Patty-Cake

Bookworm

Here is what we have so far....any recommendations?
Was there a book you absolutely loved?
One that had great tips/advice on pregnancy, newborns, or parenting in general?
Please let me know!
(PS: Holly - I have really enjoyed your suggestions :)

Sidenote: A friend let me borrow the book above titled, "The Diaper Free Baby." I just started it and I am totally intrigued! The premise is that, "Like other mammals, human babies are born with the instinct not to soil themselves. It is not a natural or pleasant feeling for them to sit in their own waste; they are born aware of the sensation of going to the bathroom." The book is supposed to teach you how to read the signs from your newborn that he/she has to go (this is called Elimination Communication, EC), and with this technique most children become toilet independent at a very early age. She points out that EC is not a new phenomenon but is practiced is many countries. Many countries think we are odd for relying on diapers so much, and for so long. Anyway, I am curious to know how it works at night, how parents deal with what I imagine to be frequent messes, what do you do when you are out shopping, etc. Has anyone heard of this Diaper Free Movement?

Tew...soon Three!

Fritz and Charlie are going to be big brothers!

announcing:
baby tew
due: may 27th, 2011

(who says cats don't love being dressed in a onesie?
Just look at their happy faces!)

OCTOBER

Here is a little recap of our October activities:

Nate went on a trip to Lake Powell with his brother Bryan and their cousins...

We spent a few weeks nannying....

We sold Marigold.
(she needed a new head gasket, among other repairs,
and I had a tear in my eye when we handed over the keys!)
This Mayan gold beauty was the getaway car at our wedding, we drove it to Denver dozens of times, then ventured across the United States to Philadelphia and back, and she was so easily spotted in the grocery store parking lot. Marigold (lovingly named by Ashley), we will miss you!




We watched this over and over again:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRdPYvotxy8&feature=related

Which was inspired by this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0ywbtMZRFo&feature=related

and hung out at the Tews for Halloween...

Plus we both worked a lot and watched a lot of Food Network.
(which is why the blog has been so lonely:)
(ps i heart food network a lot!)

Self-Control

I just love to watch this. Especially the little blonde boy with the grey shirt - the sniffing gets me every time! My younger brother Jacob used to love marshmallows as a kid. He would ask for a cup of the mini ones as a snack. I've never been a huge plain mallow fan, however, if they placed one of those shortbread cookies in front of me (you know the ones that come in that blue round tin) I would really have to concentrate.

(Oh the temptation video by Steve V on Vimeo via A Cup of Jo)

Cinnamon Rolls by the Dozen

After drooling over this post on this blog I knew I had to try my first attempt at making cinnamon rolls. This recipe is so easy and she is serious when she says these could be the best cinnamon rolls ever. It could be due to the fact that there is enough butter and sugar in these bad boys to make your muffin top double in size just by looking at these tasty little devils!

So the recipe says, "Servings: 8" - I took this to mean 8 cinnamon rolls. But once I started to make the dough I realized that was a typo - we ended up with over 40 rolls! Nate and I have cinnamon and maple frosting oozing out of the front door! We ended up taking 4 plates and a whole pan to different friends in the neighborhood.
(ps: the frosting calls for brewed coffee - I omitted the coffee and added a little more milk)

I pulled the first batch out of the oven just as the Sunday morning session of our church conference was starting and Nate and I ate our way to pure bliss. Actually, I ate one and he ate two and we were maxed out!

Nate was a pro slicer...


Letting them rise for about 20 minutes...
(this is just two of the four pans)


Fresh out of the oven and then smothered
with lots of maple frosting...


YUM.

It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown!

Tonight we walked over to our friend Ryan's house to check out his

GIANT pumpkin!



Large Marge - ya think?


He said in the beginning it was gaining about 15 lbs a day.
We guessed it is about 400 pounds now.


We were trying to figure out how to get the thing out of his backyard (he has two super narrow gates) and into the back of his truck so that he can take it to the Utah Giant Pumpkin Growers weigh off at Thanksgiving Point tomorrow.

Currently the top weight record was set in 2006 by Kenny Blair from Bountiful, Utah.
His beauty weighed in at 1104 pounds!



I'm so curious about the inside...are there lots of seeds? Not so many? Lots of stringy pumpkin innards? Ryan and his wife have a pumpkinfest party at their house every year and they were thinking of cutting a big rectangle in the top of their pumpkin and having it be the cooler for drinks.
Neato!

Flashback Friday

Mz McNeil's First Aid Class
2000

Come see us at the flea market!

(about 1/10 of our stuff, the rest is boxed and ready to go to market)

Summer is coming to an end and
Abode is having their last outdoor flea market of the season!

Abode Parking Lot
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 18th
1720 South 900 East
(bright turquoise building)
9am-4pm

Drop by and say hi!
(and check out all the funky stuff - over 20 vendors!)

Nate and I will have our own booth full of treasures...

blue retro table (we call her Betty), bookshelf, vintage filing cabinet, home decor items, kitchen stuff, clothes, books, strange old pole lamp, cool fluorescent video sign (I smell an awesome white elephant gift :), a few salvage goodies, and even a dollar bin!

How did we accumulate so much stuff??!!

How to be alone...

Little Grand Canyon Half Marathon

We finished a 1/2 marathon!!!

Sarah, Tammy, Jessica

The course was through the Little Grand Canyon in Eastern Utah (also known as the San Rafael Swell or BuckHorn Wash). Beautiful red rock, pictographs, and lot of fresh air!

The race started just as the sun was coming up...
(it was around 38 degrees - I was freezing!)

Doing Sarah's 7 minute warm-up that included:

Jumping
(and trying to keep my hands warm)


Stretching


and squats
(while I was finishing my protein bar)

All set to run 13.1 miles!

The beginning...




halfway point...

neat pictographs around mile 8...

This is the marathon runner that passed us at mile 10 - crazy!
We cheered and shouted congrats as he went by.
(Just for the record, only two marathoners passed us)


the home stretch...


almost there...


We did it!


Time: 2:23:15


Thanks Nate for being my photographer and biggest fan!
I loved seeing your face at the finish line.

Birthday Weekend

CeLeBrAtinG
27 years young!

day one

Swiss Days - Midway, Utah


day two
Birthday Girl Breakfast
(made with love by Nate)



more eating...because good food brings me joy!
. . .

p a g o
artisan. local. farm fresh
878 south 900 east
salt lake city


slowly enjoyed every bit of my cheese plate appetizer...
including the darling edible flowers
i love cheese,
especially blue cheese.
it's been a favorite since I was a kid.

(they also serve brunch on the weekends...sounds divine to me)

my friend Jackie and her girls brought over some goodies for me
~thanks ladies!



day three
driving kelsey to CoLLeGe!!
BYU-Idaho


getting all moved in...

Good luck little sister -
your future is bright!