The Harvey Family

Happy Birthday Philip

2012-01-13T10:27:00.000-08:00

Philip celebrated his 31st birthday on the 10th. He prefers pie over cake, so I made peach pie which is his favorite. He really enjoyed having his family over for dessert and a couple games of Monopoly the card game. I am determined to beat him at this game one day.

For his birthday the kids gave him a new wallet. I wanted to give him something special just from me. For the last month or so I have been putting together a set of dates for the year of 2012. I got the idea on pinterest and added my own dates and twists to it. I researched places in the area that we have not been to or that we would like to do. I wanted to keep the dates fun and outside of the box. After compiling all the date ideas I had to get them onto a card or something to put into each envelope that he would be opening at the beginning of each month. I don't have photoshop so I had to resort to powerpoint and clipart to be creative. I still think they turned out pretty good.

Philip loved the gifts and was very impressed with the time and the ideas he now has for at least one date per month. So I have fulfilled my duty of setting up a date each month for a year plus a few bonus dates. Now he has to come up with the rest. I also have a set of family outings we will do with the kids once a month.

I am so happy to be married to this amazing man. He always does his best to keep our family happy. He is very caring towards others and I love that quality in him. I am glad he had a great birthday and that we could share it with him. Love you Philip.

Earning Their Keep

2012-01-13T10:09:00.000-08:00

Recently the realization has hit me that Summer is old enough and quite capable to help out around the house with chores that are not so baby friendly. I put her right to work one day after school when I was not in the mood to vacuum the rug that has to be tediously cleaned with the hose because our vacuum doesn't work well on it. Ususally it takes me what seems like 20 minutes to get this thing cleaned right. It was fantastic to watch Summer vacuum the carpet for me. She enjoyed it quite a bit too. I know that won't last long so I will take it while I can get it.

Next on the older kid chore list is helping me do the dishes. Again not wanting to clean up myself I rinsed all the dishes out and then set Summer to work washing the dishes that could not go in the dishwasher and a few extras like the glass she has. I had to explain how she needs to wash both the inside and the outside really well. I think she did a pretty good job because she spent so long on each dish I had to make her get a new one.

She is a big help with Brayden. Usually she entertains him while I am cooking dinner which help tremendously. She is easily grossed out by throwing diapers away or things like that so instead she has started helping me feed Brayden a bit. I only let her give him a few bites, but she is getting better at getting the food in his mouth and not all over him. He loves her so much. She is his best friend.

Brayden's job is basically to look cute. He is a super happy baby for the most part. He really only fusses when he is tired or hungry. He is full of smiles. As long as he keeps it up he is fulfilling his duties around the house.

Oh, and of course he has to eat his food which he loves. His favorites are bananas, and also anything he can eat from his own hand. This is very limited of course so he eats a lot of baby mum mum rice crackers. Keep up the good work Brayden. Maybe you will be my less picky eater.

Christmas in Idaho

2012-01-13T09:41:00.000-08:00

Finally I am getting around to posting about our trip to Idaho for Christmas. This is very late and I hope to do better about updating our blog in the future. Anyhow, here it is. Mostly pictures.

Now that we live a little closer we decided to take the long drive and enjoy our cram packed car for 15 hours. The kids both did really well on the way there and did pretty good on the way back. I can't complain. I sat and crotched since Philip refused to let me help him drive.

This is why I love the Northwest and this isn't even the grandest. The scenery is super amazing through Coeur D'Alene, Idaho. Very nice and I wouldn't mind living there. We were fortunate to avoid snow for the most part. For this time of year we had great roads.

Brayden had his first ride in the cart. He was a bit wobbly, but I strapped him in good and he enjoyed the ride.

I had promised to take Summer to visit Santa because she missed seeing him in Vancouver. On Christmas eve we found him at the mall visiting with the last few boys and girls who still needed to report to him. She was pretty excited to tell him how she really wanted a lump of coal and some foot pajamas. I think Brayden was just content to be held.

A couple of weeks before Christmas my nephew got into a bad snowmobile accident. He was in the hospital over the Christmas holiday so we went to visit him on Christmas eve and bring him a little cheer. Poor guy he is going to be recovering for a very long time. We are just glad he is alive and that we could see him for a little bit.

Christmas day we slept in until about 7:30 I think. Nothing like when I was little and we would set our clocks for 5:00am. I think there were even a few nights that I never even fell asleep because I was so excited. Either that or I was scared to death because my two older sisters told me Santa Clause was an axe murderer. I know they were very nice weren't they. Anyhow, we haven't got to the point where our kids are begging to wake up that early so we just let them sleep.

It was no surprise when Brayden opened his first gifts that all he wanted to do was eat the paper. Here Summer is trying to prevent him from scarfing down the brightly colored paper.

He enjoyed his new toys and especially likes this one my mom gave him that goes crazy with the shakes. It is like a hand held earthquake.

Summer was beside herself when she got her feet pajamas from Santa, and real coal just like she wanted. She really did want coal. She kept asking me if I thought Santa would let her have a piece of coal not for being naughty, but just because. The only problem is that Santa didn't quite get the size right on the pjs and therefore we had to take them back and get different ones.

Summer watching Grandma open up a gift.

Some of my nieces and nephews. I can't believe how old they are. It is so crazy to see them as teens and tweens.

I remember when they were just babies. Shawnee use to pull my hair and I would freak. I also remember being a germaphobe. I wouldn't let my nieces and nephews touch me unless they washed their hands. I will say that was after taking a microbiology class, and thankfully that phase only lasted a couple of years.

My cute nephew. I so wish I were closer to them so I could get to know these little ones more. He is so funny.

More of my nephews. The one on the left is a little twerp. He can do something to irritate, and then give you this smile that makes you melt like butter. He is so cute and I love him.

Hanging out with family.

My two sisters and my mom. Wish I could hang out with these girls more often.

We really wanted to take the kids sledding because Summer has only been pulled on the ground in the past. She has never been real sledding down a hill/mountain. Since there was no snow in Rigby we had to drive to my sister's house near the mountains. She took time away from being at the hospital to take us. We are so glad she was willing too because it was so fun.

She had this sled that was perfect for Brayden. It had a strap to buckle him in. Philip took him down the hill a few times and he seemed to enjoy it so much that he fell asleep.

He must have been tired because I took him to the car where he stayed asleep for the rest of the time while we finished sledding.

Summer loved going down the hill on the sled. She was lucky to have older cousins to entertain her the whole time. She was not a fan of walking back up the hill so after about 5 or 6 times down the hill she decided she was finished. She sat and ate packed dirty snow the rest of the time.

Eating the snow.

Summer got the game Headbands for Christmas. We decided to break it out and make my mom play it with us. Usually she is not the game playing type.

She loved it so much she laughed her self to a cry. It was hilarious. I am glad she had a lot of fun playing it. It made the game much more interesting.

We had an awesome time and look forward to going back soon. We hope to go again in March for Summer's spring break. I hope it works out. It is always nice visiting with family and being in my home town for a bit. We really are happy to have had the opportunity to be there during Christmas.

Brayden 6 Months

2011-12-19T00:29:00.000-08:00

Can you believe my little boy is not so little anymore? Seriously where does time go. I really can't believe Brayden is already six months old. I remember thinking when he was born that when he was six months it would almost be time to visit my family for Christmas. Well the time is here. Brayden is growing and changing so much. Here are some stats and some things Brayden is up to these days.

Brayden's weight: 16 lbs 5 oz

Length: 25 3/4 inches

He is a little on the light side, but has grown in length. He will probably be tall and thin like his dad.

Brayden is easily entertained by anyone and anything in sight. This also means he is very distracted especially while eating which is can be interesting.

One day he just started to suck on his lip. It is actually quite cute to see him soothing himself with his lip. It is like a built in soother. It lasted for a couple weeks, and now he only does it occasionally.

At around five months I decided to give him a baby cucumber to chew on just to see what he thought and to help sooth his gums. Man did he go to town on that thing. He loved it. In the last week I have started him on solids. He is definitely a lover of food. He just needs to get the swallowing down. I have a whole post on him eating I will do later.

Brayden is now practicing sitting up. He is still really wobbly but has come a long way in just two weeks. As long as this pillow thing is behind him he does good for about 5-10 minutes before toppling over. The best is when he does a nose dive and manages to roll himself over to avoid squishing his face in the ground.

Oh how he loves his daddy. As soon as daddy comes home and walks up the stairs he is grinning from ear to ear. When Philip is in the room Brayden constantly stares at him. Sometimes while I am feeding him he stops, tilts his head upside down and looks at Philip. I think they will make great buddies. I actually have a similar picture of Summer on Philip's shoulders I should post.

He has finally learned the cause and effect of the jolly jumper. Jumping is a new favorite of his. Actually he mostly twirls in circles.

I always love sneaking a peak of my sleeping kids. There is just something so peaceful about it. This is where Brayden likes to take his naps. I don't know why but he just sleeps the best like this during the day. I need to start training him to take his naps in his crib now that he can roll.

What an adorable little fellow. I love him so much I can't stand it. My kids just make my life so much sweeter.

And of course he loves his big sister. She is his best friend. She can always make him smile and laugh a bit too. There are those moments when he just wants her to leave him alone, but that is only because she can't get enough of him either. They make great pals.

I was cooking dinner and looked over the couch to check on Brayden since he was with Summer and this is what I found. Summer was playing like she was Mary and Brayden was Baby Jesus. She had the blue hippo as a sheep and since there were no more people to play the wise men she used the tiny ones from her nativity. She must have forgot about Joseph all together because I don't think I see him in the picture. Anyhow, Brayden was entertained and Summer was teaching him about Christmas.

Our good friends were so nice and brought this little hippo to Brayden. Of course he is too small for it right now, but daddy gave him a little ride anyways. As you can see he is getting more teeth as evidenced by the soaking wet onsie. This kid can't stop drooling.

Brayden and I get to hang out quite a bit since I am at home with him all day long. He is my best shopping buddy, exercise buddy, scoffer buddy, and sewing buddy.

I am pretty lucky that I get to spend my day with this little boy. I love you Brayden.

Baby it's Cold Outside

2011-12-04T16:44:00.001-08:00

Ok, so it has been cold here, but surprisingly not as cold as I thought it would be. I guess I was expecting arctic weather similar to how it was in Rigby growing up. Well, I do love the change of season and the rosy cheeks my kids have it we are outside very long. I love the hot chocolate and all the good things that come with winter. Here are some of our random happenings as of late.

Before swim lessons Summer wanted a picture outside with her brother. He is getting heavier and harder for her to carry so we had to make it quick. They sure are cute.

One morning Summer and I wanted to jump rope outside. It was quite cold so we decided to bundle Brayden up. It was so funny. He reminded me of Randy from A Christmas Story when his mom bundles and bundles him up so much that he can't move his arms or say anything. All he can to is cry. Anyhow, he was my little marshmallow man.

On November 18th we woke up to snow outside. Summer has been dreaming of this for so long. She could not resist going out to play in it quickly before school.

The best part of the day for me was going to pick her up from school to see the remnants of the children playing at recess. Several large snowballs left alone in the field. It was so fun and reminded me how fun and imaginative childhood is.

Anyhow, we are looking forward to some more cold weather to get the winter feel.

Summer Learning to Sew

2011-12-01T23:40:00.001-08:00

Since I started sewing four years ago Summer has been at my side watching and anxiously awaiting her turn. She has been wanting to sew for some time now, but I always put it off because I didn't feel she was ready yet. Maybe I just wasn't ready to sit there patiently teaching her. She has even asked on several occasions for a kids sewing machine.

So, the day finally came when I told her my attention was all hers and that I would teach her how to sew. The first step was choosing a project. I let her pick something I knew would have all straight stitches. She ended up picking a scarf. So we went to my fabric stash and I let her choose her fabrics. It was hard not to guide her and pick for her what I thought went best, but she did it and managed to get coordinating prints.

I am not ready to let her begin using my rotary cutter or my really sharp scissors yet. So I ended up cutting all the fabrics out for her and then she began.

She sewed everything herself. I sat next to her to guide her. I taught her what it means to put the right sides together in her terms of course (the pretty sides), lining up the edges, pinning, sewing a straight line, and most importantly controlling the foot peddle. It is very easy to press too hard and make the machine go super fast and out of control. So she quickly learned to press gently or it goes crazy.

Lining up the edges.

Pinning

Sewing

Topstitching

She was curious how we were going to get the ugly side (wrong side) to be pretty again if we were sewing both of the pretty sides on the inside. I explained that we would make a magic hole that we can pull it out and it would look pretty again. I still think she believes it was a magic trick.

It was actually really good to spend one on one time with her teaching her something that we both have an interest in. I am glad she had fun and that she did really really well. I was impressed because this was her first time and she really did sew everything except for a part of the topstitching at the end.

Yay for Summer. Nice finished Product.

Happy she got to sew.

I am glad we had fun and that she now has a scarf to wear. Love you Summer, and yes someday you can have your own sewing machine.

All About Halloween

2011-11-01T17:52:00.000-07:00

This month we wanted to have a lot of fun with Halloween. First we started off with some fun Halloween dinners throughout the month. I started off with the ghosts and pumpkins made from mashed potatoes. That was documented in my last post. Some of the others we had are below.

This was a snake calzone. The tongue got a little over cooked but Summer still had fun with it.

We had black bean soup with cheese spiderwebs and some orange and black tortilla chips my mom sent us.

For our Halloween dinner we did the classic mummy dogs. There may have been a few more festive meals in there but I can't remember.

Next up we wanted to let Summer have a party with some of her friends. She helped me plan the party and we started early on baking and getting set. Here are some of the fun things we made for the party.

Colored bread inspired by bread sold at the Broulim's bakery my mom works at. I thought it would be fun for sandwiches so I made the bread dough and kneaded forever to get the bright colors. I need to invest in a standing mixer someday. Above is the dough before it was raised.

This is what the bread ended up looking like after it was cooked. We enjoyed toast and sandwiches with it.

I am sort of obsessed with cake pops. I need to stop making them, but they are fun. We made pumpkins, black cats, and purple people eaters. Red velvet inside.

Carving pumpkins with some friends

Summer's first power tool. She loved using it. I need to invest in this power pumpkin carver.

Scooby fast asleep until he wakes up for more Scooby snacks.

Daphne loved her costume and loved the candy she got even more. Our ward had a nice trunk or treat with chili, cupcake contest, parade of costumes, and finally the trunk or treat.

The front side of Summer's pumpkin that I carved. I forgot to get a picture of the part she carved.

Philip's attempt at Darth Vador. He ended up with a huge eye. It still looks good though. I never got around to carving my pumpkin, and Brayden's I am planning to puree for muffins.

The whole gang except for Fred. We need another kid. I guess we can pretend Fred was parking the mystery machine.

I finally found a wig last minute for $4. It was actually suppose to be a Justin Beber wig, but I think it worked out for Shaggy. Summer and Brayden loved trick or treating. We all loved getting trick or treaters at our door for the first time even if it was only 20 kids. It was a lot of fun and I look forward to next years costumes. I hope you all had a great Halloween.

Baby Teeth

2011-10-11T21:41:00.000-07:00

Yep, that's right. Our little Brayden has already sprouted some teeth. I think Summer got her first one at four months. Brayden turns four months on Sunday. I guess they are right on track with each other.

In fact they look an a lot alike. Most people that see him tell me he looks just like Summer. Their baby pictures look so similar. In fact there are a couple of Summer in gender neutral pjs and it looks like it could be Brayden. This picture below is of Summer around Thanksgiving in November 2005 she is just about a month older than Brayden is right now. Crazy.

He goes to the doctor tomorrow so I will be able to post his four month stats after that. He is a happy and content baby. Some of the highlights of his life right now besides getting teeth are:

*He hast started to grab at toys and loves his new teething rings.

*Pulling hair especially Summer's has become one of his talents. Of course he doesn't really what he is doing. It just gets near his hand and he closes his fist.

*He loves to tell us stories in his own little baby language of coos and goos.

*This little boy is my pooper. I should keep a tally of how many blow outs this kid has. I think it is safe to say that he has one almost every day. Emergency baths required.

*He is growing. Philip got him out of bed one morning to say that he grew over night.

*He loves bathes especially sticking his feet all the way up in the air and splashing them down into the water.

*Summer is his best friend. He loves her, and she knows how to make him smile.

I could not be happier to know that my kids have each other. Being a mom is the biggest blessing and although it can be hard sometimes I still love every moment of it.

Oh Where Oh Where Can My Pumpkin Be

2011-10-11T21:08:00.000-07:00

Since we are now living in a beautiful area supplied with all sorts of farms we decided to go to a real pumpkin patch this year to get our pumpkins. Summer went to the same one for a field trip just days before and had a great time.

It was rainy and cold, so Philip wore our little baby carrier and packed Brayden around under his jacket. I think he was secretly stealing the heat from Brayden. They kept each other warm.

Once we got to the farm we saw that u-pick apples and u-pick pears were only .70 cents/lb. I thought that was a great deal so we headed to the orchard to pick some Gala apples and some pears in the rain.

Summer having some fun.

It was also nice to see that there is such variety when it comes to pumpkins and gourds. Who knew. Anyhow, we loaded up on the hayride that took us all around the farm and over to the pumpkin patch to check out the pumpkins.

At the pumpkin patch we wandered around for a bit to find our pumpkins. It was wet and muddy there and since Philip had the baby I had the honor of carrying them to the hayride. Summer is the only one prepared for the rain and yucky mess with a raincoat and boots.

Summer enjoyed riding in the little wagon to wash and pay for the pumpkins.

It was a lot of fun. I am glad we are surrounded by so much harvest that we can enjoy.

Update Long Overdue (Random Happenings)

2011-10-03T22:51:00.000-07:00

These are in no particular order, however, I need to update my blog since it also serves as my journal. I guess I need to work on it because I am not very regular about posting.

We have been enjoying ourselves and preparing for the fall/winter which we are not really use to having anymore. I have decided that I really need to invest in some rain gear since it rains like crazy here. Fortunately Summer is already prepared for the puddles and drizzles.

At the end of August and all through September we were able to go pick wild blackberries that grow everywhere. This is just across the street from us. It was nice because we could just pick a small bowl at a time to go with dinner. Maybe they are still growing. I should make a pie for Thanksgiving here since it is in a week. That is weird too. I am not use to having Thanksgiving before Halloween.

Here are the Blackberry bushes behind our house.

Brayden's First Shower

This is when we moved him to his crib. I am a little sad not to have him right next to me, but it is better that he gets use to his bed.

I love looking at my kids when they are fast asleep. There is something about it that just makes me want to hold them and give them many kisses. They are just so peaceful and I think it is then that I remember their innocence.

Here Summer is learning to ride her bike over a dirt mound with some friends of ours. She seemed to enjoy it enough.

Summer and Brayden watching TV together for the first time. Fortunately I don't turn it on that often so he is not really hooked, but he does like it.

Enjoying the Jolly Jumper. It only lasts for about five minutes before he falls to one side and wants out.

Brayden very frightened from the flash on the camera. Apparently he cried for quite a while. He is also very scared of the vacuum. Every time I turn it on he cries with tears and all. I have come to the conclusion I have to vacuum when Philip is home and can hold him.

Rockin' a tie I made out of Uncle Aaron's shirt.

Summer after losing her second tooth. The Tooth Fairy almost forgot to bring the goods until just before she awoke. The funny thing is my friend just posted a tutorial for a Tooth Fairy pillow just for this purpose and I thought I should make one and never did. I guess I really should have.

Brayden looking a little bald as Philip would say. He is just too cute. I can't get enough of him.

Brayden has started to coo/talk a lot. He also loves laughing and interacting with us. He especially likes Summer as long as she is not flopping him all over the place. Recently he has been grabbing for toys and Summer's hair. One of his favorite things is taking baths. I think he is getting a tooth because he is very slobbery and chews on his fingers all day long.

One day after school we made play dough. Summer made an alligator and it reminded us of Texas at the alligator park (Brazos Bend)

This one is for my sister who loves Kiss. At least she use to. It reminded me of her, so I thought I should have Summer try it on. What do you think Kori?

Brayden finally wearing the Darth Vador shirt his dad got for him. Philip loves Star Wars and when we saw this shirt on clearance at the GAP last January it made it into the cart. Philip has been wanting him to wear it since he was newborn. Now that it is October I gave in.

Also since it is October I have decided to make a fun Halloween meal for dinner every Monday night for Family Home Evening. Tonights menu was courtesy of Martha Stewart, and it was a lot of fun. Even though I shaped her meatloaf into a bat she still wouldn't touch it. At least the ghosts disappeared.

Anyhow, it has been way too long. I hope to keep it up a little better now that I am in a better routine with Brayden and Summer is off to school. Oh Yeah, see I forgot all about documenting those pictures. I guess more posts to come tomorrow or sometime this week.

Trip to California

2011-09-05T23:38:00.000-07:00

It had been 6 years since I last visited my family in California. My dad came to visit us while we lived in Houston a couple years back. Since we knew we would have a new addition we decided it was just the right time to make a visit. My grandma is getting old and I really felt I needed to see her soon. So we made the road trip down.

As you can see above one of the ways Summer stayed entertained was to watch a movie. Most of the time she was bored out of her mind, but she did really good. Brayden did really well too since he slept most of the time. It was horrible when he was sick of the seat and cried as loud as he could. I think he developed a bad taste for his car seat.

Once we finally arrived it was late, but we enjoyed seeing family and snapping some photos.

Here you can see my dad. I look a bit like him, however, he looks kind of intimidating in this picture. I remember when I was little and I would go visit him he wore button up shirts without the buttons done up, along with huge gold chains, and large gold rings the kind that you put three fingers into. My sister and I use to say he looked like Mr. T

This is my abuelita or my grandma. She is such a wonderful woman and I love her so much. She just loved the kids. She didn't want to stop holding Brayden. It was so hot there and they didn't have a/c so it was like an oven in the house. This also caused Brayden to sleep.

Summer found a tree outside in the yard and brought me these. I thought they were limes only to realize they are oranges. Citrus season is not for a few more months.

My dad helping her pick the fruit.

Summer was roasting to death. She said to me, "I think all the people in Houston must be asking for lots of drinks of water." I think she forgot what it was like to live in the heat. Really I guess I have too. I don't know how we survived living in Houston's weather but you just do. It is actually funny because since we got home it has been in the low 80's which is the highest so far this summer. We are entering fall and we are still wondering where the summer went.

Abuelita loving Brayden

Summer and my cousin Giselle.

Some of the super yummy Mexican food we enjoyed thanks to their hard work and hospitality.

Philip enjoying the food.

This is my uncle Chaba cooking my favorite ever Carne Asada. Yum

Summer helping my cousin Stephanie make gorditas.

The finished product. I might have to try these myself. They might not work out.

On the last night there we drove to the temple to see it. It was beautiful of course. It is nice to visit and see all the different temples.

My uncle Chaba and his family minus one son who is in college.

My uncle Tonio and his family.

My dad and our family.

My Abuelita and our family.

Yummy Mexican pan/bread we got for the way home.

Once of the nice things about traveling was the scenery. I didn't take many photos, but this one will do I guess. It was so interesting to see the different crops go on for miles and miles almost until we were out of California. We also enjoyed looking at Shasta Lake and wished we could stop for a swim.

It was so nice to finally see my family again. We hope that we can go more often and that one day they might be able to come visit us as well. We love them and miss them all.

Toothless

2011-07-29T13:34:00.001-07:00

For the last year and a half Summer has continuously asked when her teeth would fall out. She was so anxious for this to happen. She even tried making her teeth come loose even though she knew it would not work.

Well, yesterday she was eating some chips and she said I think I might have a loose tooth. She showed me and sure enough her tooth was quite loose.

Forgive the dirty mouth picture, but she had been eating chips. She was so excited. I tried to get her to wait and wiggle it after Philip came home but she could not resist.

Once her dad came home she asked me for an apple because I told her that might help her tooth come out. Well that didn't work. She then went upstairs to look in the mirror. About ten minutes later she said it came out. I didn't believe her so she came to show me that the tooth was hanging by a thread. So, now you see my daughter has surely lost her first tooth.

Here is the classic missing tooth smile. I can't believe she is growing up. I am so happy for her to have lost her tooth. She was happy in the morning to find that the tooth fairy had come to leave her a surprise. She then smiled and said I like having a missing tooth.

6 Weeks

2011-07-29T10:22:00.001-07:00

I really can't believe it has been six weeks already. Brayden is growing and time is flying. I am not sure how much he weighs now, but he has grown. Although he is small he no longer looks like a newborn. He has started holding his head up quite nicely. He enjoys tummy time but only for a few minutes and then he gets tired and starts fussing.

Brayden is a good baby for the most part. He is a good sleeper now and lets me get at least three hours sleep at once. To me that is way better than wanting to eat every hour like he did in the beginning.

It has been interesting having a boy. We are so use to our little girl and not all the things that come along with a boy. Mainly we have only really noticed how frequently he pees on the wall, Phil, or himself. The goal now is to get him changed as quickly as possible to avoid old faithful.

Here are several pictures of some of the things we have enjoyed with him over the last six weeks.

We decided to take him on his first walk. Summer was so excited and insisted on pushing the stroller.
There have been a few times when his fingers have found their way into his mouth and he gladly sucks. I think if they made there way there more often we would have ourselves a thumb sucker.
Summer playing with him while I got ready. She is such a good big sister. We like to think there are two moms in the house because she is always trying to take care of her brother.
Brayden and his three month old cousin. It will be fun to see the two of them grow older together and have a playmate.
Philip thinks he looks like he has a mushroom on his head, but I like the hat. I made this as I was teaching myself to crochet.
One day I came in Summer's room to find that she was rocking the baby in her own little rocking chair. He was fussy and she needed to sooth him so this is what came to her mind.
Philip thinks he needs driving lessons already. F.Y.I. we were in our parked car eating. We were not driving with him in Phil's lap incase you were wondering.
Yoga time. My sister brought me a bunch of hand me down clothes. This is one of my favorites. He really has a little boy yoga outfit.
This was taken at about four weeks old. He looks like Philip in this picture to me.
Brayden was blessed on July 24, 2011 which happens to be my birthday. My family was in town so we felt is was appropriate to do it then. I need to snap a picture of the baby alone in his outfit.
Brayden sleeping in on his 6 week mark which was yesterday.
Not so happy I was trying to snap photos of him when he was hungry. I love the frown face.

It has been a blast so far. I look forward to every day I get to spend with my kids. I hope to soak in as much baby time as I can before he gets older and is no longer in baby stage.

Visit With Family

2011-07-29T08:53:00.000-07:00

My family has planned to come visit us for a while now. Finally the day came that they traveled the 15 hours by car to get here. We were so happy to see them. It is nice to be within driving distance as it makes it easier for them to visit me too. Right away we could tell we had a house full of kids. It was a good sound to hear kids playing and Summer being entertained.

Summer skate boarding with her cousin Dakota. This is her version of skate boarding I guess because it feels safe.

We took my family to Lynn Canyon to see one of the suspension bridges and to walk around in the woods/rainforest.

We came across this huge slug. Summer thought it was great.

Friday while Philip took Summer and the boys to the aquarium we headed over to Vancouver Island. This is the line for the ferry on the way home. It was actually really fun to ride the ferry because none of us had ever experienced it before. Plus it was really pretty.

Once on the island we headed over to Buchart Gardens which are so fabulous. It was so beautiful and nice to see. I am sure my mom was in heaven. She absolutely loves gardening and planting flowers.

Just one small view of some of the many flower gardens there. I love the bright colored ones.

When I saw these flowers the first thing that popped into my head was that they reminded me of the huge roaches we see in the South. A much prettier roach, but still a roach to me.

My mom and sister Kody. Neither of them wanted their picture taken, but I made them anyways.

This pictures is pure motivation for me to start exercising now that I can. I nice background, and I love my family. We are just missing my older sister Kori. Maybe next time she can make it.

The kids were anxious to head to the beach. It was a really nice day that day, however, by the time we made it to the beach it turned windy and overcast. The kids were still determined to play in the water.

Kiowa enjoying the cold water. He really spent a lot of his time shooting the seagulls with water.

Enjoying the sun covered by the clouds.

After the boys buried each other this is what they looked like. I am sure they both had sand in their nose and mouth.

Sandy kids.

On their last night here Summer decided to play salon. My mom and sister were the guinea pigs.

Aren't they beautiful.

I can't thank them enough for coming. It was so good to see them and also to have so much help with the baby. Summer already misses having kids to play with non stop. I look forward to going there sometime hopefully soon.

Brayden Cruz Harvey

2011-06-27T12:07:00.000-07:00

Well, he is finally here. Brayden Cruz Harvey was born via c-section on June 16, 2011. Brayden He is the first to be born in Canada and the first to stay with me in the hospital room the whole time I recovered.

Here he is minutes after birth. It was nice to hear his little cry. Philip and I were overcome with tears of joy to see our healthy baby boy. Many memories flooded our minds as we were there in the OR welcoming our second son. We could not have asked for anything more perfect.

Here he is being weighed. He came in at 3.58 kilograms which converted to pounds is 7 lbs 14 0z. He was 20 inches long or 50.8 centimeters. Fortunately they did the conversions for me because otherwise I would have been in the OR doing math to figure it out.

Finally after cleaning, weighing, and all other things they finally brought him to me and layed him across my chest. This was such a wonderful moment.

Next Philip and Brayden went to the nursery for father son time while I went to the recovery room for what seemed like forever. I was there for about 2 hours when finally I could move my toes and they let me go to my room to hold and feed the baby.

A few moments later Summer's little feet entered the room and she was smiling from ear to ear. She was so excited to see her new baby brother. She loved holding him for the first time, and even had natural instincts to bounce the baby when he cried.

Brayden got his first bath in the hospital. I already know he does not like baths, getting his diaper changed, or getting undressed. He likes his clothes to stay put. He really reminds me of Summer when she was a baby. Summer thinks he looks just like Scott. I took out her baby pictures and I think they look very similar.

Finally at home! We were so ready to finally come home and have a comfortable bed along with comfortable couches and better food. I am grateful however to all the nurses for the help they were. It is always nice to ask them all my questions while I am there. It has been so long since having a baby at home that I was full of questions to ask.

We had to keep socks on his hands because he kept scratching his face and I never made the effort to buy little mittens.

Here he is sleeping.

Still Sleeping.

Again still sleeping.

In fact he sleeps great until about 1:00 am when he finally decides it is time to wake up and stay up for a while. I am finally getting use to him waking up and needing to be fed. Somehow mothers are blessed to make it through the next day with little sleep. I love life with my kids and I am so happy that our baby is finally here. There is so much joy that comes from a tiny little baby. I hope to take it all in and spend as much time with him as possible before he grows too much.

Philip, Summer, and I could not be more happy than we are right now.

Summer Turns Six/ Cake Boss (or not)

2011-06-12T15:14:00.000-07:00

To start off Summer's birthday we woke her up early before Philip left for work and gave her breakfast in bed. She was tired, but very grateful since she love breakfast in bed.

Later that day Philip planned to leave work early so we could take Summer out to dinner and spend time with her. Well, he did leave early only to get stuck on the train that broke down in between stations. So, Summer went outside and waited for him anxiously while playing on the playground.

Finally after waiting for two hours on the train Philip informed us that it was moving again and that we should meet him at the train station so he did not have to take a bus to get home.

After picking him up we went for a late dinner at Red Robin. Summer likes that place so she was happy. Philip explained to our waitress about the interesting experience on the train and on Summer's birthday.

Later they came out and sang happy birthday to her. As you can see she is very shy and doesn't like attention. She was looking away the whole time.

After they left this is the look on her face when she saw what they had brought her. A huge ice cream cake. She later explained to her grandma that it was as big as her head. She was in ice cream heaven.

Just before going to bed she finally got to open a few gifts. She has been wanting a gum ball machine for some time now so we finally got her one.

We also upgraded her to a bigger bike. Unfortunately it wasn't put together, however, she seemed pleased with it.

Since Summer's birthday was on a weeknight we decided to celebrate with the family on Saturday. Her favorite food is spaghetti and meatballs so that is what we served. This was her first birthday outside of Texas and outside of the US. The first one near family too.

Summer and Abby making a birds nest outside. They have a lot of fun together.

Everyone enjoying themselves.

Grandma Harvey enjoying her grandchildren.

On to the Cake!

About three years ago while I was pregnant and about to have Scott I tried to cover a cake in fondant for Summer's birthday. It was a nightmare and I decided that I would stick to cupcakes from then on. Well there must be something about being pregnant because this year I got ambitious and decided we should try making a Tangled cake. I love watching the Cake Boss and he makes everything look so easy. So I thought I would give it a whirl. Well it turned into a whirlwind. Here is my process.

First Summer and I went to the cake shop and picked out a bunch of candies and sprinkles for the cake. That was fun. I also bought two round pans that are super nice and I love. So, Friday I began by baking and baking cakes all day.

Well then I prepared the bottom of the cake, then the tower, and finally the top of the tower where Repunzel like to look out of the window. Each piece started taking shape and for a first timer I thought I had done fairly well.

Philip surprised me that night with tickets to see Wicked. I was so excited, but unfortunately the cake had to be put on hold.

The next morning is when I actually decorated the tower and the top tower. I was getting so excited to finally be done and to have a Cake Boss master piece.

I got about this far with the tower attached to the bottom of the cake. I then tried putting the top part on and right away realized it was not going to stay. I thought and thought of what to do. So I finally figured it out and put the top on. It stayed and I went to wash my hands off. I was so excited until I returned to the cake to find that the top and a huge chunk of the tower had fallen off. All that work! Well I salvaged the tower and tried to salvage the top by redoing the roof. It doesn't look nearly as good, but at this point I didn't care. Oh, and if you look below I made sure to give Repunzel some Utah hair nice and big.

So I set the top on a separate plate to display the cake part way finished. When it was time to sing we then put the top on and I held it in place while we got a few pictures and sang to Summer.

So, some lessons I have learned are:

1. I am not the Cake Boss nor do I think he would ever hire me.

2. I think I liked making the bottom round part so much I want to make my own birthday cake next month.

3. I love the cake pans I purchased.

4. Although it was time consuming and the cake never stood on its own longer than 3 minutes I will not give up and stick to cupcakes only.

5. Maybe I will take a cake class.

It was a good birthday and we are so proud to have Summer in our family. I can't believe she is six. It kind of makes me feel old. Now we can count down four more days to celebrate the birth of our new baby boy, and the day after that Scott's 3rd birthday.

Preparing for Baby

2011-05-28T13:49:00.000-07:00

We have started the count down to the arrival of baby #3. We are all so excited. Here is a countdown chain that Summer made. The pink ones are the number of chains left until her 6th birthday. The seven extra ones at the end are the countdown until the baby will be born. If we would have added one more chain that would bring us to Scott's 3rd birthday. June is a busy month for us. So, I have a scheduled c-section on June 16th. The doctor wanted it to be on the 17th, but I explained that is Scott's special day. Anyhow, we are super excited, and now we get to celebrate all three birthdays very close together.

As Philip and I prepare for the baby to arrive we have gone shopping for some things. I set this little bouncer thing up and told Philip that I bet as soon as Summer sees it she will grab her dolls and put it in there. I was right. She noticed it the next day and I found her in the baby's room playing with it. She then noticed a bassinet in our room and ran to get her doll. She is so excited. Yesterday she even helped me put up the new crib. Our last crib was recalled and the company is out of business so we decided to play it safe and get a new one.
The other day she came in and said look at my baby in my belly. Of course the balloon inside her shirt made her fit right in.

She wanted to take a picture of my baby in my belly too. Yikes I am huge.

Anyhow, we are getting ready and looking forward to him finally coming. I told Philip that these last days are going to go by so slow because I just can't wait. He said I should be patient because once he is here I will be even more exhausted and want to hand the baby off to someone. I don't care, I just look forward to meeting him.

Well, I have also been busy making a bunch of things for the baby. Unfortunately I left it to the last couple months and now it is way harder to bend down on the floor if I need to. You can check out some of the things on my craft blog.

I will most likely be posting a few pictures of the baby on facebook since I can do it on my phone. The blog will have to wait until after I get home because I don't think Philip knows how to post on here.

Summer Enjoying Life in Canada

2011-05-19T20:13:00.000-07:00

Summer has been enjoying life here in Canada. She really misses her friends in Houston and asks about them almost everyday. However, she has found plenty of things to do in order to keep busy and have fun.

The other day she came down and showed me how she put a leotard on her penguin. She thought it was so great that they could have matching dress ups.

A few minutes later I found her in the living room playing gymnastics with her stuffed animals. She was the coach of course. She taught them all the things she use to do in gymnastics back in Houston.

Moments like this make me smile, and grab the camera. She is creative and loves her animals.

She has also been spending time with her cousin who lives very close. They had fun yesterday enjoying the nice weather outside.

They found a dead lady bug so Summer asked her cousin if she wanted to put the lady bug in heaven. Summer made a sign and they went out to burry the bug. Translation of the sign, "Dead Lady bug be gentle."

Today Grandma Harvey came over with some flowers to plant with Summer. I was delighted because Summer had so much fun, we have lots of flowers, and I didn't have to bend over with my big prego belly to plant them. Summer wasn't too thrilled to see me taking pictures.

Summer relaxing while Grandma does all the work. Still making Grandma slave away.

Finally she gets in there and finishes off by watering the flowers. It will be fun to see them bloom. She also planted a flower my mom gave her last year for her birthday. Now she finally gets to watch it grow.

Anyways, there you have it some adventures from Summer.

Roaches!

2011-05-12T09:56:00.000-07:00

You know you have lived in the South for a while when your five year old daughter mistakes a bin full of dates at the grocery store for a bin full of cockroaches.

That is one thing I don't miss about Houston. Thankfully we did not ever see as many as all of these dates, but we did see a few every summer. Anyhow, I thought it was really funny that she actually thought they were roaches. Thankfully they are not, but they do look a little unappetizing.

Unrelated to roaches is the picture below.

In the morning Summer likes to come in my room and watch some cartoons which is fine by be because it means I can sleep a little bit longer. For now anyways. I had to take a picture of this when I saw it because it was so cute. She has so much concern for her penguin and barbie that she shared her blanket with them while they all watch cartoons together.

I sure do love her.

Easter at Stanley Park

2011-04-23T22:25:00.001-07:00

This year we started celebrating Easter with family home evening. First we had a lesson with a bunch of plastic eggs filled with things that represented certain things from the scriptures about the Atonement and the resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ. It was great, and I think I will do it again next year.

For the activity we dyed eggs. I still don't know what to do with them because I don't think any of us are big on deviled eggs.

I guess Summer is not quite sure what to think of the color. Her face just cracks me up. I am not sure what she is thinking.

I searched and searched for a community Easter egg hunt. Maybe I didn't search good enough, but all the ones I could find were on Sunday and you had to pay a bunch to go to one. Thanks to my brother-in-law Andrew we were able to go to Easter on the train at Stanley Park. He sent me a link and it sounded great to me. So we decided to check it out. Summer loved seeing the Easter Bunny. Apparently the Easter Chick was suppose to be there too, she could not find the chick anywhere and was disappointed. She even wrote a letter to the Easter Bunny to tell the Easter Chick that she missed him today.

As part of the hunt she got to ride on the train. We all enjoyed it and saw many interesting things.
We saw our first Canadian moose. OK so its just a statue, but it was a moose in Canada.

I obviously need to learn how to operate my camera. Here is a very blurry picture of Summer hunting for the three empty plastic eggs she was allowed. After she found them she traded them in for a bag of candy.

After we left that area of the park we decided to walk around a little bit. The tide was low, so Philip, his dad, and Summer went down to search for baby crabs. I stayed up because the stairs were really steep and I had already fallen down the stairs in our house today. So, I decided to play it safe.

Here is one of the baby crabs the found. I just know if my sister's kids were here that they would love to do this.
Summer showing me a crab. She really did not want to hold it even though it was dead. She was just fine putting it down.
There were piles of purple starfish all over the place. I don't think I have seen so many before. We also saw a raccoon, but I couldn't get a good picture because it hid behind a rock.

The pictures don't really do the justice, but it really is so beautiful here. I thought I would have a picture of myself.
Philip, Me, Summer, and Grandpa Harvey.
Summer really enjoyed spending time with her grandpa. She loves him so much. We walked a long way and I was impressed how far she went.
Summer enjoying the sun and the break while we waited for dad to go get the car. I was the wimpy prego lady that insisted to wait for a ride.
We really had a lot of fun there. I would love to go there for a picnic, and a bike ride. Oh, and so many people still roller blade here. I haven't done that in years. Perhaps I will try it after I have this baby.

There are so many things I have yet to see here. Now that it is getting a little warmer I look forward to going out and having new adventures.

High Heels

2011-04-17T15:21:00.001-07:00

Back in Houston Summer had a few friends that had dress shoes with a small heel on them. Ever since she has always wanted some too. Finally I gave in after her Grandma Harvey bought her this cute Easter dress that she needed shoes to match. Of course we stumbled upon a pair of white shoes with heels on them.

Here she is so excited to finally be wearing her very own pair of high heels.

She is so proud of them and could not wait to show her dad. She is such a girly girl and I think Philip likes that. The first thing she wanted to do after she put them on was hear them click on the floor. She makes me smile.

She insisted that I take a picture of her doing a curtsy.

Finally here is a photo of me at 30 weeks. Kristen this is for you. OK, and anyone else who cares to see a huge prego lady. I had to use Summer as my Photographer and I think she did a pretty good job.

It is fun to see my little girl transitioning into a girl rather than a toddle girl. I do admit that I wish I could have her small again, but I can look at pictures right. Anyhow, I hope all you women enjoy your own high heels as much as my little one enjoys hers.

Two weeks in Canada

2011-04-13T19:46:00.000-07:00

We have been here in Canada for about two weeks now. Things are definitely different, but we are doing good and trying to adjust.

Here are a few highlights from the last two weeks.

Summer waiting in the line up to go into school. She is very shy and doesn't like standing in the line up without me nearby. She is adjusting well and likes her teacher. It is not nearly as intense as her last school. In fact it may be a little too laid back. She even compared it to the Owl's Nest preschool that she went to. She likes it and as long as we continue practicing reading, writing, and math with her at home I won't worry. The biggest challenge is picking her up from school because it is very busy and there is no system for picking up. There are very few parking spots which makes for a chaotic dismissal.

Today she told me that the best part of school was making Easter baskets that they are suppose to leave at school so the Easter bunny will put stuff in it for them.

Here are a few pictures of our townhouse. I only took a couple because we still have a lot of stuff in boxes. The thing I like best about it is the light that comes in. It is very different having the morning light wake us up.

This is the view from our chapel. Isn't it nice. We are so fortunate to live only 8 minutes from the temple. Now we need to take advantage of it and go frequently. It will also be nice for Summer to see it every week.
Summer holding her new cousin. She is practicing for when she gets to hold her own baby brother. Isn't he so cute. Now he needs a name.
On the way to the hospital I spotted this ghostbusters car. I had to take a picture. It would be so awesome if the owner would let me borrow it for the trunk or treat at Halloween and then I would dress my family up as the ghostbusters. Anyhow I thought it was neat.
Summer found a new thing she can do to help me cook. She can grate cheese. She really did a great job and found it to be very enjoyable.

Yesterday I let her go outside because it had finally stopped raining here. She made some sort of lounge area and brought her dolls. She really enjoyed playing outside and I enjoyed letting her go out and seeing her from the window.

She also had the idea to have her lunch outside on the patio so that she could enjoy the sun. So here she is with her doll enjoying a picnic.
We are starting to feel somewhat settled. It will be nice once we have everything set up. I especially can't wait to get my permanent residency papers turned in because then I can actually go into the US without fearing being refused entrance back into Canada.

It is nice being close to family and seeing them often. Summer has enjoyed being picked up from school by her grandpa once and also going on a special date with grandma to dinner and shopping. We really enjoy having them so close now. It is even nice that we are closer to my family so that it is much more possible for them to visit us as well.

Anyhow, more updates to come as we venture here in Canada.

Moving and What Not

2011-04-13T17:59:00.000-07:00

Well, I have a lot of updating to do. So I will start from the beginning. Just before we headed out of Houston our wonderful neighbors had us over for dinner. We will seriously miss them so much. We have been fortunate to have really awesome neighbors all the way around us. Bertha and her mother Nancy live next door to our place in Houston. They are always so kind to us and especially to Summer. Bertha is like a grandma to her. It was just nice to be with great people before we left and it only made it harder to leave. Oh, and yes we were all wearing summer clothes.

On Philip's last day of work at Merrill Lynch he was able to get this photo of all his colleagues. I know he misses them greatly. Our family is very fortunate to have had them all in our lives and provide so much growth and learning to Philip. They really are the best team.
On Summer's last day of school each of her classmates made a goodbye card for her. It was so cute. Most of them were of Summer and the classmate with tears in there eyes. The pictures and notes were very fun to read.

She is going to miss her teacher so much. She was such a great teacher. Really I will miss the school as well. This is Summer and her teacher.
I had to get a picture in front of the school entrance so we went back after all the kids had been let out so we could take one last picture.
Now on to the actual move. We ended up with a 26' truck and we are glad we got it because anything smaller would not have worked. It is amazing how much we accumulated over 4 years.

Summer had a lot of fun with her good friends while the men packed everything up. Here they are teaching E. how to ride a bike.
Thanks to all our friends who came to help us out. They worked hard and got it all packed within an hour. Way to go. We really could not have been so lucky to have all the help.
On to the actual move. We headed out late afternoon on Saturday the 26th. We drove what we thought was a great route until Philip realized he packed the directions. So we just looked at a map and decided on our own. I think we ended up taking the scenic route. Summer was so exhausted and this is how she ended up sleeping most nights until we made it to a hotel. It looks very uncomfortable.
I am not sure where we stayed the first night, but it was somewhere in Texas since the state is so huge. Our second night we stayed somewhere in New Mexico and the next morning as we started driving Summer finally saw what she was hoping to see. SNOW! She took many pictures of the snow and even asked if she could play in it.

Summer taking more pictures.
Summer and aunt Laurel. Having fun while we were stuck on the Mountain.
Yes, we got to the top of the mountain and had to come to a complete stop. At first we were nervous because there is no way Philip would have been able to turn that huge truck around. Apparently there was an orange snow plow that was in front of us that had gotten stuck in the snow drift. They asked us for a shovel thinking with all the stuff we had in the Uhaul we had to have one. Little did they know we don't use snow shovels in Houston.

Finally the snow plow got out and was able to clear the huge drift that was blocking the entire road. We were so lucky there was a snow plow up there or who knows how long we would have been at the top of that mountain.
Finally we were on the road again and we drove and drove. Reminds me a little bit of Dumb and Dumber.
When we saw the Utah sign we were all so happy and excited because that means we were almost half way finished with the drive. And the roads would become more familiar.

This is in Moab. Really the scenery in Southern Utah is quite interesting.

I guess this is where we were just wishing we were there already and we stopped taking pictures. Anyhow, we finally made it on Wednesday March 30th. The border didn't take as long as we thought, however, it was more expensive than we thought it would be. We were just happy to finally be done driving.

Well that is the short version of the trip details. We will really miss Texas, as well as America. Fortunately we are about 25-30 minutes from the border. We will be visiting often.

A Flight, A Wedding, and Bon Jovi

2011-03-20T18:53:00.000-07:00

We went to Langley, BC for a wedding last week and this was us on the longest flight of our lives.

It was 9 hours on the same plane without getting off once. It was horrible. Our flight got canceled that morning and we got on a flight that was just a half an hour later, but it was also a 9 hour flight because of the stops it made.

It was action packed as well since on our way from Tulsa, OK to Phoenix a lady across from us got up to use the bathroom and passed out. They had to ask over the intercom for medical doctors in which there were 5 aboard the plane. It turns out she had low blood sugar or something. Anyways, I was glad she was safe and that there were so many people to assist her.

Finally we arrived in Seattle only to learn that Summer's luggage was not there. We waited for it to come in on the next flight and received a voucher for our dilemma since Southwest won't ship luggage into Canada.

We were so happy to be on the road and to finally arrive at grandma and grandpa Harvey's house.

On Saturday the 12th Philip's sister Leanne married Nathan. We look forward to getting to know him more.

Here is the happy couple coming out of the temple. Look at them gleaming.

We especially liked this photo of Nathan. Note: Don't hire Philip as your photographer unless you want some really candid photos.

Summer and her cute little cousin Abby at the reception. I think they were eyeing the cake. At one point Summer brought me a rose and I knew she took it from the cake so of course I made her put it back. I wonder if they poked holes in the cake too.

We made a couple trips to the USA to set up mail service and stuff. Summer sure had a lot of fun in the line up to enter.

Philip and I on the other hand were wishing we had a Nexus pass. We waited about 40 minutes and I am sure that is nothing compared to other days when it is even more backed up. The American flag is just near the pine trees on the right in the far background of the picture.

Once we got home we left the next night to San Antonio to see Bon Jovi in concert. Philip has always wanted to see Bon Jovi, so he finally got his chance.

I am sure he won't be happy I posted this picture but oh well. This is him singing along with the crowd.

Enjoying ourselves.

I must get a camera that takes distant pictures. All of my pictures are horrible and this is the best one it could muster. It was a lot of fun and we are super happy we had the opportunity to go.

With all these awesome events March has gone by fast for us. We move on Saturday and I really hope we are ready by then. Anyways it was fun to enjoy some vacation moments before we take off.

My Little Reader

2011-03-06T18:17:00.000-08:00

It is nice to see Summer grabbing a stack of books and reading to herself. Today while I was making dinner she was doing something in the living room. I went out and found her reading and actually reading the words instead of making up the story. She has been able to read for a while now since she has been in kindergarten but she never really has tried just picking up a book and read it on her own just for fun.

She even made herself a little faux beach to read at. I guess whatever it takes to get her to like reading. Unfortunately I was not a reader until just a few years ago, so I really hope she likes it much earlier than I did.

It sure is fun to watch her grow and learn new things. She loves school. One of the things they do at her school that I love is the reading buddy program. Older kids come in to her class every Friday and they get to help the kids in Summer's class read books. Summer loves her reading buddy and looks forward to reading with her on Fridays. I sure hope they have something like that in her new school. It is a great program.

Anyhow, now I need to grab a book and get reading. Any good recommendations?

Baby #3 Update

2011-03-03T20:36:00.000-08:00

I went to the doctor today for my second secondary ultrasound. Basically it is a really in depth ultrasound that lasts about 20 minutes compared to my other appointment ultrasounds that are more like 2-3 minutes. I am very blessed to be able to have so many ultrasounds and this one is no exception. I have been looking forward to it since my last one in January. However, at the same time I get nervous and intense as the doctor ask me all sorts of questions that make me wonder if something is wrong. The good news is that this baby is healthy. He weighs approximately 1 lb. 6 oz. Yay what a relief!

Here is a 4D picture that he printed out for me in January when I was 16 weeks. This one is the best because most of his body is visible and I think he might have his thumb in his mouth.

This picture below was from today at 23 weeks. That is almost 6 months for those of you who don't go by weeks. Dr. K tried so hard to get a good picture, and after pushing on my belly for a long time he finally gave up and decide this was good enough. I was glad too because it wasn't comfortable and I am sure the baby was wishing he would stop poking at him. The picture is hard to make out, but if you look hard you will see his profile. He also has his hand and fingers covering his mouth and nose (the three white dots in the middle).

This one is just another profile picture, but without the hand on the face.

Like I said the earlier picture is way better because you can actually tell what you are looking at. Summer came home and looked at them today and she got it right off the bat. She said, "Mom, I can she his head." Philip on the other hand still can't make out anything.

Anyhow, we are super glad he is healthy and growing well. Now we just have to keep being patient until he finally gets here. We can't wait.

Bittersweet Move

2011-02-21T19:38:00.000-08:00

Well our time here in Houston has come to a bittersweet end. Philip has accepted a job offer in Vancouver, British Columbia. We will be moving there at the end of March. It is so soon I can't believe it.

We are super sad to leave our friends here who have really become our family away from our family. We love them all so much and it will be hard to leave. There are also a lot of things I will really miss about Houston too. A few of them include our friends, Philip's co-workers, the zoo, Pappasitos, brisket because I don't think they sell it up North, the elementary school Summer' attends, her teacher of course, Brazo's Bend the alligator park, and the list goes on.

Although we are leaving these wonderful things we are also moving to a place with a lot of perks. The first being closer to family, and look in the picture below and tell me what you see.

Yes, those are mountains in the distance. It is absolutely beautiful there. I will have to buy some rain boots to keep my feet and pants dry though. Although there will probably be an increase in spiders, I don't think I will see too many roaches or silverfish. Those I definitely will not miss.

I have been to Vancouver several times since being married to Philip. Still I have not seen half of it. There are these amazing gardens I would love to see.

Too bad that won't be my back yard.

The fun suspension bridges. I have been on one of them, but I am pretty sure it was not this one since this one looks really big.

Summer will have to change schools two months before she will finish kindergarten, but I am sure she will do fine. We will also be having our 3rd baby 2 1/2 months after we move. I am a little nervous about that especially because I really like my doctor here. He was the one that delivered Scott and knows all about the high risk stuff for me during pregnancy. It will work out and I will find a doctor who is capable of delivering a healthy baby.

Clearly moving to Canada might have some influence on my kids. I am sure they will have a Canadian accent and when we visit the States people will point it out to them. I wonder if Philip will get some of his back. Although we will be in Canada I we will always have American/Canadian pride in our home. I am going to have to invest in some American History books so I can make sure my kids know that stuff since it is part of who they are. We will definitely be waving the grand old flag at our house.

We look forward to this new chapter in our lives. Anyhow, if anyone ever wants to come and visit this wonderful place please feel free to come. You will have so much fun.

BOY! We're Excited for Baby #3

2011-01-06T19:29:00.000-08:00

Well, we are excited to finally announce that we are having another baby. Baby number three is on its way and due to arrive June 26th, 2011. Since it will be a scheduled c-section it will most likely come a week or two early.

Today we found out we are having a boy. Phil about jumped out of the seat and jumped up and down with excitement. On the other hand I am just thankful that the baby seams to be healthy. Since Summer was at school and was not allowed to come to this special visit to the doctor we wanted to make it fun and special for her. I went to the cupcake shop and got the most boyish one I could find. It had blue green frosting on top.
Then I decorated the inside of the box like this and we told her that she could open the box to find out if she was going to get a sister (that's what she really wanted) or a brother. When she opened the box she was so excited by the cupcake that either a brother or sister was fine with her. She just wanted that cupcake.

We were at a special doctor today to have a secondary ultrasound to make sure everything is going well with the baby. Right off the bat the doctor said the baby does not have Anencephaly. We are so thankful. I can't even put into words what a relief that is. Then he checked the spine and everything else. He said for 16 weeks along everything looks fine and is going well, but he wants to see me in 8 weeks just to make sure of everything.

I don't think I will fully relax and feel relieved until the baby is born. I am so thankful for good doctors who really truly care. It is so amazing to enjoy the medical advances that we do today.

We have been waiting so long for this to finally be real, and we are so excited. The experience we had with Scott was very spiritual and enlightening. However, it was also the most difficult thing I have ever had to go through. I am so thankful that we don't have to experience that difficult ride this time. We love our son Scott, and feel that he will be happy and excited to have a baby brother and a growing family.

Now I can go ahead and finally buy baby clothes and items again. I am sure Phil will love that. Actually he probably will since it will be boy stuff.

Anyways, I don't think there is anything more exciting than having more children. They are a blessing in a way I never imagined. I sure do love mine.

Christmas 2010

2011-01-06T18:43:00.000-08:00

I have been such a procrastinator with posting on my blog. So much has happened, and finally I am going to update mostly with pictures.

Aunt Laurel and Uncle Aaron came to visit us over Christmas from Vancouver, BC. It sure was nice to have family in town for the holiday. They were so nice too because they played a lot with Summer and inspired me to try a little harder to play with her more often. Here they are having a picnic.

Decorating sugar cookies with the family and the missionaries. Well, the missionaries stopped by to share a quick message and we gave them several of our sugar cookies because we had a ton.

Summer loved decorating. She loved putting a ton of frosting on each cookie. She was very particular making sure to get a little or a lot of each and every color on the cookies.

I thought I took a picture of the one she put so much frosting on that it turned brown with all the color mixing. It was fun to see her enjoy it so much.

Enjoying the heap of frosting with the tiny cookie underneath. Her shirt enjoyed it too.

Christmas Eve we went to the Houston Zoo to see the new African Forest that opened a few weeks prior.

Summer and Aunt Laurel banging on the conga drums. We also saw several chimps as well as rhinos. I could go and sit at the zoo in front of the chimps or the aragutan and just watch for a long time. They are definitely the most playful animals at the zoo.

This is not part of the African Forest since they are Asian elephants. The babies are so adorable. I love to go watch them play.

Phil's family has a tradition of tacos for Christmas eve dinner. I decided we should go to Papasitos to keep the tradition and share some of our favorite food here in Houston. I am really going to miss this place when we eventually move. Oh yeah, these to men came to our table and serenaded us.

Christmas morning I had to take a classic picture of Summer coming down the stairs.

Summer finding a note from Santa and the cookies and milk missing. She was so excited to see them gone.

Showing off her new pajamas and slippers. I hope it gets cold here so she can wear them a few more times.

All she really wanted Santa to bring her was a big girl doll like the American Girl doll her older cousin has. Well Santa did deliver on her wish, however, he went the inexpensive route which is a good thing because I predict some massive tangles coming on in all that hair of hers.

Here she is with her doll. Since Santa told me what he planned to bring her I went ahead and made these pajamas, slippers, and a dress for her doll. She loves it and sleeps with her every night.

Phil getting his lego on. He loves lego especially the Star Wars versions.

In the final days of their stay Aunt Laurel was nice enough to give Summer a pedicure. She even made it fun by pretending they were at a real salon and explained the whole process to her. Maybe I should have Summer give one to me now.

Anyhow, we had a lot of fun having family here and enjoying Christmas festivities. We are so thankful for our Savior Jesus Christ and for the blessing it is to know the true meaning of Christmas. We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and enjoy a new year filled with happiness.

Big Bootie

2010-12-14T17:44:00.000-08:00

Just after coming back from vacation to Idaho Summer was playing dress up in her room. I was so excited because she hasn't played in her room for a while. I was even more happy when she came downstairs wearing this.

I couldn't help laughing. I think she wondered why I was, but it was just too cute. She said she couldn't get the tutu off so she just put the skirt on top. I told her she looked like the ladies in the olden days when they wore those big things to make their hips look bigger. Similar to the one in this picture below.
I love it! It is my favorite dress up she has come up with so far. She loves everything girl. In fact the other day Philip mentioned to us that when aunt Laurel and uncle Aaron come to visit that we can't take them shopping because neither of them like shopping. So the next day Summer and I were talking about them coming in a couple weeks. I mentioned that maybe they might like to decorate cookies when they come. She said, "well we can't take them shopping because they don't like shopping. I don't know why aunt Laurel doesn't like shopping because of course all girls love to shop." When she said that I laughed and thought of Philip. He has already been bracing himself for the teenage Summer asking for daddy to give her money to go shopping. What she doesn't realize yet is that daddy isn't that easy to get it from. She is going to have to work hard for those shoes, purses, and accessories.

It is good to have fun moments like these to make life a little less serious as we sometimes get. Having one is a blast, but having more will be even better.

Art by Summer

2010-12-03T17:10:00.000-08:00

I have been saving a few of Summer's art and letters that she has been making for me. I have so many that unfortunately I have to throw several away. Here are a few of my favorites that I did decide to keep.

Lately Summer has been enjoying writing letters. She writes several every day and usually all on her own. This letter was one I found in her room when I went to check on her before I went to bed. She had gotten her blankets taken away for some reason I don't recall. She got out of bed, made herself a bed right next to the night light, and wrote this letter which I found next to her fast asleep. My translation of it is "You said that I can have my blankies back. I just want you to give them to me. But I love you."

I just smiled so big when I found this that I laid her back in her bed and put her blankets next to her. It is fun to see her learning to read and write. I love getting little notes everyday.
She brought me this picture and asked if I liked it. I was actually quite amazed that she came up with it all on her own. My favorite part is the possum hanging upside down.
Rough translation: "I love you and can't wait till we have another baby. I am waiting for a baby." I guess she really really wants someone to play with.
I don't recall what she told me this is. I think a dinosaur or an Elephant.

Seriously, it is little things like this that make being a mom so fun, exciting, and rewarding. I am so blessed to have such a happy little girl. I love her so much, and I do look forward to receiving many more notes and pictures.

Halloween Extravaganza

2010-10-31T17:46:00.001-07:00

This year has really been an extravaganza. We have had so many Halloween activities that it just seemed to go on forever. We started out at the Nature Discovery Center pumpkin patch. It was fun, and Summer enjoyed all the pumpkins. Since Philip was at home studying I only had her pick out a small pumpkin so we could get the others as a family. Unfortunately we never did get more pumpkins. I just put it off too long I guess. It is not like Idaho where they freeze to death and in January you can still discover nicely carved pumpkins that some people didn't bother throwing away. Here they rot really fast, so oh well.

Summer wanted to be Hannah Montana this year for Halloween. So she picked this picture of her and said she wanted it like that. So this is our version of Hannah Montana. She had fun bedazzling her microphone. On the other hand I had a lot of work on my hands since I could not find a white denim jacket or a jacket pattern for that matter. I had to just wing it.

Here she is receiving her sparkle pumpkin award for the costume contest at the YMCA for ages 5-8 or 9 I think.

The YMCA was a lot of fun this year. They have all sorts of games and prizes, painting pumkins, a silly haunted house, and of course camel rides.

Summer and daddy enjoying a quick camel ride that they waited in line for at least 45 minutes to ride. I think it was worth it to them. A camel of all animals to ride for Halloween. They had fun.

The Friday before Halloween Summer's class had a short little Halloween activity with cookies, and goodie bags. They had fun dancing around and enjoying the celebration. It is always nice to see Summer interacting with kids.

That same day we went to another party that some friends were hosting. I decided to try making homemade donuts for the first time. They turned out yummy and I am so glad that everyone ate them so I didn't have to bring any home.

Finally on Saturday the 30th we went to our ward's trunk-or-treat. Summer enjoyed walking around with her dad while I passed out candy to a ton of kids.

Summer sure does love these girls. She had a blast playing with all of her friends and of course eating too much candy.

Philip finally wore this Asian outfit he bought in High School. I have been trying to get him to get some use out of it every Halloween since we have been married.
The pumpkin carving of the two small pumpkins we did end up with didn't happen until tonight. Summer was so excited to carve one, so I guess we will be those funny people that leave their Halloween decorations out for a few extra days. Unfortunately we didn't even have a tea light candle to put in. I did stick the lighter in for a minute so she could see what it would look like.
Next year I am going all out on the pumpkins because it is such a fun tradition for the kids.

Our Halloween was very eventful and tiring at the same time. I am glad we had fun, but I 'm also glad it is over. I hope everyone had a great Holiday and enjoyed some festivities as well.

Monster Mash and FHE

2010-10-26T08:02:00.000-07:00

It was my turn for FHE tonight, so I thought I would make it spooktacular for Halloween week. I love Halloween, and it is one of my favorite holiday's because there is so much fun surrounding it.

We started off with a simple monster mash dinner. I was going to make shepherd's pie for dinner anyways, so I just added a little green color to the potatoes to make them the bright green. Although slightly unappetizing to eat because of the color it still tasted quite good. Of course the color of green potatoes might deter some folks we had fun with it. Philip wasn't sure about taking the left overs to work though. I think he might be a little embarrassed to show his co-workers that he is eating bright green mashed potatoes.

For family home evening I found a really simple and cute lesson here called the three naughty ghosts. Then I went here to print out boo bingo which was easy and fun. That website is great because you can customize any type of bingo theme you want. After you print your first bingo card you can just click on the bingo card button and it will randomly produce a different bingo card. It took me about 5 minutes to get it all set up and get 5 different cards.

For the treat we had no bake cookies which Summer decided to call mud pies. It was sure was fun, and I look forward to the fun festivities of Halloween this week.

Summer's Visit to the Houston Temple

2010-10-17T18:14:00.000-07:00

We have been wanting to take Summer to see the Houston temple for some time now. It is a great opportunity for her to walk around the temple grounds. The beauty, and spirit present at the temple is something that can be enjoyed and felt from inside and out. So, we wanted her to experience it a little bit too.
She had a lot of fun walking around asking questions, and finding special things to see there.
While Philip went inside Summer and I sat at this fountain located at the front entrance. It was quiet and peaceful like it always is.

While I went in Philip sat at this fountain and helped her write in her journal. She also drew some pictures.
She is pointing to one of the special things she saw while we were there. This is the date the temple was erected in 2000 engraved in the temple stone.
Of course she loved the flowers the most. she enjoyed smelling them and just seeing how nicely taken care of they were.
This October 2010 Ensign is entirely devoted to learning about the temple. It is such a nice issue that has several pictures of the beautiful temples throughout the world. There are also several talks about temples and the preparation for entering the temple. A short section is directed for children called "Your Path to the Temple" it was a great resource for us to encourage us to take Summer to see the temple.

She counted on her fingers how long it would be until she can go inside. She is really excited and looking forward to it. At least for now, we can take her and help her to feel the spirit that is even present on the temple grounds.

I am glad that we all got the opportunity to go. It was nice to spend time as a family doing something that makes us feel good inside.

Fun With Grandma and Grandpa Harvey

2010-09-26T19:05:00.001-07:00

We have been counting down the days for Summer to start kindergarten because shortly after that we would get some of the best visitors.

Finally that day came, and we got to pick grandma and grandpa Harvey from the airport. Summer was so excited that she even made a big welcome sign. Unfortunately we got caught in bad construction traffic, and didn't make it there before their plane landed. So, it was more like we ran up to them with the sign instead of the other way around.

On Monday night Philip was lucky enough to score some super awesome Astro's tickets from work. These were not just any seats. They were on the 6th row right behind the catcher.
To top it off it was all inclusive with a southern BBQ dinner and anything else they wanted to eat or snack on. They had a lot of fun. Mary, and I found them on TV so that was fun. I think this was a huge highlight for Philip, and his dad.
Here Summer was showing grandma and grandpa all the swimming techniques she has been learning at swim lessons. What we didn't know is that grandpa Harvey is a fast swimmer.
Grandpa was so excited to go to school with Summer on Grandparents Day. I think he fits right in. He loved being there with her.
Grandma got to be one of the mystery readers that day. It was really fun so see her read to Summer's class.
Grandparents day was also the day of the school elections. It was really funny to hear all of the kids running for office make their speeches. I think this might be Summer's first school assembly.

Of course they had Grandparent Day photos in the courtyard of the school with onlookers from the window. This will be nice to have because we don't have many pictures with grandma, and grandpa Harvey.
Here we are eating school lunch. Yummy! Summer enjoyed having us there at school with her. Going to school with Summer was definitely the highlight for grandma and grandpa.

After school we went to the zoo. This was the first time I have watched the lions being fed. It was pretty interesting.

To finish up our visit with grandma, and grandpa we went to San Antonio, and also to San Marcus to go shopping at the largest outlet mall I have ever seen. While we were at a department store I found Philip giving Summer a make over. She was in heaven since she is always asking when she can wear makeup. I am surprised Philip let her have it on in public, but I guess it was almost bed time. He is really good to her, and loves doing fun things like this, and daddy daughter dates.

Grandma, and Grandpa Harvey in San Antonio

Summer knows that Grandma Harvey is a huge lover of chocolate. She even remembers that grandma has a stash hiding in the house. I think she even knows the spot it is located. Anyhow, Summer was talking to grandma on the phone about chocolate one day, and the conversation was quite long. The conversation went something like this:

Summer: "Grandma, do you like chocolate milk?"

Grandma: "No, I don't like it."

Summer (with a puzzled look on her face): "Well do you like milk?"

Grandma: "Oh I love milk."

Summer: "Well if you love milk, and you love chocolate they why don't you like chocolate milk?"

To this day she is still stumped about that. She just doesn't understand that if you like both milk, and chocolate why you would not like chocolate milk.

Well, since we knew that grandma loves chocolate we were thrilled to take her to the Chocolate Bar. I love the place and think it is a great place to go have a desert, or a piece of chocolate. We had fun, but I don't think grandma was impressed by the place. I guess when you have yummy chocolate all the time the American versions are just not quite as good. It was still fun, and we enjoyed being together.

It was so nice to have family here, and we are always sad when they leave. This was the first time that it really hit Summer. She cried for about 15 minutes after we dropped them off at the airport. It is just so hard living so far from family. However, it is nice to know that we have such great friends here that are like our family.

Kindergarten!

2010-08-27T06:40:00.001-07:00

Summer started her first day of kindergarten on Monday the 23rd. She was so excited to go to school and stay long enough to eat lunch there. Here kindergarten is from 8:00 am-2:40 pm every day.

Being from a little town in Idaho I was not really use to this whole idea of them being gone all day. However, we really have no choice, and I am sure I will get use to being by myself all day long.

Her first day of school started out to my surprise with breakfast in bed made by her dad. I thought it was so sweet of him to think of that. I had a hard enough time getting myself out of bed that breakfast in bed was not on my mind.

After getting ready for school we went outside and took the classic first day of school pictures. She is showing off her princess back pack.

Here she is in her class. She sits in the red chair behind her, but she was heading to put her backpack away. While watching her I got a little teary eyed. I will admit I was a little emotional and sad to see her grown up to this stage of life so soon. Good thing I had to park far away from the school because it gave me a few extra minutes to compose myself.

After school I went straight to the car line up to pick her up. I was a little worried because we were not really given information or instruction on how to take/pick up our kids. It worked out just fine though.

After she got in the car I asked how her day went. She didn't really respond too much. When I asked her what she did at school she said nothing. I think she really must have been tired and in shock from being gone all day.

Later that evening she told me she didn't want to go back to school the next day. If any of you know how attached she can be you would know that I was a little worried when she said this. I thought oh no, am I going to have to drag her in while she is holding on to my leg not willing to let go? I quickly responded and encouraged her that school is fun, and that she has to learn to get use to it because she will be going for a long time.

Luckily she was excited to go back the next morning. I think she just needed some sleep. She is now enjoying school and tells me at least two things she did during the day. Hopefully she will start telling me a lot.

She has been asking me if she could have hot lunch all week long. I kept telling her that on Friday's I will let her have hot lunch. Finally last night after reviewing the menu I realized that every Friday they have fish of some sort. She is a very picky eater, and I know that fish will not go over well. So, I need to let her pick which day going forward. It is funny to me that she is so anxious to have hot lunch. I remember as a kid we always had hot lunch, and only got a cold packed lunch on a field trip, field day, or a party day where it was required. It was such a special thing for us to bring a cold lunch, and I always looked forward to the few days I had one. I guess we all look forward to the things we get the least even if it is sick hot lunch from a school cafeteria. So, today is her hot lunch day and luckily besides fish sticks they are serving chili and cornbread which she does like.

Well, I am over the fact that she is no longer at home with me all day. So, I look forward to this new school year, and the fun events/memories that will take place along the way.

Lemonade! Get Your Lemonade!

2010-08-15T11:30:00.001-07:00

A few months ago I made this table cover for Summer to do a lemonade stand. Unfortunately it rained for the next two weeks here, and then I just kept putting it off. Finally we went ahead and set up her stand for business on Thursday. We went out around 4:50 just when people started coming home from work. Since we still live in a complex we went near the mail boxes and set up there.

Summer was so excited to finally get a chance to sell some lemonade.
Here she is in action. She held up the sign and waved it around. She also sold cookies that were pretty much melting in the heat.
After about 10 minutes of being out there she decided it was pretty hot. So she had some lemonade and said that helped to cool her down.

People were so generous and nice to such a cute little girl. Several people bought a cup of lemonade and left her and extra .50 cents to $1.00 for her hard work. The only person who had a problem with it was the guard who said that I should get permission from the HOA. I didn't realize that it would be a problem for little kids to have a little lemonade stand.

She had a lot of fun, and that is what matters. She is learning to work, earn, and have fun. The only big problem about having a lemonade stand in Houston is the location of the stand. I guess I didn't look hard enough, because I set our chairs up right over a bunch of fire ants. We both got attacked, and that is when we hauled everything in and went home. She did sell all of her lemonade and most of the cookies.

I would say it was a successful day of lemonade drinking and selling.

Blue Bell Ice Cream! YUM!

2010-08-15T11:15:00.000-07:00

Since Summer is going to start kindergarten on the 23rd I thought we should go on a field trip to get in the school spirit. Actually, we have been wanting to visit the Blue Bell factory for some time now. We were hoping to go in April when the Blue Bonnets were in bloom because I hear it is quite a sight.

We ended up going on a super hot day which is normal for us here in Houston. That just made the ice cream that much more yummy.

It was interesting to see how they make the ice cream, and to see all the workers packing it up ready for shipment. The only husband who did come actually use to work for Dryers in high school. So it was interesting to hear his experiences working with ice cream and of course eating a lot of it too.

The kids were very happy to get a scoop of their choice. Summer had to have the same as Kate and Sawyer of course. They chose Krazy Kookie Dough which hot pink and blue colored sugar cookie dough. It sure was sugary just what Summer loves. I had to try the Blackberry Cobbler thanks to a friends facebook comment about how good it was. She was right. It was so good that I came back home and bought some to give to Phil since he didn't get to come with us.

They actually had an affordable souvenir in the country store which was perfect. Straight from my childhood were these ice cream cone poppers. The kids had so much fun asking each other if they wanted a lick of ice cream followed by a pop in the nose by the foam ice cream. So Fun!
If you don't live in on of the lucky 17 states that carry Blue Bell you are missing out. They serve vanilla at any Outback Steakhouse, but that will not do it justice. It really is pretty good.

It was a fun road trip, and we look forward to coming up with another one soon.

Chixie the Froggie

2010-08-04T19:13:00.001-07:00

About two months ago Summer got to pick out a couple tadpoles at the local garden center. We brought them home, and followed the instructions for taking care of them. She named one Squirt because it was small, and one Chixie because she made it up and felt it would be a good name I guess. Unfortunately Squirt only made it a couple of days before it died.

Over time we watched the tadpole eat a lot of lettuce, and slowly get bigger. One week I noticed that its appearance was changing a bit. Summer and I kept watching for legs to grow. They finally did, and within a few days it popped out front legs too, or are they arms? Anyhow, it was almost a little frog. The next morning it lost its tail, and would not stay in the water, so we decided that now it must be a frog. It was about the size of Summer's fingernail.

We have been trying to feed it food, but it refuses to eat what we give him. Since it wasn't eating it also wasn't growing. We decided it was time to release Chixie the froggie at the park so that hopefully it would find food that was more appealing.

Summer finally got brave and held her little froggie before we let it go live in the lilly pads at the park. Look how small it is.

It really was super interesting for us to watch the transformation from tadpole to frog. If you haven't ever tried it you should because it is entertaining.

Whenever we go to this park we are sure to find other animals. This time it was a bunny.

The good old tire swings. I remember playing on these every day as a kid. Ours was a really tire, and we would flip it upside down and through the chains to make it higher off the ground, and more dangerous.
She is natural at swinging on bars. I really need to get her in gymnastics again. She is like a little monkey.

One last goodbye to our little frog Chixie. I hope it survives, but at least we will never really know for sure. We will just assume the it thrives, and if we ever see a larger frog at the same park we will pretend it is Chixie.

Oh No We Have a Shopper on Our Hands!

2010-08-04T18:48:00.000-07:00

Summer is going to start school here on August 23rd. I can't believe she will be in kindergarten. I still don't know who her teacher will be, or what school supplies she needs.

We decided to go school clothes shopping, or at least looking since we may go on the no sales tax day coming up. She has always loved trying on clothes in the dressing room and insists on doing a dance and singing a song in the mirror before she will take the outfit off and try another one on.

This time when we went she was just so excited about it all. She found this shirt with a scarf on it that you can wear as a scarf, a belt, or a headband. She was begging me to let her have it. Since it was on clearance for $5 I went ahead and got it for her.

I saw this one on the rack and asked her if she wanted to try it on. She said I am not a boy and I don't want to wear a tie like a boy. Then I explained that this is made for a girl and that is why there is a matching skirt and a little bit of pink in it. After trying it on she decided she wanted it too. I did not get it yet because I was not sure what Phil would think of these 80's/90's style clothes. That is why we took pictures of all the clothes we tried on. She keeps asking me when we are getting her the tie.
Ok, so most of the stuff I tried on there was pretty normal, but there really were a ton of 80's clothes. They are actually cute for little kids.
She did a bunch of twirls in these outfits, but my junky camera of course can't really capture that.
This was by far the most 80's of all the ones we tried on. I sure do love the 80's, but I never thought I would be dressing my kids in 80's clothing for normal day attire. It was also her absolute favorite because of the fake necklaces that are printed on and embellished with rhinestones. She is such a girl.
It really was fun spending a few hours shopping around and trying on clothes with Summer. She makes it very entertaining when she pretends to be a rock star in the mirror. I sure do love it.

She is so excited to start school. She asks me everyday when school starts, and if she gets to go tomorrow. Today I caught her trying on the new clothes that I did get for her. She can't wait to join the big kids in the big school. On the other hand I am kind of sad. In fact I was watching some videos that I posted a long time ago on my facebook page. I got a little emotional when I saw how little she was then and how she spoke like a baby. She really has just grown up right before my eyes, and I wonder where I have been. She thought it was so funny to her herself talk like a baby and pronounce things wrong. She just kept laughing at it.

Anyhow, we will really be shopping again soon. Maybe I will find some really rad 80's looks to blog about.

Independence Day Celebrations

2010-07-06T11:04:00.000-07:00

We sure are grateful to live in a country that provides us with so much freedom. We love celebrating our country's Independence Day's. For Canada day which is July 1st we had a yummy dinner with a Canadian table decorations. Usually I like to do something special Canada Day too.

Since July 4th fell on a Sunday we actually started our celebrations on Saturday the 3rd. We were all worried that everything was going to be canceled because of the rain we were getting from a hurricane South of us. We actually didn't plan on doing anything because everything was flooded and the rain was not letting up.

Luckily we woke up on Saturday with the sun peaking through the clouds. We then headed to the parade and carnival. One thing about rain storms in Houston is that afterwards it is not cool and fresh feeling like in the North. Instead it gets super duper humid. I think every person at the carnival had there clothes sticking to them, and it was super uncomfortable. However, I am so happy that the rain did stop and we were still able to enjoy the fun.

You will notice a blurry spot on the upper left of these pictures. That is some of the humidity on my lens. Good thing I have a cheapy camera.

This year Summer was not timid about running after the candy they throw. She got way too much, but she sure had fun.

Anyone want a Delorean? There must be a club here because there were five Deloreans grouped together with their doors up.

On Sunday we went to the Stake Center in Lexington to join in a Star Spangled Sing-along. Afterwards we stayed in the church parking lot for viewing fireworks. That was really fun too. It is nice being with friends and waiting for a fun event to start.

I hope you all had a fun weekend with Indpendence Day festivities. I really am proud to be an American and I love being patriotic. I think if I ever move to Canada someday that I will still insist on driving to the US for the 4th of July. It is a must.

In Memory of our Tomato Plant

2010-06-23T12:21:00.000-07:00

This year we Summer and I decided we would try planting some veggies in our little tiny 8 x 2 area on the patio. Summer is at an age where she can help take care of them and hopefully see the fruits of her labor.

Here she is holding her first little cherry tomatoes.

These are the only ones we got because the plant got spider mites and I had to pull it up before they spread to our other plants. I was really sad because it seems like every plant I have ever tried growing has died. I am determined to prove that I can keep one alive.

So, I am doing all I can to keep the nasty bugs away from the others. I really hope that they survive and that we can finally be true gardeners and not just pretend to know what we are doing.
We are happy that we got at least four little tomatoes, and that so far our other plants seem to be healthy.
This is our cherry tomato plant just before we dug it up. See how it is super yellow and dead on the bottom half. They spider mites just eat it up I guess, then they move on to the other plants.

We went to a gardening place and they helped us identify what they were, and what to do to get rid of them. At this garden center we learned we would loose our plant, however, Summer gained some tadpoles from the trip.

I will blog about that later. She is trying to take care of them and keep them alive. Lets hope they don't end up like the tomato plant.
This is our yellow squash plant about a week ago when we dug up the tomato plant. It is starting to bloom male flowers, and in about a week I think the female ones will start to bloom, and then I can hand pollinate them in order to get them to grow. I have learned these things from some great friends who have had more luck with growing things. We will see if I can get them to grow.
Our red pepper plant and basil are having no problems. I finally used some basil the other day since my plant was looking a little large. I needed to harvest some. It smells so good, and I think it is great to eat right out of our own mini garden. Hopefully we will get to eat more than just basil.

It has been fun so far, and it makes me really look forward to having my own house with a back yard for growing a large garden. This is great for learning though. It is not as much work as a huge garden will be.

Keep your fingers crossed for us, and in a couple weeks you may see pictures of some yummy squash.

Happy Birthday Summer!

2010-06-09T09:29:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Summer

Five years ago today Summer was born on her aunt Leanne's birthday. We are so lucky to have Summer in our family as healthy as can be. Of course we are super grateful for her aunt too. Happy Birthday Leanne.

Really, where has the time gone. I can hardly believe that she is five already. She is so excited to start kindergarten. While I am excited for her, at the same time I am still a little sad that she is not the tiny little toddler or baby I remember. She is a little girl who is growing fast, and I want to enjoy every moment with her along the way.

I was going to post a picture of every year, however, I didn't prepare for this post in advance, and I need to search for them all. So here are a few of her first year, the only ones I actually did scrapbook.
This is when her dad was still in School at BYU-Idaho. We use to walk to the Hart building and meet up for lunch. Sometimes Phil and Summer would play while I went downstairs to work out.
Summer was so entertained by the ribbon on her 1st birthday present. She played with that thing for a few weeks before I finally threw it away.

This was in the summer when we were here in Houston doing Phil's internship with Merrill Lynch.

I could not keep Summer out of the drawers. She would climb in any drawer she could find including the oven drawer (when the oven was off of course).

Summer has had all of her birthday's here in Houston. What a lucky little lady.

And, now we skip all the way to the present, or at least more recent photos.

Summer is four here. We had just been playing in the splash fountains at Discovery Green. She sure does love playing in the water. She is getting pretty good at swimming and is learning every day.
Summer blowing out all five of her candles for her 5th birthday. Notice the leaning tour of cake. I forgot to put the egg in and so it just wanted to crumble. I am obviously not meant to be a pastry chef.

I will add however, that the cupcakes you see do have the egg and turned out nicely. Head over to my craft blog to see more about the rainbow cupcakes and party favors.

Summer loves going to playgroup now that school is out. Again, she also really loves water, so what better fun than running through the water.

So, there you have it. A little bit of Summer's life and the fun we have had. We really do love her so much and are so proud of her. One very rewarding thing about being a parent is to see them learn, grow, and achieve different milestones.

And She's Off

2010-05-30T21:58:00.000-07:00

We have been trying to convince Summer to let us take her training wheels off for a few months now. She was pretty hesitant to let us do so. When she learned that one of her close friends learned to ride her bike I guess she was a little more excited and confident about doing it.

It took about two days for her to really catch on. She was attracted to all the buildings at first and was like a magnet heading right for them. Finally she got the steering down and can go in a straight line and even turn.

She loves riding her bike even more than before.

She does wear her knee pads and helmet to keep safe, but I am tempted to take them off sometimes just because of how hot and humid it is here. I will keep her safe though, and she will just have to sweat it out.

I am so glad she has hit this milestone. It is nice to see her find another form of entertainment.

Missing Teeth

2010-05-21T09:59:00.000-07:00

The last few days Summer has been thinking a lot about her teeth. This is the common discussion.

Summer: "Mom, When do I get to have a missing tooth?"

Me: "Well, I don't know. Someday soon I think."

Summer: "well Brinley and Lizzy both have a missing tooth and I want one too."

I think it is so funny that she is so excited about losing a tooth. She did ask me if it will hurt, so I wonder if she will think it is just as fun when one actually does fall out.

It will be so funny to see her smiling with a hole in her smile. Until then I will enjoy her smiling with all of her baby teeth.

Breakfast or Fabric??

2010-05-14T15:09:00.001-07:00

Breakfast Anyone?

On Wednesday we had a guest speaker at our ARM meeting. She was there to help us learn about saving money in several ways including coupons. My sister has been trying to get me into this as well. However, I have always thought it was over my head and too much work.

I think I needed to see it presented to me the way it was because I left with inspiration to take on the challenge.

We were running low on cereal and I noticed a sale at Randall's this week. I was planning on buying some of it anyhow. Then thanks to Amy our wonderful speaker, I was able to get some even better deals.

My very first coupon excursion brought me all of this above. I paid $9.58 out of my own pocket, and then got a $3.00 & $4.00 on your next purchase. 3+4=7 off my next purchase. Subtract that from the amount I paid out of pocket and it looks like this 9.58-7=$2.58. So, for all of this stuff above I really only paid $2.58 which equals out to .23 cents each. That is a good deal if you ask me. For one spaghetti sauce alone it usually costs at least $2.50 for that brand.

Day 2: This is what I brought home today on my second coupon excursion. Do you think you can guess what I paid for it? I should have thought to do a giveaway for the winner. However, I will do that on my craft blog in the next week or two.

Anyhow, I did four different transactions and the lady at Randall's couldn't figure out why the coupon kept coming up in the negative. I don't know either. The first transaction was the two bottles of scrub bubbles Which I ended up owning $3.98, but paid with it using the $4.00 catalina from yesterday.

I also think I messed one of the transactions up, but still came out on top. After all the coupons and catalinas used I ended up paying $3.08 for all of this out of my own pocket. I also left with another $3.oo and $4.oo off next purchase catalinas. So when you take the $3.00 + $4.00 from today and subtract the $3.08 I ended up making $3.92. What a steal, so everything was basically free.

I hope I can score on some other awesome deals as I continue my venture with coupons. Have you found any awesome deals?

Fabric Steal!

At Summer's gymnastics center they had decorated for the mini olympics that they do every spring. They purchased two bolts of nylon chiffon to decorate with. I must tell you that it is not easy to find this stuff in stores. When I saw it hanging up I asked the owner where she purchased it. It turns out that there is a store here in Houston called Southern Imports that does costumes and some other weird stuff, and they happen to sell it in all sorts of colors. It is sort of by Herman Park.

Anyhow, she told me that she would be willing to sell it to me when she was finished with it because she would not be using it again. So, she paid $170 for all of it. I got all of it for $50 which I think is pretty good. As you can see there is a ton.

Luckily my friend is going to go in on it with me and buy half so that I don't have so much fabric sitting around. I have some plans for it, and if there is any left I might just do a giveaway or something.
This is all the folding I still have left. It is a lot of work to fold it nicely, but will be easier to work with when finished.

Some other great places to go for fabric discounts are www.etsy.com, and www.fabric.com, usually I can find good coupons for 20-30% off plus if you spend $35 or more you get free shipping with fabric.com

Good luck to all of you trying to find great deals.

Being a Mother Couldn't Be Better

2010-05-09T19:19:00.000-07:00

How could I not love being a mother?

Seriously, when I look at these pictures and see these beautiful little creations I just melt. Really, how can I not be in love.

The blessings of motherhood are so special to me. The idea of what motherhood would be like quickly changed after having Summer our first. I learned that it is filled with love, laughter, crying, discipline, and a life filled with joyful memories.

The primary kids sang My Mother Dear in sacrament meeting today. At the end when it says mother dear they held up a picture of their mother that they drew last week. Here is Summer's picture of me. She even drew earrings.

This is my first year receiving a Mother's Day gift that she made at preschool. She was so excited to give it to me. I love seeing her face light up like that with so much love, and excitement. We really are so blessed to have her as a part of our family. I am thankful that I have been given the opportunity to be a mother. Hopefully I will be able to be a good one.

This is my mom Karla.

Don't you think we look exactly alike? Most people probably thought I was adopted when I was little. But I don't care. I think we must resemble each other in some way or another.

My mom has been such a great example to me. She has always taken care of us girls, and done all that she could to give us what we needed. She loved us, provided for us, nurtured us, had fun with us, laughed with us, cried with us, and of course taught us.

My mom's mother left when she was young, and never came back. I can't imagine how that must have felt or how she moved on to be such a wonderful mother who was always there. She was, and is so involved in our lives. Growing up I have always thought of my mom as a hard worker. She is happy and lives a good life enjoying her three girls, and 12 grandchildren. She also loves to work in the garden. Something else that requires nurturing and care. I love my mom so much. She really is the best.

My mom does not own a computer, so I will have to let her know that I shared her with everyone. After all, she is a good example and a lovely woman in my life.

I am glad to be a mother and to share parenting with my husband Philip who is an excellent father.

Finally a Trip to Idaho!!

2010-05-05T17:47:00.000-07:00

Finally I am blogging about my trip to Idaho. I thought I had already done it until today when I saw the ducks from my last post at the top.

Anyhow, we were able to go to Idaho for two weeks to visit my family. It was way past due, and I am so glad we finally got to see them. I would say the only real challenge about living in Houston is that it is so far away from family. Good thing we have such awesome friends, and neighbors.

Phil was able to come to Idaho for a few days, but then he rode back to Vancouver, BC with his family. He wanted to go to the temple open house since it is just a few streets over from his parents house.

Here are some of the things we were able to see and do while visiting family.

WARNING: Lots of pictures.

At Broulim's grocery store they make this colored bread for all the different holidays. My mom saved some from Easter so Summer could enjoy it too. She thought it was so fun.
Summer enjoying playing with her cousin Guage. He is so hilarious. He is a little smarty pants and a little rambunctious at the same time. I was very entertained by every visit from my little nephew. We sure are glad he is in our family.
I love this picture of Summer with Grandpa Harvey. They look so happy. Philip's family came down for a few days because his youngest sister was graduating from BYU-Idaho.
Thanks to Jeff my brother-in-law Philip got his wish to go horseback riding. Thanks a ton Jeff. You made the whole trip for Phil.

Phil enjoying the horseback riding.
This was a beautiful spring day. This is what I miss about living in the Northwest. Hills and mountains at your fingertips. I love the mountains and unfortunately took them for granted while I lived so close to them.
My sister Kody holding an antler horn that she found. Apparently it is a pretty big one. I would have no clue as we are not the hunting type. Philip found a little tiny one, but I forgot to take a picture of that.
Philip and I in our non horse riding shoes. We were obviously not prepared. Imagine this in about a month when it is more green and lush. I want to go for another ride so bad.
This is at my sister's house just days after the horse ride. I think we experienced all four seasons while we were there. Summer sure was happy to play in the snow. My sister on the other hand is still experiencing snow storms in May, and I don't think she is so happy about it.
My nephew Kiowa refused to go out and play with the kids. The next thing I knew he was playing out there with no shoes, coat, or gloves on. I guess he prefers frozen limbs.
Last year we went to Idaho around the same time. My nephew Dawson was born then. Well, he just celebrated his first birthday. We got him this drum and he went crazy for it. Here he is playing with full force.
Dumb and Dumber! This little scooter is rad. I love this and wish that I could have had a turn too. Summer was a little scared at first, but then came to enjoy the ride.
Dawson was so funny. He would hold on to the front and stand while my niece Tatum took him around the block. He loved it.
He also fit nicely in the dump truck.
She is such a poser. I think I am going to have a teenage girl that loves jewelry, clothes, makeup, and shopping. She is already into trying on clothes at the store and will not let me take them off until she does a little dance in front of the mirror while singing a song. I love it though. It makes me laugh every time.
I was lucky to get together with a few of my friends while I was there. We went to the park on this really nice day. It is always good to visit with friends and keep in touch.
Isn't he cute.
My sisters Kody and Kori pretending they are going to get a tan. It actually was really nice that day. I think in the 70's or something.
On our way back to SLC to catch our flight we stayed at a hotel for a couple nights. Kiowa and Summer were playing super heros by jumping off the bed with their goggles on.
I told you she likes to shop, and try everything on.
My nephew was getting so sick of driving and shopping by this point. When going to the airport he did say that he was glad we were going home. I would get sick of shopping and riding in a car too if I were a kid. I think deep down inside he really wishes I lived next door.

We also went to visit Scott's graveside a couple times. Summer picked out a bouquet of flowers to leave out there. It was nice to take flowers out there since we don't get to do it that often. My mom goes out there and leaves things there from time to time.

It was such a fun trip. I always love going for a visit. I love my family so much and wish we were able to visit more often. There will not be any year gaps from now on though. It was too long.

Thanks family for such a great time. We loved it and miss you all already.

Herman Park Adventure

2010-03-31T13:50:00.000-07:00

Today I decided to take Summer to Herman Park to feed the ducks. I have been sewing so much to get these dress sets together that I have not made much fun time for her.

It was really good to just get out and enjoy the nice weather. The weather was around 82 degrees today and was so enjoyable.

This is what we saw at Herman Park today.

Feeding the ducks in the moss filled water.

Turtles.

A huge school of minnows.

More turtles. There are a ton of turtles at this park. We saw a little tiny one that I would have liked to have caught, however, we didn't have a bucket or anything to catch it with. It was about the size of one of those mini bagels.

The squirrels at Herman Park can be vicious. This one came up behind us and started hissing at Summer. She freaked out and dropped a slice of bread. The little stinker swiped it and ran behind this tree. I went to get a picture of it and it didn't move. Obviously it is comfortable around people because it didn't even budge. I am sure they are fed all day long. Is there such a thing as obese squirrels?

Summer loves to pose, especially at stores when trying on clothes. This is inside a little house covered picnic table.
Cute smile.
We tried to get a picture of the two of us and it just wasn't working. We both look scary. Too bad daddy was at work. He could have helped us out.

Herman Park's mini imitation of Old Faithful. The paddle boats look really fun.

Another silly pose after she saw a bee. With all those flowers it is no wonder that bees might buzz near by.

It was fun, and I recommend the park if you are looking for a nice fun day. I should go more often. Maybe next time I will plan to let Summer do the splash park.

Houston Rodeo!

2010-03-21T10:12:00.000-07:00

This year we finally went to the actual rodeo and the Rascal Flatts concert. It was so much fun. Phil had never been to a rodeo, so it was interesting for him. The funny thing is that the only two bull riders that scored that night were from Canada.
It was also military day, so this was part of the presentation before the concert started. It was actually really awesome, and always reminds me of those fighting for the freedoms and comforts that I enjoy everyday.
Summer and her dad rode a few rides together. The bumper cars are classic.
Both Philip and I were shocked when Summer told us she wanted to go on this by herself. She took the guys hand and let him lift her onto her belly. She just held on and enjoyed the ride like a big girl. She is the one right under the smudge in the clouds.
They have this really awesome thing where the kids can be a farmer. They go around to each area and learn about the product, then they sell it at the farmers market where they get paid a fake dollar. Next they go to the store and spend their dollar on a snack.

For dinner Summer wanted nachos, however, decided she didn't like the cheese. She suggested going back to the farmers stand and getting raisins for dinner.

This year we decided to try the fried alligator on a stick. To be honest is was not that good. It was like fishy chicken.

Phil always get Goode Company BBQ so he enjoyed that and I ate Summer's nachos. Fair food is always fatty, but good. Luckily we did not go overboard.

Just when the rodeo started Summer's preschool had Go Texan's day with pony rides, and a petting zoo. All the kids got to dress up for the occasion. This is what we managed to put together.
The funny thing about the rodeo here in Houston is that so many people who are clearly not cowboy in any way suddenly become super cowboy in appearance. I went to a Famous Footwear to find some runners for Summer and had to chuckle at the large sign saying, "WE DO NOT SELL COWBOY BOOTS!"

It has been such a great time. We love the rodeo and look forward to it again.

A Name

2010-02-24T13:07:00.000-08:00

For the past 4 months or so Summer has been coming up with all kinds of names for babies. Her most favorite and most frequent one is Chera. Some of the others are Serena, Elizabeth, and then there are those that are bizarre and I don't really even know how to pronounce them back to her.

I am not quite sure what has sparked this interest in baby names, however, it is interesting. She comes to me almost every day suggesting several different names that we could use to name "our baby". She prays for a baby brother or sister daily, and she has been talking about her brother Scott a lot lately.

Well, unfortunately there is no baby yet. I think she is realizing that she doesn't have a sibling and she really wants one. As parents I think we can learn a lot from our children. Summer is just as much of an example to me as I am to her. She is a great example of persistence and hope to me.

Summer reminds me that we can't give up hope. We have to be persistent and work at something. She also reminds me of how much energy and joy children have. I think I need to be more like a kid sometimes. Just carefree and relaxed.

As I mentioned, she has been talking about Scott a lot lately. She tells me that she wishes he can come back to our house someday. She says that she knows her wish will come true. The great thing about it is that she is right. That is the good news of the gospel. We will see him again. Just not right now.

It will be interesting to know what she remembers when she is older. I hope she keeps talking about Scott, because it might help her hold on to those memories. It intrigues me to think of what kinds of memories she will talk about, and reminisce about. I sure hope they are good ones. I have some great memories from my childhood, and I only hope to help her create her own.

I am so lucky to have such a wonderful daughter who makes life interesting, and happy. It will be so amazing when she finally gets the opportunity to have another sibling at home. It makes me smile just thinking of it. Someday.

Vancouver 2010 Olympics

2010-02-21T16:49:00.001-08:00

Philip has been anticipating the Vancouver 2010 Olympics since we met. I remember him bragging that they would be in his hometown when we got married almost 6 years ago. He has reminded me almost every year since. I am quite surprised that he did not plan a trip there for the occasion.

However, he did want to party for the opening ceremonies. So, we put up the flags, decorated, and made some good food.

Don't worry, I did not forget the American flag. How could I?

It was actually quite fun. We made our version of Poutine which I am sure was not nearly as good as the original. I don't think the gravy was hot enough because the cheese didn't melt.

One of our fellow Canadian friends made nanaimo bars. We also had purogies, and mini quiche. It was really fun, and we enjoyed our Houston version of the 2010 olympic opening ceremonies.

We were also super excited and happy when Alexandre Bilodeau won Canada's first gold in their home olympic games.

This next week should be interesting, and we look forward to watching more.

Valentines Ravioli!

2010-02-14T15:41:00.000-08:00

This morning Summer and I stayed home from church because she is a little sick. I made her breakfast in bed with heart pancakes. That cheered her up quite a bit. Sometimes it is not necessarily restful day of getting better with a four year old because they don't really rest.

For dinner I decided to try making home made pink heart shaped ravioli for dinner. I thought it was good. Summer even helped me pinch the edges closed.

Summer enjoying her pasta.

It was fun to make, and now I know I can make ravioli with whatever kind of filling I want.

So, if you want to try it out here is the recipe I used for the dough, and my own combination for the filling.

Ravioli From Scratch

Filling:

1 lb ground turkey

1 large handful of fresh spinach chopped

1/4 cup chopped fresh basil

1-2 diced roma tomatoes

1 cup fine grated italian style cheese blend

1 tsp Herbs de Province (Italian seasoning will work fine)

1 tsp Garlic salt

Dough: Found at http://www.recipezaar.com/Ravioli-Dough-and-Choice-of-4-Fillings-59359DOUGH

3 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup water

First brown the ground turkey, garlic salt, and Herbs de Province. Add chopped spinach and basil. Cook another 5 minutes or until spinach has wilted up. Let cool.

After the meat mixture is cooled add the grated cheese, and diced tomatoes. Set aside and make your ravioli dough.

After I made my filling I followed the steps below.

MAKING THE RAVIOLI DOUGH: Sift flour and salt together.

9
Place flour mixture on a board, making a well in the center of the flour.
10
Drop eggs into the flour well, using your hand or a fork, break the yolks and beat eggs slightly.
11
Combine the eggs and flour together, gradually adding enough warm water to make a stiff dough.
12
Knead dough well, until smooth; cover the dough and let it rest for 15 minutes.
13
Cut dough in half and roll each half of the dough out on a floured board, into a very thin sheet (about 1/16 to 1/8 inch thick).
14
FILLING THE RAVIOLI: Drop about 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoonfuls of filling about 1 1/2 inches apart all along the dough.
15
When the sheet of dough is fully dotted with dabs of filling mixture, cover filling with other sheet of dough.
16
Using your fingers, gently press dough between each dab of filling to seal it.
17
Cut ravioli into squares with a (zig-zag edged) pastry cutter, or very sharp knife.
18
DRYING THE RAVIOLI: Allow ravioli to dry for one hour before cooking.
19
COOKING THE RAVIOLI: Drop ravioli into 6 to 8 quarts of boiling, salted water and cook for about 10 to 15 minutes, or until dough is tender.
20
Remove cooked ravioli from pot carefully with a skimmer or a large slotted spoon, and drain well.
21
Place drained ravioli on a serving platter in layers, alternating layers with your favorite sauce and a sprinkling of grated cheese between each ravioli layer.
22
Serve hot.

Andrea Bocelli and Mormon Tabernacle Choir

2010-02-04T11:12:00.000-08:00

Quote

YouTube - Andrea Bocelli & The Mormon Tabernacle Choir - The Lord's Prayer (2009)

This is simply magnificent. I have always loved Andrea Bocelli, and it is great to hear him with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

Houston Rockets Game

2010-01-18T18:37:00.001-08:00

Here in Houston our place is surrounded by sports teams. We have been lucky enough to score a few different tickets to these games over the last three years. Wow! We have been here for three years now.

Anyhow, I had a Relief Society activity this week that I wanted to go to. It just so happened that Philip was also given tickets to the Rockets game for the same night. He and his co-worker who also happens to be in our ward decided to take the girls for a game night.

It worked out perfect because we were able to go to the activity and the girls enjoyed the late night with their dads and each other. Here they are enjoying their cotton candy and the spirit a good game brings.

I handed Philip the camera and insisted he take a few pictures of their night. So he even got one of himself. Apparently the game was great, and went into triple overtime. So the girls were even more excited that they got to stay up later.

Daddy daughter dates are the best. Seriously I love that Phil takes Summer on these special outings. She really looks forward to them and talks about them for some time afterword.

Ringing in the New Year!!

2010-01-07T14:54:00.001-08:00

Well, we had a pretty uneventful New Years Eve. The only thing that was of interest or concern rather was Summer enjoying the New Years.

Summer decided to ring in the New Year by chopping off her hair. What a wonderful way to celebrate huh. Yeah right! Actually I am lucky that it was not that bad.

During dinner I looked at Summer as her hair brushed her neck. I noticed a rather fresh cut in her hair and it was much shorter than the last. Immediately I knew she had cut it. I told her to turn her head and that is how we confirmed it. She didn't want to admit it at first, however, after realizing that she would get into far more trouble by lying she confessed. The poor 4 year old probably thought that she made a marvelous change in her play salon. I asked her where the hair was that she cut, and she directed me to her garbage can in her bathroom.

Seriously we are so lucky that it was only this much. Unfortunately I will never ever forget the day that I did the same thing only way worse and to my cousins hair. I was at her house playing, and I suppose we were playing salon or something. Well, I decided it would be glamorous to cut my cousin's ponytail off. I can't quite remember if it was up half way or if it was a full ponytail. All I remember was her mom coming home. I am pretty sure we both got in loads of trouble from that. I felt so bad, and it still haunts me to this day.

Luckily Hair does grow back, but for some unfortunate children who decide to cut their own hair it really stinks. I have seen some pretty bad self haircuts, but I still don't think they top cutting a ponytail off.

Cupcake Fun

2010-01-07T14:45:00.000-08:00

Last night we got to babysit some of Summer's little friends. She was so excited for them to come over and asked all day long if they were coming yet. When the time finally arrived she was even more happy.

For Christmas Summer got this cupcake maker from my mom that makes enough frosting and cake batter for one cupcake at a time. It is perfect for them to make a fun treat. She has been hoping for some friends to come make cupcakes with her ever since she got it.

It was quite messy because we made some of the frosting too runny. Then, while frosting Summer's cupcake we put the cupcake on the spinner thing wrong and her cupcake toppled over a few times getting frosting everywhere.

Each took their own turn pouring their packet of batter in the bowl and mixing it while the others cooked theirs in the microwave.

They all had fun, and I am glad that I only had to make three cupcakes and not 24.

Vancouver Love and Belated Christmas!

2009-12-27T19:20:00.000-08:00

We were fortunate enough to get away for Christmas and visit with Philip's family in Vancouver, BC. It was so nice there, and I love the area more and more with each visit. It was nice to spend time with family and enjoy the festivities of Christmas together. I can't wait for the next visit.

Summer enjoyed the airplane most of the time, and pretty much colored the whole way there.

These twin little girls are little friends of Summer's. They are her aunt Laurel's nieces. She had so much fun playing with them. Thanks again Candise for watching her.

Of course Summer was so excited to see her cousin Abby. She still says that was the best part about the whole visit was playing with Abby.

Ok, so recently I found out that Kinder eggs are in fact banned from the US. I posted about my mother-in-law getting them taken away once at the border. I never could figure out why until my brother-in-law sent me an article a couple weeks ago. Unfortunately I deleted it after reading, so I can't share it with you.

So, since they were illegal Santa brought this giant one for Summer to open before we crossed the border. They put these out at Christmas and Easter. Below is the picture of the toy capsule inside. It really was huge.

Summer enjoyed some of the chocolate Kinder ball for breakfast. Actually I think that is about all she ate while we were there. She is a true Harvey and has a huge love for chocolate.

It was such a good trip, and we were sad to leave, however it is always nice to be home.

Since we had to pack for a trip we were not able to bring our gifts with us. We left almost everything here. So, Sunday after church we had a belated Christmas and opened up our gifts.

This is a Lego set that Philip gave to Summer. It is so cute because it is a girly one with horses and a house and stuff like that. Philip is so excited about it because he loves Lego and looks forward to spending some time putting it together with her.

This is a little petticoat skirt that I got for her. She was a little confused at first when she opened the mass of chiffon. She looked at me with a confused little face and said "FABRIC!"

She was a little more happy when she unraveled it to find a skirt and not a bunch of fabric.

Summer has been so excited for Christmas this year, and has made it so much fun. I am a little sad it is all over, and that it is almost 2010. I can't believe how fast time goes.

Well, I hope you all had a great Christmas, and that you do have a happy new year.

Songfest with Summer's Preschool Class

2009-12-18T23:03:00.000-08:00

Here is Summer with her 3 wonderful teachers. We are so proud of how well she is doing in school. She is always excited to go in the morning. Her teachers are excellent and we are so happy that she thinks so too.

Here is a little clip of some of the songs they sang at Summer's Christmas Songfest.

Summer was not so happy in this picture. She was doing so good until about half way through all the songs, and then she broke down and started crying. The poor thing is just so shy, however, she was so excited about it at the same time. She really did do so good, and I love hearing her sing the songs. I need to get a video of her singing them all by herself.

The kids were all so cute. It was so funny to see the cute actions they had to go with the songs. After the songfest was over the teachers helped the students pass out gifts they made for their parents. We are not to open it until Christmas, so after I open it and return to Houston I will post a picture of Summer's handmade creation.

We are off to Vancouver for Christmas, so I wish you all a Merry Christmas.

Christmas Fun with Summer

2009-12-11T17:25:00.000-08:00

This is a brief update on our Christmas festivities. Summer was so excited to decorate the gingerbread house this year. If you haven't ever bought the ready to make ones at the store, you should try it. I think it is great because it comes with everything and it is still fun and yummy for the kids. Our roof kept slipping off, but eventually after about 4 tries it finally stayed with a slit down the middle. Summer did a great job with the candy.
Usually I like to have a cute tree, with the decorations placed nicely. This year, we were given a pre lit tree from our friends who were so generous in passing on it to us. The lights didn't work, and we didn't want the tree to go to waste. So Phil did a great job tediously pulling all the old lights off so we could string new ones on. By the time we finally got the lights on the tree Summer could not stand waiting any longer to put the ornaments on.
So, we let her have at it. She placed them all in one general location near the bottom center of the tree. We decided to just let her keep it that way this year. She has been taking the ornaments off almost everyday and rearranging them. Maybe she will still be doing that when she has her own tree someday.

Well, I thought that if our tree was going to be fit for kids that we may as well get into it more. So, Summer and I popped popcorn and strung popcorn all around the tree. It was fun, and it kept her entertained for a couple days. I actually like the way popcorn turned out.
She loves Christmas, and looks forward to every moment of festive fun. Oh, and whenever we go to the post office she takes a label and sticks it on her shirt. I must have forgotten it was there and never took it off all day. I guess she is ready to be shipped out for Christmas.

Merry Christmas to all of you incase I don't get another post in before then.

Snow Does Fall in Houston!

2009-12-04T11:44:00.001-08:00

Summer asked me this morning if it was close to Christmas because it was snowing outside. She is so excited and loves it. It is beautiful, and we are enjoying every minute of it.

Turkey Day!

2009-11-26T15:34:00.000-08:00

Well, it is done. I cooked all day long and we have stuffed ourselves. Unfortunately our turkey was a little dry. Next year I will for sure be doing things a bit differently.

Besides the food, today I really do think of all the things I am thankful for. Here are a few:

My family is definitely at the top. Seriously, what would I do with out Philip and Summer? And of course the rest of my family too.

Spending fun time with family

Pumpkin Pie which I will eat later.

Being creative, especially when it is going to make someone happy.

A clean house.

A comfortable bed to sleep in, and fresh air coming through my window.

Trips to visit family.

Ok, I could keep going on, however, I will spare you. Anyhow I just want to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving from our family.

Check out my craft blog for my giveaway.

Later

Flower Brooch giveaway!

2009-11-23T22:34:00.000-08:00

I am having another giveaway here on my craft blog. Head there to check it out.

There are so many things I have to blog about, but right now it is close to 1:00am and I really need to go to bed. So, come back in a day or two for an update on our family.

Purses, Kitchen Towels, and an Auction

2009-11-01T16:51:00.001-08:00

This is what I have been up to in October.

OK, I know I should not be like this with my own work, but I simply can't help it. I absolutely adore these purses, and I think they turned out so fun and cute. I need to make one for myself now. I do need an upgrade from the one I am currently using.

So you may ask why I made them if I am not even planning on keeping one. Well, I have been making them as a donation to some dear friends of mine who are doing an online auction to raise funds for their two sweethearts who both need transplants.

I made the purses and the towel sets. I have also included just a few of my favorites from what is being offered to bid on for the auction. Check them out below, and then head here to see all the other awesome items up for bid.

The auction starts tomorrow November 2ND at 8:00 am and will end November 16Th at midnight.

So if you want one of these adorable purses, or any of my towels, simply check out the auction where they will be up for bid.

Pussy Willow Kitchen Towel Set

Tootie Frootie in Citrus

Cattails Kitchen Towels

Resting Bird Kitchen Towels

Standing Fern Kitchen Towels

Retro Meets Mod Kitchen Towels

www.housetohomeframes.blogspot.com

www.modestmaven.etsy.com

I am not sure who donated this, but I think it is very cute. How fun to have a spiced up wipes container.

http://www.cranberriesandcapers.etsy.com/

http://www.haveaballbaby.com/

Please check out all the items up for bid. They will make great Christmas and birthday gifts and will also be helping out a family in need.

Halloween

2009-11-01T16:38:00.001-08:00

Halloween was great. I at least had a costume ready for Summer. I repurposed a black velvet floral dress and added a lot of frills to it. She loved it and I loved that she was happy.

We went to the ward trunk or treat and now have a ton of candy. The weather was perfect this year. It was not hot at all, in fact we have had mild weather for the last couple weeks. I hope it stays this way.

So, Halloween is over, and we are ready for Christmas. I started playing Christmas music this morning. Just kidding. I just thought I would pretend to be like the stores. Just wait until tomorrow and they will for sure be playing those jingle tunes for Christmas. Of course the Christmas decor has been out since June.

Here are a couple pictures I took of Summer before her school costume parade.

Summer in Concert

2009-10-26T07:30:00.000-07:00

I have been wanting to capture Summer singing all the songs she has learned at preschool. I should have turned on a light since I don't get much natural light, but you get an idea at least. She is singing some Halloween songs and a couple alphabet songs.

Summer loves singing and performing for us at home. She also loves dancing, and playing dress up.

I am grateful for a daughter who likes to have fun and be creative.