Dinner: Impossible

We love the Food Network channel! We love many of the shows they produce. But our favorite has to be Dinner: Impossible with chef Robert Irvine. For each episode, Robert is told to show up at a certain place, he is then given a challenge of making food for a different amount of people every time and a deadline. Sometimes it's for a huge party with only 9 hours, and sometimes it's for a smaller group and 12 hours. But they always throw some twists at him. We love to watch him handle the stresses of small kitchens, under supplied kitchens, and ingredient restrictions. It's fun to see how he pulls together such wonderful meals, and always right on time. Last year Food Network found out that he had lied on his resume (who hasn't?) and fired him. Aaron and I were very upset about this! But we decided to give his replacement chef a chance. We watched one episode with the new guy (I don't even remember his name) and gave up when he made chocolate covered bacon. We weren't happy about it, but that night we deleted Dinner: Impossible from our DVR list.

Two weeks ago, after the kids were in bed, we were watching Food Network. We had to rewind the commercials to make sure we saw what we thought...a new episode of Dinner: Impossible coming up with Robert Irvine! We were so excited! I even jumped up from the couch and started clapping. I decided to get online and send the good people at Food Network a note to let them know how happy we are that they re-hired this magnificent chef for this show. We then made sure it was set to record again. It feels so good to have our show back!

What an Adventure!

We went on a family adventure today! Aaron's wedding ring has had some problems over the year. The gorgeous black jade inset in the ring kept breaking. We were tired of repairing it, so we decided to talk to Farr's about options for replacing. They said we could trade it in for current value for another ring. Aaron picked out a ring that is a similar design, but with antiquing instead of stones inset. The ring has been ready for us to pick up for a few weeks, but we haven't had a lot of time now that Aaron is out mowing lawns on Saturdays again. When we found out it was going to be rainy all day today we decided today would be a good day to make the trip.

We decided to make an adventure out of the trip. Since Zack loves trains so much, we decided to take TRAX and the Frontrunner up to Ogden. Farr's is less than a mile from the train station, so then we could walk up to the store and pick up Aaron's ring. When we told Zack that we were going on a train ride he was expectantly excited. We took off early this morning and drove to the TRAX station on 90th. We then rode it to the end of the line where we got on the Frontrunner up to Ogden. We had so much fun! Zack was sooooo happy to be on a train!

When we got to Ogden it was pouring rain. Good thing we were prepared! We had umbrellas, warm jackets and hoods. We had Lexi in the stroller, warm and dry, and Zack had his own umbrellas. Unfortunately, he only made it a block before he wanted to be carried. So, Aaron made the rest of the walk with Zack on his shoulders. By the time we made it back to the train we were soaked! Poor Zack was not happy about it. Fortunately, the train was warm and dry, I brought snacks and downloaded a movie on my ipod, so Zack was happy again in no time.

When we got back downtown we went to Happy Sumo for lunch. Aaron loves his sushi! I was just excited that Zack ate his lunch, after 3 pieces of string cheese and 2 packs of fruit snacks on the train. By the time we were done with lunch and back on the train, the kids were exhausted. We rode TRAX back to our car and came home for a much needed nap, for all of us. What a fun way for us to make the trip to get Aaron's ring. I certainly appreciate my car more now, I wouldn't want to take the kids on public transportation every time we needed to go somewhere, but it was fun for today!

Family Home Evenings

This year we were very excited for Easter. Zack is finally catching on to traditions, and holidays are so much fun because of it. I am really getting into it too, this is one of the fun parts of having kids! I got my new Easter baskets done, and they look so pretty! I went to Michaels and bought some matching baskets for all of us. Then I bought some springy ribbon, one for each of us. The boys got the ribbon around the basket and the handle, and the girls have a bow as well as the wrapping. I am so proud of them. While I was getting into the traditions of the Easter Bunny, Aaron reminded me about the importance of Easter and that he wanted to focus on the real reason we celebrate; the resurrection of Christ. Later that week I was talking to Britta about how excited I was for this Easter, and about the conversation Aaron and I had about the reason for Easter. She told me about her tradition with her kids, she does her baskets on Saturday, so they can focus on Christ on Sunday. I love this idea, so naturally I'm stealing it.

As part of our focus, we made sure our family home evening was about the resurrection. I put together a lesson about how Christ died and was buried in a tomb, then he came back to life. I cut out a tomb, a stone and a picture of Christ for us to color, and showed him how Christ was laid in the tomb, the stone was rolled in front and three days later, he came out resurrected. I hope he caught on to the concept, but it's hard to tell. It was exciting to see his face as he was learning new things. He will now answer the question "Why do we celebrate Easter?" with "Jesus was resurrected!". It's times like these that I love the most about spending time with my family!

Growing Up

What a beautiful little girl we have been blessed with! She is growing so fast too. We took her to the doctor at the end of March to find out that she is in the 93rd percentile in height and the 82nd percentile for weight...what a tall drink of water! She's all healthy and happy. So, we started her on cereal after our 4 month appointment. She's getting pretty good at it too, but we're still trying to get her to take the spoon without her binky following it! That's ok, we'll get there.
She's also getting pretty good at grabbing things she wants. We have entered the grabbing phase, what fun! The other night we had strawberry shortcakes for dessert. Aaron had her on her lap while eating his, and she sure liked the way that bowl of sweets looked. She started reaching for it, and she was persistent. Aaron would move the bowl away from her, but every time he brought it in front to eat some, she was coming at it again! It's no longer easy to eat with her on our laps...what a fun phase we're heading into!

Honey-Do List: Yard Work

One of the things that Aaron has looked forward to the most is getting a Honey-Do list. He loves to work with his hands, and couldn't wait to get started on projects in our new home. The first thing he wanted to take care of was our yard. Our tree out front was grossly overgrown. Aaron wasn't sure if our homeowners insurance would approve the policy until the tree was taken care of, it was rubbing up against the shingles on the roof. I was anxious for him to take care of it because there was a branch that would rub against our bedroom window, really annoying in the middle of a windy night! Aaron did a wonderful job trimming up the tree, it looks so nice! Unfortunately we did see some shingle damage after getting the branches down, but we did expect it.
Our next project in the yard is our garden. We have a patch outside our patio that will be perfect for a small garden this summer. We got all the ground cover pulled out, and most of the big rocks out of the patch. We're going to plant some tomatos and peppers, perfect for sandwiches and salsa. It feels good to have our own place to take care of!

Day at the Zoo

Today we planned to make an outing to the zoo. Zack loves to play with his cousins so we decided to invite Britta and her kids, Abby & Landon. We have found that going earlier in the day is better because Zack is in a better mood and all of the animals have been kicked out of their habitats for cleaning. Because we try to make it so early we also try to go to breakfast too.

This was all planned thanks to Aaron watching Food Network. There is this show, Diners Drive-ins & Dives. It's not one of our favorite shows but it happened to be the only thing on at the time. Anyways, this show was doing a showcase on the places that they had visited in Utah. Ruth's dinner up Emigration canyon was shown. Aaron had also heard good things about this place and it is just up the canyon from the zoo. So, we figured we could try out a new place for breakfast and then hit the zoo. Aaron also thought that it would be a great idea to get a wagon for the kids to ride in. It would make it easier to keep them in one place and free up hands. Zack was very excited about this idea. We told Britta and she agreed to meet us there.

Unfortunatly that morning we were a little behind schedule. We were trying to call Britta to let her know that we were a bit behind as she was trying to call us to let us know that the diner was closed for remodeling. Darn cell phone dead zones. So, when we pulled up Britta had already been waiting there patiently with her kids. We tried to remember if there were any breakfast places up in that area but couldn't think of any too close. As we drove trying to find something we decided to go to the Original Pancake House in Sugarhouse. Unfortunatly so had a few other people. We had to wait for about 30 minutes. The kids were great! Plus the weather was nice too, so we could wait outside. Once the food came around everyone was very hungry and everyone ate very well.

Once we were done with breakfast we headed back up to the zoo. Being that it was the first warm day of the year several other people thought it would be a good time to go as well. The place was packed. This can be a good thing sometimes. When the zoo is busy it will open the South gate. This is just above the Asian Highlands. We have experimented and have found that as far as routes go, starting from the Asian Highlands and working our way towards the front enterance works pretty well. However when we entered the South gate they had not opened the rental shop for wagons yet. So, Aaron volunteered to run to the front gate and rent one and then bring it back.

Aaron was very tired running all the way to the front and a little put out. When he rented the wagon, the sales clerk asked it there was anything else that he could do, being the polite sales clerk. Aaron quickly retorted the they could open up the South gate rental shop if they were going to open the South gate. Then the clerk stated that they had just opened it. GRRRRR!

Aaron found Amanda, Britta and the kids by the giraffes. They kids were all very excited to see the wagon. They all piled in and we were off to check out the zoo. Aaron pulled the wagon for the most part. That is until Abby and Zack decied that they wanted to pull it. They both started to take turns pulling. This was great that Zack was willing to share and take turns. We have really been working on that. As Zack and Abby took turns Landon was quite content to just sit in the wagon and be chauffered around the zoo.
As we made out way to the front of the zoo, Amanda & Britta took the kids on the zoo train. We can't ever go to the zoo and not ride the train, it's the highlight of Zack's day. As everone moved off of the train, Abby asked to see the bats. So our next stop was the children's play area where you can see the bats as well as play near some of the animals. Here are some of the prairie dogs that we found. Aw, they are so cute.
By this point the kids were tired so we headed to the cars. Aaron told Amanda that if she would like to, she could ask Britta to go shopping and he would watch the kids. Both Amanda & Britta were very excited about this idea. So we all headed to our house and fed the kids. Then Amanda & Britta went out shopping and had a great time. Over all a very good day!

Our New House!!!

That's right everyone! After almost 5 years of being married and two children later we have finally purchased our first home! We are very excited. It was a very arduous process. Being that it was a short sale (I don't know why they call it that there is nothing short about it!), from offer to close it took about 2 1/2 months. But we finally signed our lives away (at least that's what it feels like after all that paperwork) on Feb. 27, 2009.

We have been in the position to purchase a home before but things fell through. We felt kind of stupid after telling everyone and showing off the house that we were looking at purchasing, just to have things not work out. So because we were warned that this home could take some time, we decided to keep things on the "down low" until we had worked things through. So sorry to those that are just now finding out.

We had a pretty good turn out for those that helped us move. Moving out seemed to take a lot longer then moving in. I guess 3 flights of stairs would have something to do with that. Between Aaron, Randy, Joel & Nun's trucks we made it all over. Nun also had his trailer as did Aaron. Thanks to all of those that helped out, and those of you that didn't (you know who you are) we hope that you had good excuses! J/K

Each of us has our own reasons to be excited about the new home. What made this move so great for Amanda is that she finally had her Christmas present delivered. She was a good girl last year and Santa had a refrigerator and freezer waiting at RC Willey to be delivered. They were delivered while we were still packing up the apartment and Aaron got this call saying that the fridge was too big for where is was going to be placed. Fortunately between Nun, Randy and Aaron they were able to make it fit. Well kind of, a giant hole in the wall and losing the pantry door later they made it fit. But hey, Amanda has a great big new refrigerator! She is also excited about the large new freezer that she has in Aaron's new garage. Amanda's sister, Britta, does a dinner exchange with freezer meals and Amanda has been wanting to get into it as well. It works out great when both parents work. Just pull it out in the morning before you go to work to let it thaw out during the day. When you get home all the prep work is done so you just pop it in the oven and serve. Makes things a lot easier.

Aaron was excited to finally have a "Honey-Do List". Sounds crazy but not if you know Aaron. The point behind a "Honey-Do List" is that Amanda gets to find all of these projects around the house that she would like to have done. So when she says "Honey, will you please make some storage shelves in the basement", she just puts it on the "Honey-Do List". Aaron loves to build things or even just fix things. He just loves to work with his hands. Plus the added benefit of doing things for his wife and family just makes his day. Amanda hasn't wasted any time getting started on that list either. Aaron is also excited to have a yard to work in of his very own. Weird huh?!

Zack has a great time with his "new house" too. For anyone that has come over to see us or for those who still haven't, plan on getting the grand tour from him. He loves to show off his new room. Mary Beth gave him a great area rug for his room that has train tracks and road ways on it. He is getting pretty good at building his own train tracks and can play for hours all by himself. Hope that he enjoys that while it lasts. Little sister will be wanting to play with his things here pretty soon.

Alexis is happy with the new home. Well as much as one little girl can. She definitely could tell how stressed out we were about getting this home. The last week before closing on the house, she had this astounding sense of the stress and didn't like it one little bit. Now that we are moved in and things have moved into the normal routine, she is much happier.

Over all we are very happy with our new home and the great new area that we have moved into. The ward has been very welcoming as have our neighbors. It's located near everything and the new Day Break temple is just down the street too. We think that we have made a great move and are happy to have been able to make it our home!