cheaper than any other store out there. It's super-convenient for a Mommy to take baby during nap time and get all the food, toiletries, baby goods, treats, movies, fabric and music all while the mechanics change the oil in the car!! Thank you Wal-Mart! It takes one day out of my week and not too much out of my pocket!
Wal-Mart Cons: It's always so busy I have to walk a mile to actually get into the store! Things aren't always easy to find- let's face it... when you carry billions of products- how can you be sure where one little tiny thing is? Minus a lady at the fabric counter and one cashier, the employeses are disgruntled, unhappy and useless. You're bound to see someone you know- always- and if you manage to eek out a hello you're bound to see them again 10 minutes later on a different aisle.
Costco Pros: Best meat in town, comes in huge packages so we only have to shop for meat like once every two months! Best deals on I-pods, computers, and other electronics. Also, best prices on prescription eyeglasses. Best prices on local bread and artisan bread. Everything comes in huge packages so you don't have to go to the store every week. Toilet paper, paper towels, cereal, spaghetti, batteries, and bath soap last forever!!! There's always tasty snacks to eat from the vendors. You can buy your lunch when you're paying for your groceries (which is super cheap too!) and head over to the counter and pick it up right away. Who knew $1.50 could taste so good and go so far as to buy me a huge hot dog and a whole drink!
Costco Cons: You pay $50 every year just to walk in the door, and if you don't have your card- forget it! If you can't find your card you're left standing in the doorway searching in your purse and all your pockets, smiling stupidly as people pass you flashing their cards on the way. It's also very busy all the time and checking out can last almost as long as it does at Wal-Mart. There are no dressing rooms- so any clothes you buy you have to take home to try on and then figure out they look hideous on you! Bigger is not always better. Sometimes we buy things in bulk and just can't eat them fast enough. It's hard to go through 2 pounds of cheese before it goes bad! And I can buy a huge box of fresh spinach for so cheap and yet most of it goes bad because we're not rabbits!!!

What it all comes down to is that I buy some things at Wal-Mart and some things at Costco. It must be worth the $50 membership fee because we keep going back. And Wal-Mart must be worth all the crazy people and busy aisles because we really don't shop anywhere else. If we had the luxury of buying organic and local we might do it- but as it is Wal-Mart will suffice. And when it comes down to where I want to buy my toilet paper- well I guess there really isn't much of a battle after all. I guess my versus isn't much of a versus after all- just a list of why I shop where I do and what I look over to continue shopping there.

Easter Sunday

Happy Easter to everyone, especially PW who inherited a few Easter eggs from his cousins' egg hunt! He even braved the cold for quite a long time and loved it! I guess we're supposed to live here in Utah or something...hmmm

April Comes in Like a Lion

Well we welcomed April in this year with a huge snow storm. This was my backyard around 2 in the afternoon. By the next day of course everything was melted and there was hardly a sign of the nearly 12 inches of fallen snow. Someone down the road took the time to make a snowman nearly 6 feet tall. He melted in three days instead of one.


All I want to say is that if April's lion entrance was this bad, its lamb exit better be super docile - like the middle of June!

More About Cheese

So Kayrena sometimes does those blogs about her likes and dislikes, and at the end she poses the question, "What do you like?" Well so I got to thinking. And on thing I really like is food! In particular, cheese! There are so many different kinds of cheese and they're all good for something. But I have favorite ways to eat cheese! Can you believe it?Swiss cheese tastes best on toasted wheat or rye bread with a few thin slices of corned beef, some saurkraut and some spicy mustard. Must be served warm!!
Parmesan cheese contributes best to a white pasta sauce made with lots of cream and butter and some garlic! Warm them all up together on the stove and serve over any noodles- delicious!!
Mozzarella cheese tastes beste with Italian dishes. Without it, Lasagna would be a bust. Also, I secretly love those little mozzarella cheese sticks :)
Fresh mozzarella, however, calls for something a little more elegant. Slice it up and serve it with some really good fresh tomatoes (if you have those nice big heirloom tomatoes go with those for sure!) Layer cheese and tomatoes alternately, along with olive oil, salt and pepper throughout. Oh- so so so delicious. Also, this tastes really good and refreshing on homemade pizza with your choice of healthy and fresh ingredients.
K this is kinda ghetto but this is the very best spreadable cheese. It's sharp cheddar and this brand rocks the house. It tastes awesome with Ritz crackers.
And finally, the good old American cheese slices still make for some yummy melty grilled cheese sandwiches. They are kinda nasty by themselves but if you cook it just right, I can't resist the crunchy buttery bread and the creamy melty cheese spilling out with every bite I take. Ohhhh- yummy!!!

Not all Cheese are created equal...

You know how some things are all the same no matter what. Like iodized salt- buy the store brand- they're all the same. Also antibacterial soap and window cleaner. I'm all about saving money- when the time is right.
Cheese was just one of those things I figured I could buy the store brand of, like sweat pants. Well there was this awesome sale on Tillamook cheese. It's normally like $5 a pound! Well I would never spend that kind of money on cheese. But this was $1.99 per pound, for the baby loaf. So I bought 2. And guess what- it's soooo much better than the off brand! It's like heaven in my mouth. It had the perfect bite to its flavor and consistency. It was like experiencing medium cheddar cheese for the first time! WOWOW! So yummy!
Of course I will never buy it again- at least not until it goes on sale again! But until that day I will wait patiently not even thinking about making a grilled cheese sandwichwith the off brand junk in my fridge!

Modified Crawl- that gets the job done!

Just this Sunday Peewee started to crawl- sort of. It's this cute thing he does where one knee goes down then he pushes off the floor with the other foot and jumps forward. He's truly adorable. But I woke up Monday morning realizing that I needed to clean the house because every two seconds he was in a new place grabbing a new something that he shouldn't. Just yesterday he crawled from the bedroom into the bathroom to join his Daddy's morning routine. We are finding ourselves saying "No" a lot more and definitely on our feet a lot more. But we're so very proud that he figured it out all by himself! Good job Peewee!

8 Months!

Time is moving along so quickly. Yesterday we celebrated/ mourned Peewee's 8 months of life. As a mommy it's heartbreaking and exciting at the same time to watch our little boy grow up. He was just a tiny little guy when we brought him home. He fit snugly on my chest and curled his feet into my belly. And he loved being there- all the time. Now he's branching out, turning into Mr. Independent. However, every so often he whimpers for me to pick him up- which I do- and he'll stay in my arms for a few minutes and give me a hug. Then it's back to the floor to find all the treasures hidden thereon. He wants to eat all the food on my plate, or basically anything he sees go into my mouth. He can reach for it- often causing quite the mess that, as a mommy I'm obligated to clean up. Oatmeal cereal on the floor. Chocolate cupcakes squished into the carpet. Juice spilled all over the counter. And the occasional reach for his own dirty diaper causes me to sometimes slightly tug at my hair ;) But his daddy comes home and relieves me of my hair tugging so that I can enjoy his cute smiles all over again. I look into those beautiful blue eyes and see me- and the rest of him is all his daddy's. He loves us both so much that even though he's very content to be playing all by himself- he whines when we walk out of the room. We laugh and wait for the huge smile to creep across his face that comes when we walk back in! He's discovering new foods, new friends, and new experiences. He loves to play with his toys. He mostly loves shoving all his toys into his mouth until he chokes- only to do it again. He's coming so close to crawling it's killing me! But even without the crawling he somehow finds a way to scoot on his belly, backwards, to his destination and then sit up. So I can walk out of the room and come back to find him wedged beneath the chair and the desk, stuck under the bed, or crammed in between the bars of his swing, whining for me to come rescue him. His very first tooth is coming in and he's not too happy about it. But still he smiles- continuously. From 7:30 in the morning til 9:00 at night he's a joy to be around. He even has this high pitched yelp he uses to show excitement. It mostly comes out when he's surrounded by his cousins. And after bottles, diapers, baby food smeared on all the bibs (thank heaven for bibs), toys strewn all over our room, yelling, whining, laughing, giggling, crying, smiling, scooting, chewing, and plenty of messes- he ends up with a very happy- and very tired- mommy and daddy who love him very much! Happy 8 months Peewee!

Nap Time

So this is Peewee at nap time...
But if he's not wrapped like a papoose this is what he looks like at bed time. Hmmm.

Baby Esilan!

We're so excited to welcome our new neice Esilan to the family! She's so beautiful and I can't wait to hold her. When we went to the hospital she was in the NICU and we couldn't hold her. We are anxiously awaiting her arrival to the house so we can go over and smother her with kisses.

She was born February 5th and weighed 6 lb 8 oz. Welcome to the family little Esilan!

Day 22- Withdrawals

Do you know what goes really great with a slice of pizza? A tall glass of Dr. Pepper... one the rocks! I have officially hit 22 days without it though- without any carbonation for that matter. No Sprite or anything! Let me just tell you how hard it is when everyone has a can of Coke in their hand and all I have to do is reach over and grab a sip. Or like tonight when we bought pizza I picked up some 2-liter bottles. While placing a slice of pizza on my plate I seriously contemplated filling my glass with Dr. Pepper. I settled for a tall (rather sugar loaded) glass of Cranberry juice instead. When it was halfway gone I thought again how wonderful it would taste if I were to fill the other half of the glass with Dr. Pepper and enjoy the best tasting concotion I've ever let my taste buds feast upon. But- alas- I am still caffeine and carbonation free :(

New Blog to Watch

So there's this blog with adorable car seat covers- way cuter than the one I made. She posts something new all the time and it's been fun to browse through all her creations. Check out all her cute ideas at carseatblanket.blogspot.com

Spare Time?

So my cute sister Emmalene bought this adorable car seat canopy for me when Peewee was born. It was blue and yellow- in honor of our beloved Bonneville Lakers. It was great because we went to every game in true Laker fashion! Well the winter rolled around and the temperature dropped so I felt that I needed a warmer cover. Holding true to our passion for the SF 49ers I purchased the fabric and began to sew!
It was my first one so it's a bit oversized but hey- I'll get it. No pattern no nothing! I'm quite proud of that! And Peewee is proud, I'm sure, to sport the family team colors!!


Do you like the ugly purple-red carpet??

New Year, New Tricks

So it is January 1, 2010 and PW decided that he was ready to move up the developmental ladder. New trick of 2010... eating his feet! Check him out for the first time---

Part Two

You can't see it here but Lene had quite the pregnant belly and was still up and at it! I think she was secretly hoping to go into labor!

This was classic this season. Grandma and Grandpa (I don't have a picture of him because he had the camera!) tried to divide their time and spend a little with each of the grankids.



Elauna, Ella, Avonleah and Ellie tried really hard to play together this Christmas. There were lots and lots of meltdowns and even more smiles! Ave and Ella got a little sick of each other, Elauna had a bit of a tender heart and Ellie jumped from cousin to cousin with a smile! (I had a picture of Ella bawling her eyes out, but none like that of the other girls so I didn't think that would be fair- because they all did it!)
On Christmas morning most of the family was sick with a nasty 24 hour bug that sent us to the bathroom to puke, or do other business, quite often. Some more than others. It eventually wore out its welcome and we were all ready to eat Mom's delicious snacks a few days later!
Babies were shared and kisses passed on along their cheeks. Memories were shared too- and some were even newly made! It seemed that Santa came to each of us this year as we discovered fun gifts and lifelong family love with everyone. The best part was that we all got be together- and more than just once! As earlier mentioned, we even fit in a family photo with all the children, spouses, and grandchildren. I can't say everyone was smiling- but they were there! So we'll see how they turned out!
All in all this was so much fun! Things are changing as each of us grow into ourselves and our families- but we will always be a big family together! Even if all our time together is spent wiping spit, tears, or floors, changing diapers, calming screaming fits, making sure everyone has food, making sure nobody chokes on that food- or other things that aren't food, and having to take a moment for ourselves we will always be the best set of Grandparents, Parents, Children, Grandchildren and Friends that we'll ever have!

Christmas with the Rohrers

Peewee was a star all season long. He battled a cold and cough through Christmas and the new year and only broke down when we stood in the cold for family pictures!!

Ethnee asked for a pillow- and that's just what she got. Only this pillow was made of gold! Most of Eth's time around the fam was spent picking up this or that child or playing games with the little girls!

I love this picture. Con G was the happiest and most loving little guy around. He made sure to have everybody pick him up and pass him around. PS- he's a tank so that wasn't as easy as it sounds!

This is the basis of Livy and Darron's time with the fam. She wouldn't leave his arms and he wouldn't put her down. It was really- very cute.

Adelaide ended up needing lots of Daddy and Mommy time. She warmed up to us eventually though- letting us play monster with her and even letting us pick her up sometimes and kiss her- for just a second.

And this is the best picture of all. We all ended up needing moments like this throughout the constant partying that was the Christmas season. A little nap and some "me time" helped everyone remain sane.