Logan & Acelin

So Erin (the girl) (I guess I don't have to say that when her hubby isn't here and I'm typing it) and I went to the Temple grounds on Sunday to work on taking pictures and more appropriately wrestle our babies. It was fun and I think it was a good exercise because I'm still having issues with my camera. Some of the shots are really washed out because I had the aperture wide open (love shallow depth of field shots) and it was very bright.

Then we took pictures for Logan and Acelin's wedding videos. Hee! There were two shots I must have not loaded on my flash drive, I need to put them up on another post because Logan's face is too funny, it looks like Acelin is pinching him but she wasn't. While we took pictures Logan was just mesmerized by Acelin, he couldn't take his eyes off her. Which I guess is a good thing when it comes to arranged marriages. The flowers are still gorgeous so if you haven't been down there and it's not snowing, I'd check them out.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MINDY!

Today is Mindy's birthday. I told her I was going to put embarrassing photos of her on my blog for her birthday. I shouldn't be too mean because she probably has tons of photos of me. To be fair I put photos that also had me.



Enjoy the nice vintage clogging photo. You'll also love that I cut around the chair because it's just so stylin' in my scrapbook that way. ;) Here is a picture of us for our 12th birthday. We did a combined birthday party at the Lion House.
Here are 10 things you may or may not know about Mindy.

1. I was very mean to Mindy growing up. I would boss her around all the time and if she wouldn't do it I would tell her that her name meant garbage and mine meant princess. Sorry Mindy.


2. Mindy's cute baby Derick, has his 1st birthday tomorrow but today is all about Mindy.


3. Mindy totally loves the Beatles and it's because of her that I know so much about them because I think I've watched every Beatles documentary about them that came out in the 80s and 90s. I also think about Mindy and her sisters every time I hear a Beatles song.


4. Mindy always had tons and tons of My Little Ponies and Barbies. She had a '57 Chevy Barbie car that was the coolest.


5. I'm not sure if this was ever Mindy's room but it had a full size mural of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs that was probably 8' x 20'. I thought that was the coolest.


6. Both of our moms think we were switched at birth because Mindy is quiet, kind and well mannered just like my mom and we'll just say I'm just like Mindy's mom.


7. Mindy has the best anniversary date, it's June 10th the same as mine.


8. Mindy is an awesome violin and piano player. I remember in YW she would always play the hymns because she knew more than the 2 that I knew.


9. Mindy's married to a fireman. She doesn't just have to have the fantasy.


10. Mindy is a great friend to have and looking back at my childhood I think she is in almost all of my memories and thinking about it I think I almost lived at their house. The things I remember the most from Mindy's house was learning to ride a bike in her driveway, making jumps on the Hot Dogger (slip n' slide), making routines up on these pink slides and playing in their clubhouse in the basement.


11. I thought of one more. I remember we were such macaroni and cheese snobs growing up. We thought Leonardo mac n' cheese was the best and I loved having it at Mindy's house because her mom made it runnier.

UE

Okay so I'm not loving this excercise. I didn't have anything to take pictures of. So I did a little shutter excercise with freezing the water and then having it run. I think it was too bright outside to do this.

I like the one of the frozen water because in the background is a bride and groom. Okay so I took these photos on Sunday. While I was there I couldn't understand why we saw 3 sets of brides and grooms in their full get up taking pictures around the temple. They obviously weren't married that day and some of them I know weren't married at the temple. Not being judgmental just wondering why you would want your pictures taken there. Erin and I only came up with the reason of it being a free tulip festival and you don't have to buy a photographer's pass.

Cherry Waldorf Salad

Okay so today's post is killing several birds with one stone. Brittany & Sarah because the recipe has Waldorf in the name and Gossip Girl is on tonight. Jenefer because she also likes recipes. Brek because she also likes recipes and she likes them even more if they are in the style of Pioneer Woman. If you haven't checked out PW I totally recommend it because she has some awesome recipes especially Marlboro Man's Favorite Sandwich.

Also another reason to check out PW is she is giving away a Kitchen Aid. All you have to do is post a recipe but you have to do it today. I can't wait till the contest is over to read all the yummy recipes in the comments.

So today's recipe come from My Mom's Favorite Recipe book. You can get your hands on this book if you are the spawn of one of her siblings or you are one of offspring. I have two copies of the cook book. The travel version and the very limited deluxe edition.

This recipe is very easy even Logan could make. Logan isn't allowed to use knives yet or else he would have made it because he has restless arm syndrome and he would flail his arms about and someone would loose an eye. Most likely me since I'd be holding him up so he could reach the counters. Also if you don't want to see all the step by step directions then scroll to the bottom for the recipe.

Here is the cast of characters. Ignore the stuff in the back it's just my messy kitchen.

Slice your apple like so.

Once you've used the slicer cut them in half again.Then put a bunch together and chop them up until you have 1/2 cup of apples. You could also chop them however you want because I never chop apples up so I thought this way just worked.Here is my 1/2 cup of apples.Now take a celery stalk and cut it down the middle.Now take those halves and cut them in half again.Then chop it into little pieces till you have a 1/4 cup. You also could cut them a different way but I never cut celery so this worked for me. You'll notice in the photo it's at 3/4 cup. That is because the 1/2 cup of apples is underneath. I'm all about less dishes or I guess now I could say, I'm just being green.Now take a 3/4 cup of apple juice.Put it in the microwave because it needs to boil. If you are rustic and all you could heat it on your stove.It takes about 90 seconds in my very crappy microwave.Pour your 3 oz. cherry jell-o mix into your dish.Now pour the boiling hot apple juice into the dish.Stir for 2 minutes until the jell-o is dissolved.Now take the remaining 1/2 cup of apple juice . . .and add ice cubes until it is 1 1/4 cup.Pour your ice cube/apple juice mixture into the dish. Stir the mixture until the ice melts.I finally took the ice cubes out because I was impatient and they weren't ever going to melt.Dump your celery and apples into the jell-o mixture.Put saran wrap over the jell-o because my fridge always smells funky.

Place dish into the fridge for at least 2 hours.

I had a finished photo of this but left it at home. You see Tad isn't working today so I got all excited and wrote a really long to do list. I'm sorry bossing around Tad trumps this blog. Enjoy! I've also learned from doing this is it's a lot harder than it looks to take these pictures. Also it takes forever and a day to do this post.

Cherry Waldorf Salad

1 1/4 cups apple juice
3 oz pkg. cherry jell-o
ice cubes
1/2 cup apples, chopped
1/4 cup celery, chopped

Bring 3/4 cup apple juice to boil. Dissolve jello by stirring 2 min. Mix remaining 1/2 cup juice and ice to measure 1 1/4 cups. Add to jello and stir until ice melts. Stir in fruit and celery and refrigerate 2 hours.

It was like camping

That how last night's sleep was. I would have invited you to watch but there was all ready 3 people in a double bed and no where for us to move.

So this last week we have been sleeping upstairs because we are trying to get Logan to sleep in his crib. He is actually doing all right. I think the biggest problem is his parents are just so tired that he ends up in bed with them at about midnight or 2.

Well last night at 2:45 we were woken up by thunder (this was after we were woken up at 12:30 to a kid screaming that didn't want to calm down). It was so loud and since I was finally asleep it freaked me out because I thought something had fallen on our house (we used to have huge trees right by our house so that was my fear every night). Then it started hailing. I know this because we have this metal pipe that goes to the roof that is in this bedroom closet and you could hear everything that hit it so it was like sleeping in a tent but louder. Then it was lightning and thundering like crazy. Yeah, we don't have blinds in this room so it was very bright in there. Funny thing though, the kid slept through this whole thing.

When I was talking to Tad this morning about it he said, "Last night was really bad." It must have been bad if Tad was saying that because he usually is a lot better with dealing with Logan at night than me.

If you got through all of my complaining here are some photos.

Little Lumberjack

On Sunday Tad put this outfit on Logan. I thought he looked like a little lumberjack so I grabbed his hat to complete the look.

Team Jacob

So I'm switching teams. I just checked out Stephenie Meyer's site and they have updated the movie page. MTV also has 4 video clips you can watch on the movie. Now that I know who Jacob is I think he looks cuter than Edward (not sure if I'll think that with his long hair).

I was going to put a picture but since he is so young I felt kind of weird so you'll just have to click on the link.

Speaking of Stephanie's. My cousin's wife wrote 101 Things to Do With a Cake Mix awhile ago and I love those books (especially the slow cooker ones). Well she has a new one, 101 Things to Do With Chocolate. I picked it up and made the grasshopper ice cream sandwiches. Yum! They have them at Costco right now so check them out ($6.92).

Random Ramblings

Crop
So I'm going to have a crop at my house on Saturday, May 3rd (National Scrapbook Day) at 6:00 pm. So plan on being there. Also since it's spring cleaning time, if you are cleaning out your scrap room and have stuff you need to get rid of bring it along and we'll do a swap with others. I'm hoping to get some pages done of Logan since I haven't done a single page on him. I'll provide drinks, if you'll bring a treat to share. If you need address info leave me a comment.

Understanding Exposure
Okay Erin and Brek or anyone else going through the book - I'm not going to post the first exercise because it would be the same photo over and over. So make sure you do it because you'll understand ISO better which may have been my whole problem I was having with my camera. But next Monday I will post photos for the exercise on pgs. 30-31. I love the examples he gives for this next exercise especially the ferris wheel and the sunflower. So get creative and see what we can come up with.

Dance Competition (you might want to skip it because I ramble way to much)
Well there wasn't anything too funny that happened other than there was this team that did a dance to Scooby Doo. If anyone knows Brandi they know she is terrified for Scooby Doo. They tell the judges not to laugh or show any emotion because everyone is watching you and they might think your emotion is directed at the people you are judging. Well I couldn't help it because Brandi was sitting right behind me and then when I realized I was laughing I grunted because I needed to stop and then the whole time through that dance I was just trying to keep a straight face and I so wanted to turn around and see what Brandi was doing through that whole dance but I used some serious restraint.

Overall it was harder than I thought it would be to judge just because it moves so fast. I loved it though and I would do it again in a second.

I wasn't going to say anything negative about it but I decided that there was one thing that really bugged me at the competition and since it bugged me so much I'd even say it to their face because that is how much it bothered me. There are some dancers that I danced with that are still competing and I found this really sad because I feel like their time to shine is over and they should move on so new kids can be made MVPs or win overall. I don't think that they could give me a good reason of why they still do it because it just kills me that it is still the same winners as when I was dancing and none of these new kids are getting a chance to be that winner. If these dancers do it because they enjoy it then just do team. That is what I find the hardest because there is a whole generation of students not being able to win because of this. Okay, I'm not stepping off of my pedestal.

Another bummer from the competition is that they didn't read my bio. So if I judge again I'll just have to wear my sash that states that I am the Dance Dance Revolution MVP for 2006.

Bringing Justice to the World

So tomorrow I'm going to judge a clogging competition so I can finally bring justice to the clogging world. I'm actually kind of excited because I've always wanted to judge. It was also fun to fill out my bio ;) (Aisha helped me with it.). I'm hoping I'll have some funny stories to share but it will probably just be boring. I do get to hang out with Joni so that will be fun since I never get to see her because she is always hanging out with my husband.

Also isn't this picture cute. My mom is the best. Not only did she make me wear these cheesy costumes but she would wear them with me. That is love to have your mom also wear the embarrassing costumes and dance with you.

I'll leave you with some pictures of Logan in the park. They look like they're from the seventies because I was still having issues with my camera. I think something is up with my white balance because I set it on the right white balance and I get funky photos but if I just keep it on auto it's fine. Maybe I'll ask Joni about this tomorrow.

Also Ali has a cool challenge for the weekend. We all know how I feel about family history.

Erin/Brek - I'll post the Understanding Exposure excercise on Monday. I've had YW stuff every night this week.

Also anyone who is bored. Go over to Brek's blog and post Happy Birthday to her. Her b-day is on Sunday.

MIA

So last Friday we went to a new restaurant in Bountiful. It's in Colonial Square right by Spanky's and it's a Peruvian restaurant. My dad went on his mission there so I told him to go. I wanted him to eat their first in case he got sick I could avoid it but instead he invited us to go.

I was a little apprehensive when we arrived but the food is very good. Tad even liked it and he doesn't like hardly anything. We did the Peruvian buffet. They had salad, potatoes with this spicy yellow stuff you put on it, lots of chicken dishes that you could put over rice, some beef dishes, empanadas, tamales and some yummy cookies. The cookies were a sandwich type of cookie that has dulce de leche in the middle and then the outside of the cookie is covered in powdered sugar. I could have ate a dozen of them. We also got a 2 liter bottle of Inca Cola (this was the one thing Tad didn't like). So check it out. I know we will definitely be going back.

Also today is this little guy's 6 month birthday. I can't believe he is all ready that old. Right now his favorite things are any thing that makes crinkly noises like plastic or paper. He loves to play peek-a-boo. He's sitting up on his own and will just play and play and play with his toys. He started eating solids last week and it's a little tricky because he pretty much inhales it and if you don't feed him fast enough he starts screaming plus he thinks he is big enough to hold the spoon. I just love that he is still the happiest baby and smiles at everyone and coos and giggles all day. This is an older video but it shows him laughing and ignore my ugly voice.

Little Eva

I keep on writing the date on things today and I can't help but remember Tad's grandma Eva every time I do. Today is her birthday, it's easy to remember because it's on tax day. I wish I had a picture of her here but maybe I can get one loaded tomorrow. Here are some things I remember about her.

• She was the best gardener and her garden was amazing even up to when she passed away.


• She made the best cookies and rice krispie treats (they're still Tad's favorite and his sister, Teisha comes to closest to making cookies like her).


• She had amazing scrapbooks filled with photos of when she was young and newly married.


• She had the most amazing stories to accompany those photos. I loved hearing the story of her dating Tad's grandpa and I can't remember the details exactly but I know it was either right after they got married or while they were dating, he went to war and she waited for him for quite a few years (I want to say 6 but I'm not sure that is right).


• Even in her old age she was still trying to spruce up her house and make it look cute.


• She knew I loved hydrangeas so she got me this cute hydrangea wreath for my house.

I couldn't find a picture of Grandma Dudley but I did find a picture of her garden, just ignore the hoodlums running around in it.

Random Photos

Here are just some random photos since I've had complaints that there isn't enough Logan. These two are from Easter. Isn't he handsome? I know no one wants to hear Easter rehashed on yet another blog but I have to say that I made Easter dinner and anyone who knows me, knows that I never cook.
Logan helps with laundry. This kid loves to be held all the time so I have to put him in the baskets sometime so I can switch loads and then take it to the family room and fold the clothes. He loves sitting in there. It's better now that he can sit up on his own but before he had to be held ever second it seemed.
Addy & Savannah hanging out.