Tomato Update

They're growing! They are really loving this spot in my backyard. I see flowers forming. Hopefully we will have some patio tomatoes to eat this spring/summer.

Work Has Commenced

Our friends at Taylormade Landscaping of Las Vegas has commenced work in our backyard to finish what we started. Spencer was able to lay the cement and stain it for us as well as put in the sprinkler system and grass but hasn't had anymore time to finish. These pictures really give you an idea of how small our backyard is and what we have to work with. Can you see some of the eye sores I was sharing with you in yesterday's post? Our a/c units, and free bbq we were able to get. More posts to come on this project. I can't wait to have a finished backyard.

Bud Vases

A while back I found Jamali Garden off of Oh Happy Day and have since gone back to check out the pretty eye candy they have. Spring reminds me that I have yet to purchase the bud vases I've been wanting. I love the look of these vases and could find many places for each style. Jamali Garden also has willow fencing for the cheapest I've seen around. Have yet to hear of the quality though. Our air conditioning units take up about an 1/8th of our backyard and for our tiny yard that becomes an eye sore. Willow screens may do the trick although my dream would be for my honey to build me some cedar wood screens. Send some good luck my way, please.

Daily Dose

"School thy feelings; there is power In the cool, collected mind."

(“School Thy Feelings,” Hymns, no. 336)

Gordon B. Hinckley, “Slow to Anger,” Liahona, Nov 2007, 62–63, 66

Wishing to be a Foodie

In blog hopping I was able to find this wonderful site for people who love food. It was hard to pry away from all the food fun there. Enjoy. For the recipe of the strawberry delight click here.

{via epicurious}

Family Recipe Book Poll

Great Food and Family

The food we had at my parent's this Easter was fabulous. My scalloped potatoes and deviled eggs were so scrumptious. I was very happy with the results.















Majority of the time Nora was decked out in an old shirt of her Uncle Stephen's with shoe lace as belt to match because she managed to spill most of her food on her Easter dress (machine washable, hallelujah).





















Although, before the dirty dress incident we were able to get a family Easter picture. I hope all of you had a great Easter.

Happy Easter Eve

The girls had fun waking up Saturday morning to what the Easter bunny left them in the backyard. Nora was so excited to bring Aubrey her basket. This may be the last time that we do Easter baskets in such a way. Now when we ask Nora what Easter is about she tells us, "Jesus Christ and eggs." At least she has the reason we celebrate somewhere in her answer. Nevertheless, they had a splendid time going through and playing with gifts in their baskets.

Small Yard, Big Design

We are landscaping our small backyard in a few weeks and I have been eyeing some beautiful designs for small spaces. I like the manicured feeling in these landscapes pictured. If I had an unlimited amount of money in the budget I'd like to do a little of each and a lot of the water feature. I love the water features they are coming out with now.

{via sunset}

Stuffed Eggs

For this year's Easter feast I'm encharge of boiling and stuffing the eggs. I think I will attempt this recipe this year. Yummy.

{via myrecipes.com}

The Bangs

I have been meaning to post something about this for a while and just forgot. So here they are in all their glory and fringyness, my new set of bangs. Mind you when I went to get my hair cut I had no intentions of getting bangs and as I described what I wanted to do with my hair, bangs were not in the equation. Layering to frame the face a little could definitely be mistaken for them. Yet, here they are and I actually have been enjoying them and my new hair cut. I finally feel I have a style. A cosmetologist knows better than to let your hair go for six months. Since the cut my choices in wardrobe have been more stylish. This mom of two finally feels like herself again.

Close Cousins

Nora doesn't get to see her cousin Lily very often since she lives so far away. Yet, whenever Nora gets to spend time with cousins that live away from us on both sides of the family it seems like they never skip a beat. She just loves her cousins especially the five other girl cousins that were all born within one year of each other. Four of them are in the middle picture.

St. Patrick's Day Dinner

My sister Christine and her family came down for spring break just in time to celebrate St. Patrick's Day with us. We had a great time catching up and the cousins had fun with each other. As you can tell we couldn't have had this party without Stephanie breaking out the sea foam jello salad in a beautiful shade of green. Oh, and her scrumptious rolls.

Our Family Sleepover

Our family crossed the Vegas Valley over to Henderson to have a sleepover at my brother and sister-in-law, Jon and Steph's home. It was lots of fun getting to put down the kids and stay up to play Settler's of Catan, Cities and Knights version. Nora enjoyed sleeping over at her cousin Lauren's house and playing dress up with all the many princess dresses they have. My highlight of the mini-trip was Stephanie making us eggs benedict and eggs florentine for breakfast. It was mmm, mmm, good.



















Don't you just want to take a bite?

Second Time Around

We had sushi again tonight and thought I'd take a picture to show you what mine looked liked. Not the prettiest but not the worst looking. They turned out very yummy again. I think everyone daring enough should try. Next time I'm going to have someone experienced in shopping for sushi grade meat take me to china town and help me buy some meat to take home. Wish me luck.

Easter Pictures

Mindy Miller of Red Rock Studios just posted some of the pictures she took of my girls this past Monday. I can't wait to make an order. Mindy just opened the doors to Red Rock Studios after working for a company shooting weddings and now is focusing on families and children. I'm so excited to use her in the future. Thanks Mindy. You can check out more of my girls photos here.

{via redrockstudios}

Sushi

Tonight for dinner I tried something new. I rolled us some sushi. I was worried that it would be all for nothing, that the insides would all fall out and we'd have to eat it with a fork and I didn't have a sushi mat so instead I used saran wrap. In the end they actually turned out very yummy. I forgot to take a picture of it so you get just a generic picture. They were veggi cut rolls of course and I used Braggs liquid Aminos in lieu of soy sauce. So good and very easy. Eden foods has great instructional steps to sushi with pictures if you are wanting to try at home.

The Negotiator

We use an incentive to motivate Nora to go to the bathroom on the potty, a pair of princess pajamas. All day today she had not used her diaper and was getting ready for bed when Spencer asked her if she wanted to go on the potty. This is how it went, Spencer said, "Nora, will you please go potty on the toilet before you go to bed?" Nora, "I don't want to go on the potty." Spencer pretending to be sad said, "That makes Dada so sad, don't you want to wear your princess pajamas?" Nora said, "I don't want to." Spencer said, "Just go on the potty for one minute." Nora holding up one finger and looking Spencer in the eye said, "I go on potty, I get candy, o' right?" To which Spencer readily agreed. As you can see our little negotiator got what she wanted.

Wend Your Way

This beautiful lady just celebrated a birthday yesterday. She is an amazing person of many talents and accomplishments as well as a wonderful sister-in-law. We love you Wendy.

Pretty to Look at

This would be so fun to put in my nursery. A piece that could go with them as they grow older. I like this vendor especially because they are located in Vegas.

Have You Ever...

Been on an Etsy search and come across something that catches your eye only to find out that it is not human size? There is an over abundance of mini furniture, clothes, blankets you name it for the more fortunate then us, dolls and doll houses out there. If only they made it in my size. This is becoming a recurring predicament in my life.




















{via melissam}

ABC Tag and Another

A- Attached or single: Attached
B- Best Friend: Spencer
C-Cake or Pie: Both, (I could do an ABC thing and name cakes and pies that I love if you want)
D- Day of Choice: Any day on the weekend when I can spend more time with my honey
E- Essential Item: My purse, (I could probably live out of it)
F- Favorite Color: All of them in their perfect shade, that is, in my mind
G- Gummy Bears or Worms: Can I choose Sour Patch Kids?
H- Hometown: Reno, NV
I- Indulgence(s): Anything creamy and sweet (there are many)
J- January or July: July, I love all summer months
K-Kids: Nora and Aubrey
L-Life is incomplete without: The gospel of Jesus Christ
M- Marriage Date: July 23, I expect a card from all of you now
N- Number of Siblings: 8 wonderful people, (there are 5 boys and 4 girls in all)
O-Oranges or Apples: Oranges, I love citrus
P-Phobias or Fears: I fear public restrooms for obvious reasons
Q-Quote(s):Get out! Are you for real?
R- Reason To Smile: Nora, showing the love yelling, "I'm comin' Aubrey," when Aubrey is crying S-Season: Spring, it's so refreshing after winter
T-Tag Ten:Wendy, Amy, Bep, Tiffany, Steph, Mercedi, Jena, Brad, Julie,and Janel
U-Unknown Fact About Me: Since I was born close to Christmas my parents brought me home in a stocking
V- Vegetarian or Oppressor of Animal: Vegetarian, I love my veggies yet there are times when you can't go without the meat. Like at Christmas, Thanksgiving, St. Pattie's, or Easter
W- Worst Habit: I will tell the truth which and at times some have not appreciated it although I have no intentions to offend
X- X-Rays or Ultrasounds: Ultrasounds, with pregnancy you just look forward to those appointments
Y- Your Favorite Food: Avocados
Z-Zodiac: Capricorn

I've been tagged twice so here's the other:

THE RULES:
1. Once you are tagged, link back to the person who tagged you.
2. Post THE RULES on your blog.
3. Post 7 weird or random facts about yourself on your blog.
4. Tag 7 people and link to them. (I'll just count the one's above)
5. Comment on their blog to let them know they have been tagged.

• I don't collect anything. I've tried in the past (cake stands, art, music) but never found anything that motivated me enough to keep up with it. Plus, we have no space in our house. I tend to through away then to hold onto possessions.
• I might be horrible at it but I love to play golf. The first tournament I went to with Spencer for his work I won the long distance drive for the women (a fluke) and won $200 at Sports Chalet. The reason why I have a set of golf clubs now.
• Every time I watch or even talk about the movie My Life I cry. Although the movie that wins for making me cry the hardest was The Bridge to Terabithia. It tugged on emotions that stem from my childhood.
• Cooking and creating recipes is a favorite release for me.
• I spent 18 months in Connecticut on a mission for my church and loved it.
• Sometimes I feel like I'm going postal with doing dishes.
• I own 3 strollers and a jogger and I'm looking to buy another jogger. Anyone wanting to buy one off of me?

Purl

My sister posted about how she was going to buy some fabric at Purl, a shop in NYC selling in their own words, "beautiful materials, tools, notions, and accessories for knitting, sewing, and quilting." Beautiful indeed. It was hard for me to leave the site. You might want to set a side some time to check out what they have to offer.

{via purlsoho.com}

Bridal Shower

This afternoon I went to a bridal shower for a friend and had to take some photos of some of the fun items there. I was amazed at the hostesses self taught ability of molding fondant into something fun to look at. She also handmade the paper flowers after being inspired by a Pottery Barn product. The take home goodies were chocolate covered pretzels and suckers which were also homemade. Nora is very excited to eat the sucker. My favorite gift given to the bride to be was a candy bra and panties.

Dress Sale

Shabby Apple has some of their dresses on sale right now. I was so excited I had to buy the two shown above. I wanted to buy this one but they didn't have it in my size. So hurry before they run out of your size.

I Love My Broccoli

I am a broccoli lover. I love it so much I eat it more than once a week for breakfast. Some have thought me crazy for doing such a thing but it actually is quite common on my side of the family to eat healthy at every meal. Don't hate on broccoli please. Try the recipe below and I promise if you follow it you too may have the taste buds yearning for more.

Perfect Steamed Broccoli

2-3 cups of washed florets of broccoli

1-2 Tbs. of good oil, (EVOO cold pressed, flax seed oil, Udo's Blend (my favorite), or favorite)

1/2-1 Tbs. of Braggs Amino Liquids

Steam broccoli on high for 5 minutes. Turn off heat and let it sit for another 5 minutes. Spoon into a bowl and dress and mix with the rest of the ingredients. These ingredients can be to taste so have fun with it and enjoy!

Bouchon

Last night we were invited to dine with my brother and sister-in-law at Thomas Keller's Bouchon in the Venetian. They know the pastry chef and have boasted about the great food and dessert that they serve. Now thinking about it I think I actually invited us to go along with them so we could see and taste what it was all about. I have to say it was one of the best restaurant experiences either of us have had. Besides the food we chose being delightfully flavorful and delicious we were surprised (at least Spencer and I), with an amazing lentil soup and herring dish all complements of the chef. Then to end on a sweet note we were served dessert after dessert of some of the most delectable foods, ten in all, complements of their pastry chef friend. But that's not all...their friend then took us on the grand tour of the kitchen. One of a food network junkie's wildest dreams! It was nothing like Hell's kitchen. They were so organized. I just wanted to stay as a fly on the wall and watch all the orders being prepared for the rest of the night. I have been fine dining in Las Vegas yet have always felt like I left not satisfied and never wanted to tout about any of them. This was definitely satisfying and worth sharing. The atmosphere is relaxed bistro so you don't feel like the room is stuffy and choking you from your meal. If ever you are in Las Vegas and looking for a great fine dining experience the Bouchon is a place to venture.

Weekend Planting

It has been getting warm in the low 70's here which is perfect for planting. We were given 3 plum tomato plants recently and Nora and I planted them in their new homes this past weekend. She in our china sun hat and me in my morning excercise clothes. Nora was the most excited when the water came into play. I can't wait for our first crop of tomatoes. Wish us luck.

Infant Swimming Resources

My husband showed me this the other day and I just had to share. This is amazing and worth watching all the way through.