Last Thursday Bob and I went to the Outback Steakhouse for dinner. I wanted to try a blooming onion, we were only able to eat half of it so I brought the other half home with some of their spicy sauce.
Tonight I made Blooming Onion Soup, it was so good! I just took 3 cans of cream of potato soup and made it with milk, then I cut up the leftover onion and added the spicy sauce. We had some nice hard rolls to go with it, yummy!
Today is a very nice sunshiny day and so that means that outside chores can be tackled. Bob wanted to get lights down off of the roof and shrubs trimmed. He assigned getting the lights down to Heather. I said, "are you mad? You want to send our most accident prone child up onto the roof?" I remember our first trip to Utah together; Heather tripped over the curb. It was a curb on the ground, why do we want to send her up onto the roof?
You can see that Heather doesn't mind one bit. What is it with kids and wanting to be on the roof? I remember that my dad was always hollering at us to get off of the roof.
Texting from the roof no less!
Here is Bob trimming back the butterfly bush. It looks really ugly right now but in the summer it was gorgeous!
Bob is really good about taking care of the yard. I am really glad because I would probably kill every growing thing. I guess that is a slight exaggeration, I did pretty good with the vegetable garden. I am just not very good about deadheading flowers and taking care of them.
Heather and I went to the fabric store today and I got the material for my dress. I hope that I don't look like an old lady. I really need to modify the neckline, its far too open for my tastes. I will have to let you know how things go and I might even post a picture of me wearing the final product. :D
Sorry that it has been a bit since I posted. I have been sooooo busy! Wednesday was a huge day for me, I got up early and started right in on sewing diapers. Brad and Holly came over with their family. Brian and Heather came over to see baby Josh. Brad and Holly cut out diaper liners and I threaded up the serger so they could finish the edges. We also had the Elder's over for dinner. It was a very busy day.
Here is Heather Wallace (soon to be Walker and then my posts will really be confusing) holding sweet baby Josh.
This is Brain holding the baby. He said that he hasn't held a baby since he dropped his sister Heather on her head when she was a baby. Heather still gets dropped on her head and her bum and her back. She just became so accustomed to it.
Here is our Hee Bee Jee Bee holding her new cousin. She would have held him the whole time if she could have. I was sure to take my turn. Both Heather and I got to give him his bottle and he burped for me!
Uncle Bob's arms are big enough to hold all of the kids. Josh is sleeping through it all!
Last night Bob and I went to the Outback Steakhouse to celebrate our fourth anniversary. The food there is soooooo good! I had a blooming onion for the first time, I really liked it. We brought the left overs home and I am going to make blooming onion soup for dinner tomorrow. I also had their potato soup and then the filet tenderloins with crab stuffed shrimp and garlic mashed potatos. It was all so good! Bob had the rack of lamb with veggies and garlic mashed potatos. We ended our meal with the Chocolate Thunder for down under! Wow was that ever good.
Heather made us this cake for our anivirary. She was in a hurry to get the banner done and didn't catch the error! The cake tasted delicious. I was too full last night so I had some for breakfast. Bob teased that it was the breakfast of champions. Whatever!
Hooray they are finally finished. Here are the last of the diapers for my sister-in-law Holly. I worked at them all day yesterday (I got a cramp in may hand), then finished the last of them this morning.
Now it's time to go full swing into wedding projects. It's just a little over 4 weeks until we make our trip west. This is the pattern that I got to make a dress for me to wear. It will be something in brown and champagne.
This is the pattern and fabric for Heathers flower girl dress. It's hard to tell from the picture but the dress has a sash and it will be champagne for the wedding and baby blue for if she decides to get asked to prom or the spring fling.
Here is the ribbon station. Pretty soon we will be full swing into making the ribbon flowers. I have reserved the church building for next Saturday and anyone who would like ot can come and help sew the flowers together. Hee Bee has a basketball tournament that day so she thinks she is off the hook, little does she know that she will be helping with the prepwork before that Saturday. Ha Ha Ha!
These are the flowers for decorating the pavilion. I think that everything is going to turn out beautifully and they will have a wonderful wedding celebration!
Well I think that pretty much catches everuthing up! Whew!
It has been rather warmish here today. On the way to the library Ashton and I couldn't help stopping at Orem City Park to play. I can't believe how big he is getting, why just this past fall he was nervous about climbing up to the highest slide and would climb back down.
Today he seemed to be brave and he climbed up to the top.
Here he is peeking over the edge at me.
He came down the yellow slide at least 7 times. He kept telling me that he was going again, and again. His laughter was contagious, I could tell that he was having such a good time. His hair would fluff up from the breeze as he came down the slide and he would laugh.
He liked to come down the green slide backwards and on his tummy. He slid down this one about 5 times.
After a great time at the park we went to the library. Ashton loves to return the library books. Here he is carrying the library basket, he said "It's not heavy". It only had 4 books in it. We made sure that we filled it up this time.
After we went to the library we went to Toys R Us and found a new game to play. Ashton picked out this one, it only cost $5.32! What a great deal. After lunch we played it, and he was the big winner making all of his matches first. He said that he needs to have this game at his dads house too!
Holly sent me a picture of Joshua wearing the diaper that I made. She said that he will be able to wear them really soon. We are excited because their family will be coming for a visit next Wednesday and we will get to play with Hannah and Abby and we will get to hold cute little Josh.
I downloaded another digital kit today so that I could scrapbook a couple of the pictures of my nephew. He is so cute and I had such an awesome experience, I just couldn't help myself!
It's really hard for me to describe how much I enjoy being and Auntie! I feel really blessed, I have nieces and nephews here and ones that I can't wait to visit in just over a month when we go to Washington and Oregon.
Today Ashton and I watched The Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. We helped Minnie Mouse find out who ate her blueberry muffins. After the show was over I asked Ashton if he wanted to help me make blueberry muffins. He was very good at adding milk and stirring the muffin batter together. He also helped count out the number of muffin cups we needed then he filled them the way I showed him to. He was really excited to have a muffin with his lunch.
I love being Aunt Dani! Today was great I got to be there for the birth of my nephew. It was the first time that I actually witnessed a birth, Holly did all of the work and she performed like a champ. It was long and grueling for her but you can see that it was worth it. I am so glad that I got to be there.
My sister-in-law Holly is having her baby boy today and I am going to go to the hospital to be there for the birth. I have never been at the hospital when any of my nieces or nephews have been born so this is a totally new experience for me. I hardly slept at all, I kept looking at the clock. Bob said that he hopes I still want to have kids after I have this experience. No worries there. Heather reminded me to take the camera because she wants to see the pictures of her new cousin. I told her that I would text her a picture right away. Ahhh...technology!
I just watched last nights show and my top pick is Danny Gokey. I don't think that I am biased because of his name...but I might be. Just kidding I think that he did really well. I think that I have been hoping that he would make it through since I saw his audition and heard his story. I wish that his friend who was with him made it through too but that didn't happen.
My next favorite is Alexis Grace. I think that she did the best of all of the women that performed.
Finally I hope that Ricky Braddy makes it through to the next round. I really liked the way that he performed.
That's just my idle thoughts.
1.Brian is meticulous when it comes to making the flowers petals. Yes, I said Brian. He and Heather have been working on the petals for the brides and bridesmaids bouquets and they are turning out beautifully! I would have never guessed that he had it in him but he is giving me a real run for my money. I'm going to have to kick my skills up a few notches so that I can even compete.
2. I made these wash cloths out of 100% cotton yarn. I am trying them out to see how they hold up to washing and drying. So far I like them better than the terry cloth store bought variety, but I don't know if it's just because I made them. I will let you know how I feel about them after they go through the washer and the dryer.
This morning I am going with Brian and Heather to the Draper Temple open house. It will begin with a video presentation in the chapel near there then proceed by shuttle to the temple. After the tour there are refreshments at the stake center nearest the temple. Then we will shuttle back to the chapel that we parked at. I am excited to see the new temple. Heather (our Heather) will get to see the temple with the youth tomorrow.
Later Heather Wallace is having her wedding dress fitted for a bustle and then we will be having family dinner after that. This will be a busy and exciting day!
We had a really fun Valentines Party yesterday. Heather was a huge help. We planned four activities or different valentines to make. First we made chocolate lollipops. Tristan is spooning chocolate into the mold with Heather's help.
Here is Heather supervising while the kids make thier paper valentines. Their Uncle Chase came home from his mission yesterday so they made valentines to take to the airport and give to him.
Ashton cut all of his valentines into puzzle pieces. He just liked the scissors and didn't like to share them very much.
Tristan got really creative with his paper cutting and made this really cool woven valentine.
Here is Samantha in her brand new glasses. I think that she looks cute and scholarly, in other words she looks like one smart chick.
After we made paper valentines we made heart sachets. All of the kids did the sewing even Ashton helped with the needle and thread. This was a very fun activity.
The next activity was the cookie activity. Who doesn't like to frost sugar cookies and enjoy their sugary sweetness?
Ashton who helped bake all of the cookies and then had to take a nap and then wait for all of the kids to come over after school, frosted and ate one right away.
All of the kids had fun with the frosting. Adam went home with a stack of six cookies, i think he called it a cookie tower.
Samantha was going right over to a sleep over and she wanted to be sure that she had cookies to share with her friends. Tristan and Ashton also got to take plates of cookies home to share with family and friends.
We all had a really good time. I am so thankful to my mom who showed me how to do all of these activities as a child, I had such a fun time as a kid that I can't help but want to share that fun with these kids. I am also grateful to Alexis for sharing her kids with me and letting me share fun crafts with them. I love being Aunt Dani.
I also want to send a Valentines message to my family who feels so far away from me. I hope that Micah, Ryan, Renae, Arrow, Kyle, Corrin, Skylar, Faith, LaReina, Conner, and Sebastian all had fun on Valentines Day. I miss being there to do crafts and trade cookies. I really need to get better at getting things sent to them. I love all of you very much!
We are getting a pretty good snow storm right now, its actually accumulating. I made a video for you to see. The cool thing is hearing all of the birds. There are a lot of birds that stay here during the winter and they play and frolic in the snow covered trees.
This is Ashton before we made the cookies. This is what I feel like now that all of the work is done. (I don't fit on the stairs like this though)
The cookie shape that is two hearts connected was his favorite kind, he called them bat cookies. I guess if you have a big imagination like Ashton you can see bats in two hearts.
He liked to pat the cookies after he put them on the tray. "Good cookie, stay."
You can see the "bat" cookie in pink.
Ashton was the spatula king. He said that the spatula job is his favorite job, but if Uncle Bob were home he would let him have a turn. I said wow! you would share your favorite job! I had a hard time getting the spatula away from him to get the hot cookie off the tray.
I made a comment that he had a lot of flour on his shirt. He said that alright he likes flour on his shirt. Then he proceeded to put a whole handful on his shirt and the floor. I said look what you did to the floor. He said I'm sorry. He was very good to get the broom and we swept it up. He also washed the drawers with a wash cloth. Right now he is watching Baby's Day Out. We are going to run an errand and then come home to eat lunch and have a nap, before the Valentines Party.
