A Little Con Con, A Little PoWa

These boys must be cousins!

The View From My Window

As most of you know- we have moved! We finally got our own place- well- renting any way! We live at The Junction in downtown Ogden. I am heading out today to take more pictures of all the fun things around us but I wanted to share with you "the view from my window".
This is the Ogden temple which we can see out the Northern window from our bedroom. It's beatiful.
And these are the mountains that welcome the sun in the East at 6:00 n the morning- we're definitely going to have to get some of those blackout curtains.

Summer is Here!!

Ok well maybe summer is not here- but we want it to be so I gave Polo a popsicle- just to prepare him for what may come- hopefully- if the sun ever shines here! Here are some pictures of the lovely mess. He's obviously enjoying himself- and thinks that he's pretty funny.

A Little L&L's with Uncle Shae

Uncle Shae came to SLC to visit! Ok well really he was here for work but we got to go down and see him! It was so fun! He took us out to L&L's Hawaiian BBQ and we had lots of LOVE and LAUGHTER! Oh- clever me. We got to spend some time with our brother/uncle who lives so far away! He shared parenting secrets with Jake and me, kisses with little PW, and tried to steal some other people's food! We're so glad we got to see you Uncle Shae- even if you are an accidental klepto. Especially because of that :)

My Sweet Baby Boy

Well nothing especially fun with Polo today- just that he is adorable. Here's a few pictures of the special moments just before nap time where we curl up on the bed til he goes to sleep- I'm such a sucker :)

I Am Glad For Many Things, Many Things, Many Things

Thank you Wal-Mart for being open 24 hours a day. Thank you for being located so close to my home. Thank you for carrying the products I need. Thank you for having the lowest prices around. And thank you for being the store that I trust to come to at 7 in the morning when my son has blown out his millionth diaper and I am in dire need for some help. Thank you for helping me this morning with my grocery list that consisted of the following:
1. Diapers (the nice kind that don't blow out, the kind that leave my pocket book empty and my worries about washing one more pair of poopy pants behind me)
2. Pedialyte (for replenishing Peewee's electrolytes)
3. Oxi-Clean (to wash out all the poopy pants and Peewee's blankie- thankfully it is ok!)
4. Excedrin Migraine (amazingly- this was not for me and the constant headache I'm having from changing so many diarrhea diapers!)

Thank you Huggies and Pampers for making diapers that are leak-proof (almost)so that I can salvage some my clean laundry. It's crazy- when one pair of pants got poopy I was running around the house trying to find things to throw in the wash!
Thank you Pedialyte for making a product I can trust to hydrate my son so that even though his diarrhea is out of control- his attitude is not!
Thank you Oxi-Clean for being the one thing I trust to keep my son's blankie clean, get out all the poop stains, and retain the integrity of the blue and white colored, squeaky, crocheted yarn!
Thank you Excedrin for being affordable and effective and easy to find!!

Blankie and Teeth

PW's doctore says that a good way to get children to have good sleeping habits is to provide a transition object like a blanket or animal- letting them know that when this is around it's time to sleep, and also giving them comfort. Well after a spell of sleepless nights I had to wise up and introduced a crocheted blanket as PW's transition object. Honestly... it works quite well! He loves it!
A little background on the blanket- my friend in the Spanish branch gave me the blanket at my baby shower. A woman in Mexico had made it for her when she was pregnant with her first child- a boy- and she had never used it. Well she's had three girls since then and figured I could use it instead! Thanks Amparo! We love it.


Also here are some pictures of his teeth- he's had them for a while but I finally got a good shot of them!!

Night Owl vs. Early Bird

Let me be totally honest- I've never been an early bird. There was a stretch of high school where Amy and I woke up at 5 am to go running. Well those days are long gone! I had a class at the U of U that started at 7:30 in the morning. I had to jump on the bus at 6:30 just to get there on time. Well- I was never on time, slept the whole bus ride and then slept when I got to class! Hey- I still got an A!
Staying up late, however, has always been something I was good at. For the first year of marriage I don't think we made it to bed before 2 am. Even when we caught our flight to Hawaii in the early morning- we just stayed up all night long instead of waking up early!! And now having completed 3 years we had still hardly made it to bed before 1 am... until now.
Jake is taking some classes this summer- and they start at 7:30 am. Needless to say we found it imperative to go to bed earlier. And believe it or not I've found some good things about waking up early!

Early Bird Pros:
I get to play with Peewee when he gets up.
I have more time to do chores.
I can have breakfast earlier.
I have time to actually get ready for the day!
I can take a little nap in the afternoon!!

Early Bird Cons:
It's hard to wake up early.
The roads are busy are the school zone lights are flashing.
Peewee doesn't like to be waken up to be put in his car seat- hey who would?
We don't get to stay up late to hang out together.
Even though I have time to get ready doesn't mean I actually do it!
And I often forget to get breakfast, and don't spend the time doing the chores I should... oh well- I'll get the hang of it!

Night Owl Pros:
Jake and I get to spend more time together.
When Peewee wakes up (instead of us waking him up) I just bring him into bed with us!
It's quiet at night (as opposed to in the morning!)
It's lots of fun to stay up late!
I never go to bed wondering what tomorrow will bring- because it's already tomorrow!

Night Owl Cons:
After Peewee has come to bed with us for a little bit he wants to get down and play, so we let him play while we sleep instead of playing with him.
It leaves me feeling tired and lethargic, like why on earth would I blow dry my hair today?
I don't get in the shower til 1 pm sometimes- which can really cut into my day!
I miss phone calls that come any time before 10:30 in the morning.
Once I finally get around to thinking about breakfast it's already noon so I sometimes skip and wait to eat lunch!

Being the first week of early bird habits I'm inclined to say that I like being a night owl better. However... I'm pretty sure Early Bird beats out Night Owl in the long run and will prove beneficial and productive, and even make me happy!

**Please note that being and Early Bird DOES NOT make me a "morning person" and nobody should try to call me at 7:30 am just to chat. Also, I should not be awakened by anyone other than my son or husband as I can still be very grumpy and irratable. :)

Bad Mothering, Good Memories

Yeah he's tall and he can reach inside our drawer and sometimes when we're still in bed he reaches in and pulls all out all the pens and throws them on the floor. Then he gets mad when there's nothing left to rattle around or grab. Ok so letting him play with pens isn't the best idea and his Daddy tells me he's gonna bite off the cap of one and choke to death on it. And I'll admit that there have been times when I'll see a few pen marks on his upper lip and cheek, but no one's gonna die here. Well ok- so I taped the drawer shut- but it sure was cute to watch.



And maybe I shouldn't give him an entire muffin to eat while he's sitting in his carseat, or ever really. But he' loved it! Truth be told I let him eat it long enough to take a couple pictures- just to preserve the memories of my hungry boy- and then took him out and gave him pieces. However- he did eat a whole muffin and a half!

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!