Experiments

OK, so I have never taken a video and posted it. I posted a video from YouTube back in the day when I first started this blog, but other than that all videos you have seen have been posted by Ian. Today while we were outside soaking out feet in the little pool to cool off I discovered that my phone can take video, so here is the experiment to see if I can get it to work and if it is decent quality and if there is sound, etc. Here goes . . .

Well, not good quality at all, but at least you can hear it and I managed to post it. Go me! :)

Chicken Cashew Salad Sandwiches

By popular demand here is one of my favorite summer recipes. I first discovered it and enjoyed it on a picnic in a canoe that I planned for Ian's birthday the summer we were dating. It is pretty easy and freezes well.

4 chicken breasts cooked and shredded
1/2-1 c. mayo (however much you like)
1/2 c. chopped green onion
1/2 c. cashew pieces
1/3 c. chopped celery
1 tsp. tarragon
salt and pepper to taste
several croissants

Just mix it all together and spread on croissants (or bread, but croissants taste better) for a fresh summer dinner or a picnic. I usually freeze half if it's just for us and have it again when I really have no time/desire to cook.

**For those of you who I already gave this recipe to, I forgot that I added celery last time and it was good and added a little more crunch, so if you want to add celery go ahead. Sorry I didn't mention it before. :)

Swimming

I started doing a Masters Swimming class at the fitness center this week. Can I just say it is AWESOME. I had really really missed the water. If you are unaware of my water history: I grew up in CA and used to swim all day long if my mom would let me and if we were somewhere that had a pool (like a friends house or the high school). Then in high school I decided I would try out swim team and it turns out I was actually decently fast, so that was a lot of fun, although I was never a huge fan of the competition factor.

Fast forward to college. . . I wasn't about to try to add competition swimming to my classload, social life and love of sleep, so I settled for the intermediate swimming class. That is where I met my friend Kathryn who was in our first married ward and we became really good friends. It was so fun to have a swimming buddy and she and her hubby, Glen, became our best friends. It was good times.

4 years and 2 kids later, I haven't swam with any consistency since that class with Kathryn. I'm not much of a self motivator. Since having Davin I'm attempting to look halfway decent/be more healthy, so I found out about this adults only class which is simply a swimming workout with other people and with a coach to tell you what to swim. It is so fun. There are 2 other girls there who are really fun and we swim together. The coach, Becky, is great too.

It feels amazing to be back in the water. You know how some people love running and get that high off it? Well I experience the same thing in the water.

Things I LOVE about masters swimming:
-I get to swim outside (since it's summer)
-You are weightless in the water
-It is an amazing workout. I am pretty sore after my first week.
-I get to wear a swim cap and goggles; that is a sexy look. :)
-I get to swim with other girls and we get to chat and motivate each other.
-I don't have to try to make up my own easy workouts, someone else tells me what to do and I can complain but I will still do it, thereby getting a much better workout.
-I lose all sense of time and can just zone out when I'm in my groove.
-We are all adults, so it's not like we get in trouble if we slack off and chat or take an extra 15 seconds rest.
-Speedos.

Look-Alikes?

MyHeritage: Family tree - Genealogy - Celebrity - Collage - Morph

Davster

Davin James is 3 months old today! Wow. The time seriously goes by so fast. Davin is such a sweet little guy. He is definitely his own little person. It is amazing how our family feels more complete with him in it and how much I can love him even though I thought all the love I had in me was directed at my first offspring. ;)

10 things I adore about Davin, Davin James, Dav, Davster, Dav Dav:
1. I love that his ears stick out.
2. He likes to suck on his hands and will unconsciously (I think) pull out his binki to suck on his hands.
3. He has really dry skin/eczema so I get to spend about 10 minutes every morning and evening lotioning him up and rubbing his entire little body and making faces at him.
4. He has the cutest laugh on the planet and smiles and coos whenever he gets attention.
5. He has green eyes (so far).
6. He sleeps a lot.
7. He LOVES his brother and always laughs and smiles when Weston invades his space or tries to get him to hold a toy or says "smile Davin".
8. He appreciates my singing.
9. His favorite game is "jumping" on my lap. It's a surefire smile and laugh.
10. When he is awake, he is content to just be in the same room as me, not necessarily needing to be held every second. I think that means I'm doing my job and he is secure in his knowledge that I love him and I will stay with him or it just means he's an incredibly good, mellow child. Either way, I'm happy about it.

Happy 3 months Davin! We are so glad you are here!

We're Back!

We are so the fun people around here . . . we had a busy, fun weekend. On Friday we went to the mall to do a little shopping (as mentioned in my previous post) and then met Ian for lunch. Davin was looking extra cute in his adorable orange outfit and hat, so I had to throw the pictures on here. These are just from my phone, so the quality isn't awesome.

Earlier that day Weston and I played around with my phone. He is always asking "I call someone?" So we settled for the camera instead of bugging everyone. :)
The boys were looking pretty cute in their polos before church yesterday so Ian set up a mini photo shoot on the couch. Every single one that had Davin smiling Weston looked somewhere else or didn't smile, so these are my favs.

All my boys. Weston kept doing that crazy open-mouthed smile when I told him to smile big.
I think they are both looking at me instead of the camera in this one.
My favorite if it weren't so blurry. Ugh.Saturday we went to the Kearns Oquirrh Park Fitness Center (KOPFC) to play in the pool. The Burton's came too. We had a blast. It is such a great set of fun pools.
Weston was underwhelmed/freaked out by all the squirting water and clung to Ian and I the whole time, even though he could walk by himself.
Anyway, we played in the sun, ate snacks and then went and explored the indoor pool. Weston was a bigger fan of the indoor pool. It had these ropes you pulled and then water came out of a shower like spout. He loved that. He also really like the little current circle. We went around and around and around.

After the pool we went back to our house and had a bbq, which was delicious, and hung out and watched a movie until it was time for the Burton's to leave to take Dawnie and Mason to the airport for their flight to AZ.

We then headed over to a little good-bye gathering for a foreign exchange student who has been living in our ward. We didn't stay too long though and then headed back to the pool to thoroughly wear Weston out before bed. Davin slept a ton all day Saturday, but still had a decent night. He even slept all the way through the night on Friday night (8:30-6:15)!

Ian is still crazy busy at work and I probably won't see much of him this week, so if any of you are bored in the evenings, give me a call! :)

Bummer Dude

I haven't posted in a few days because our practically brand new 24 inch imac crashed on Tuesday night!  Can you believe that?!?  Ian took it to the Mac store Wednesday afternoon and they said it was a corrupt file something something.  Luckily Ian is a stud at backup, so we didn't lose anything, however he has been super uber busy at work this week and hasn't had a free hour to reinstall our movies, music, settings or pictures, so I don't feel like we really have the computer back yet.  Anyway, here's a little update of our week.  I apologize for the lack of pictures.  :)

This week has been pretty busy and fun.  We have been catching free lunch at the park almost every day and I'm loving it.  It is great to have Weston wasting food that I didn't have to buy for him, while still feeling good about my parenting skills in feeding him 3 meals a day.  Sometimes I think it's not worth it to feed him since he usually hardly eats anything anyway. :)  So ya, free lunch is awesome.  

We had a couple fun outings this week, including a really great afternoon/late night at our friends, the Burton's, house last night.  We went over to play with Dawnie and her son, Mason, in the little blow up pool and the wiggly sprinkler.  Weston actually LOVED the little pool and splashed and got all wet even though the water was freezing.  It was cute.  He was not such a fan of the wiggly sprinkler.  Unfortunately Dawnie and I both forgot our cameras, so there are no pics to document our fun playdate.  

After our water adventures we went inside and got dressed and made some frozen pizza and brownies and vegged out to So You Think You Can Dance while the boys played (can I just say I am thrilled that a certain skanky Cuban got kicked off this week).  Ian works with Dawnie's hubby, Wynn, and they were working late (as usual) so I just stayed until they were done and then Wynn and Ian came and we hung out for another couple hours until about midnight.  I had put the boys to bed already, but Weston woke up when we put him in the car and stayed awake the whole 30 minute drive home.  So he's pretty tuckered out today.  

I have to tell you about my shopping adventures today too.  First off, I am get major thrills from finding awesome deals on stuff.  I once bought a hideous maternity shirt simply because it was on clearance for $.99.  I just couldn't not buy it.  Anyway, a couple months ago I bought a dress that was on "sale" for $32.  That price has haunted me for the past couple months because if I'm going to spend that much money on something I better LOVE it and I didn't really love the dress.  So today I took the dress back and got Weston new sandals and myself a different, cuter dress for $15.  I just love finding awesome deals.  It seriously makes my day.  Yay.  

Happy Father's Day!

Ian made it home safe and sound from youth conference late Friday night. We survived our 48 hours without him. Saturday morning we worked on cleaning up from the trip, weeded the rest of the front planter and ran some errands. In the afternoon I caught up on watching So You Think You Can Dance. I love that show. It is so fun. Just in case you watch it my current favorite is Chelsea Hightower and my least favorite is Susie (skanky high school teacher).

That night we initiated Ian's early Father's Day present (the new BBQ!) and had a couple friends over to celebrate and hang out. We had a really good time. We are loving the warm weather (finally!).
I love our new patio furniture and grill. We are having so much fun eating outside in the nice weather. If only the rest of the backyard were done. . .
Father's Day Sunday, Ian got to sleep in and then woke up to hot cinnamon rolls, the comics and the rest of his presents. Weston got him the first two Spider Man movies and I got him a grill cover for his BBQ and a new pair of flip flops. He is totally set for summer. We had church all afternoon, where Weston sang with the Primary again (so cute), then capped off the day with a really delicious steak dinner with garlic mashed potatoes and watermelon and ice cream. It was a nice day and I think Ian enjoyed himself and got a chance to relax a bit. We love you Ian!

Today we went to the park to play and discovered that they do free lunch at the park down the street, so we got Weston some lunch, played and then headed home for some badly needed nap time. I think we will run in the sprinklers this afternoon since it's so hot. Oh and Weston is wearing his new "summer hat" that we got on Saturday while running errands.
Just now Davin was hanging out in the bouncer while I was working on this post and I decided he's old enough that he might start reaching for stuff, so I put the toy bar on for the first time. He spent literally 20 minutes just staring at the bug toy. He looked a little concerned about it too. I had to capture the moment. :)

Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

I'm so cheesy, I know. So Ian has been out of town since Thursday morning. He NEVER travels for work, so I hate having him gone and am so not used to it. Blah. I am so excited for him to be home in a few hours! Anyway, he is away with the youth at the Manti Pageant for youth conference. Since I knew he would be gone I tried to make plans and I ended up not being alone much at all.

Thursday morning I took the boys and met up with my friend Tara at Gardner Villiage. It is just so fun. I really don't get sick of it. We took some bread and fed the ducks, nasty carp fish, little birds and a random dog that was running around. Weston loved feeding the ducks and seeing all the animals. After that we went to the Storybook Nook store and checked out their sale. Weston and Kenz got to play with the Thomas train table. It was hard tearing Weston away from that. After a little more wandering we went to McDonald's for lunch. It was really nice getting to visit with Tara. We have had trouble hooking up lately due to busy schedules and lots of sickie kids.

Weston slept ALL afternoon and then Becca and Alann came over for dinner and to help me out and visit. It was nice having people around. I still hated going to bed by myself, but other than that it was a pretty good day/night. Today we are just kickin around, we did some grocery shopping and we will probably go to the park after naptime.

I also wanted to report that I took Weston to the doctor on Wednesday morning and discovered he did, in fact, have another ear infection which may have been causing some of his melancholy/bratty behavior the last week or so. We opted for chewable amoxicillan and so far I'm a big fan. It is tons easier than pinning Weston down and trying to force feed him liquid medicine that he generally either spits out all over me, my couch and the carpet or throws up. I will detail the joys of his new-found "terrible twos" behavior in another post.

Feeding the animals
Weston playing with the Thomas table.
Weston being "sick" which means he has to be tucked in on the couch with his blanket and his ginormous Bob the Builder and a cup of juice. He wanted to snuggle Davin too. It only lasted about 30 seconds before Dav started crying.
I like this one because Davin is totally staring at Weston with such a cute look.
What they're both smiling?!? It's amazing. Of course, Weston isn't looking at the camera, but we take what we can get.

How I Feel About Poop

Ugh. So sick of poopy (all over the place) diapers and the occasional lack thereof.
Not sick of sweet baby smiles and toddler laughing fits.

25 Things About My Love

1. What is his name? Ian Weston Bowles
2. Who eats more? Depends on the food. If it's sweets then usually me, but regular food, probably him.
3. Who said I love you first? He did. I wanted to, but really didn't want to say it first, so I waited a few days and eventually he said it. It was sweet while we were watching fireworks and listening to Jimmy.
4. Who is taller? Um, definitely him. He is about 10 inches taller than me. Pretty much everyone is taller than me though.
5. Who is smarter? Hmm . . .toss up. Ian is very creative but also very intelligent. He learns things really fast and is good at figuring stuff out on his own. I am good at reading a book about something and then memorizing how to do it, that kind of thing.
6. Who is more sensitive? Most definitely me. I've actually never seen Ian cry, ever. It kind of bugs me because I feel like such a nerd when I cry and get all upset about seemingly little stuff.
7. Who does the laundry? That would be all me.
8. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? I sleep on the right when you are looking at the bed. I started out sleeping on the other side, but about 3 months into our marriage we switched because I wasn't sleeping well and it has stayed that way ever since.
9. Who pays the bills? I pay the bills, Ian brings home the bacon.
10. Who cooks more? Ian doesn't really cook. However, earlier in our marriage he used to cook more often. His specialties are stir fry, spaghetti sauce and pancakes. Ian does do all the grilling.
11. What meals do you cook together? Well, grilling is kind of a team effort. He does the meat and I do the side dishes. We don't really cook anything else together.
12. Who is more stubborn? I would say Ian, but that may not be true. I am just more passive about it. He speaks his mind more. We generally don't have impasses though because we can find a compromise.
13. Who is the first to admit they're wrong? Eek. Neither of us is all that good at admitting we are wrong. Ian is notorious for always being right (or so he always thinks) ;)
14. Who is cleaner? Wow, that is hands down me. Ian is pretty messy, then every once in awhile he will get this "organization" bug and clean out the desk or the garage. I am more consistently clean, you may even call me a "neat freak".
15. Who has more siblings? me. I have 3 sisters and he has a brother and a sister.
16. Who wears the pants in the relationship? Well I'm not much of a dress person, so we both do. :)
17. What do you like to do together? watch movies and our favorite TV shows, go to the park with the kids, go see movies, go out to eat, play games, hang out in the hammock, visit with friends and family and snuggle.
18. Who eats more sweets? Me. I have a severe chronic genetically and emotionally induced sweet tooth. Not to say Ian doesn't like sweets. He can hold his own.
19. Guilty pleasures? Hmm . . . we both love to get massages. They are expensive but we generally both get at least one a year.
20. How did you meet? That would be our BYU ward prayer. Gotta love dating at the Y. I knew from that night on that I was going to marry Ian.
21. Who asked who out first? Um, we didn't really ask each other out. We went on our first date the day after our first kiss. It was kind of implied that we would go and do something. I think I came up with the activity though (a piano and violin concert) and me and my roomie Lisa took Ian and his roomie, Pete.
22. Who kissed who first? We were both consenting, however Ian initiated it. :)
23. Who proposed? Ian. We had already pretty much set a date before the official proposal, but it was still somewhat a surprise and really special.
24. His best features? I love his humor and his olive skin and his big strong hands that can play the piano and the guitar and change the baby and rub my back.
25. What is his greatest quality? His passion for the things he loves. He is always up on the latest mac info and programs and he gets so excited about them. He will go to all lengths to make sure that he is doing his best for me and the boys. I love to watch him get all excited about stuff.

I tag: Melanie, Becca and Tara

Sickies and Flip Flops

Well this has been a long yucky day. Weston started coughing while we were on our Provo outing and got to bed pretty late that night. So yesterday he was pretty mellow and not feeling great, but didn't take an overly long nap. This morning he was up really early and not feeling well. He spent almost the entire morning curled up on the couch watching movies and crying. Finally around 10 he started feeling better so we got ready for the day and went to Sams Club (because we were down to our last 10 diapers) and met up with Ian for lunch. This ended up being a pretty miserable experience. About check out time at Sams Weston started fussing and crying and saying his tummy hurt. So we made it out of Sams, just barely. Then we went to meet up with Ian and Weston cried and tried to sleep on my should the whole time, so I couldn't really eat and it was just really un-fun. So we left pretty quick and I didn't get to eat my lunch, of course. Anyway, I had about had it and barely made it out of the restaurant before I started crying too. I was just so tired of all the fussing and the sickiness and the not sleeping and it was just one of the mothering days, ya know?

Anyway, all three of us cried on the way home and Weston fell asleep in the car. I put him on his bed when we got home and he slept for about 30 minutes then woke up crying. Ugh, so I snuggled him and got him to the couch where he fell asleep again on and off for another hour or so. Finally, after his nap I managed to get him to gag down another dose of Tylenol and took his temperature; it was 102.5. Not too terribly high, but definitely a temperature. I had been giving him apple-prune juice mix all day since he hadn't pooped since Tuesday and finally he did, so now he's feeling much much better, but still has a fever and we cancelled our camping trip we were going to do tonight. Hopefully he will be feeling well enough tomorrow that we can drive up to the lake and go on our friends' boat. In the meantime I am having a much needed girls night out tonight, so that will be nice.

I ordered the boys a few things from Children's Place last week including some flip flops for Weston. He was a little unsure if he liked them or not, but it's still too cold to wear them outside. I think they are so cute.
In his new BYU shirt and flip flops and I'm not sure what he's doing with his little face. :)
The boys were both riveted by Baby Einstien. It was funny.

Provo

Yesterday the boys and I took a day trip down to Provo. The main purpose of the trip was to visit with my old college roomies, but I decided to go early and spend the whole afternoon there. I told Weston that we were going to go to BYU and he was so excited. He said "we go see the bell tower?" "we go see the Wilk?" "we go see Cosmo?" How does he know about all these BYU icons you may ask? Well, he has a book about BYU that has pictures of several of the buildings and things you would find at BYU. It also has pictures of Cosmo in it and he has seen pictures of me and Ian with Cosmo from our college days. I told him we wouldn't get to see Cosmo this time, but we would go see the other things from his book.

We went to the Wilk and had lunch at the cougareat and then wandered the bookstore and bought a t-shirt and a mini BYU basketball for Weston and some BYU fudge for me (yummy). We had a little bit of time to kill and the weather was less than ideal yesterday, so Weston played with his basketball in a big open area in the Wilk for a little while. After that we popped in on my Aunt Pam who works for the Engineering Dept. We visited for a little bit and I borrowed her office to nurse Davin.

Next we drove over to Aunt Pam's house to visit with a couple of my cousins, Kim and Kathryn. We had a nice time. We were pushing naptime for Weston by then, but he was still being surprisingly good. After our chatty visit we headed over to my friend, Lisa's apartment. Weston was super tired by then and not coping all that well. A few minutes after we got to Lisa's I layed him down on her bed for a little nap, but he only got about 30 minutes and woke up cranky. Oh well. It was so fun to catch up and talk with old friends. Alexis was in town to defend her thesis, so she was there with her new baby boy, Theo, who is 2 weeks younger than Dav. Then our friend, Liz, came with her 2 kids and her pregnant belly to hang out. It was a little bit of a madhouse towards the end, but definitely worth it. I miss those girls. Good times in the dorms and beyond. It is fun to see how all of our lives have changed in the 7 years since we all lived in Taylor Hall.

We drove straight from Provo to YW and didn't make it home until after 8pm, so it was a long day for the boys and we are making up for it today with nice long naps. :) I had a great time on our Provo adventure and Weston is talking all about BYU today and wearing his new shirt. It was fun being back in Provo for a bit, but I have to be honest that I'm glad I've moved on.

Before we left for Provo we passed the morning in the fort that we built in the den. Weston was a big fan.
Kathryn has a gift with children and Davin was no exception. She made him smile and laugh the whole time we were there.
Lex and Theo, Lisa, me and Davin (Weston was in the midst of his mini nap at the time)
Me and Lex and the baby boys.
Theo and Davin, born 2 weeks apart (Theo's younger but could definitely take Davin in a wrestling match, and almost did).

Full O' Fun

After our bummer Memorial Day weekend I was determined to plan something fun to do this last Saturday, so that morning we packed up a picnic and headed over to Wheeler Historic Farm. As we pulled up we noticed hundreds more cars than would be typical for a Saturday morning at 10:15am and discovered that there was a classic car show going on at the park adjacent to the farm. We had to park a little further away, but it ended up being a really fun outing.
By the time we left, Weston was kind of a basketcase, but after a long afternoon nap we decided he might be up for some more fun. We went to Cafe Rio for an early dinner and then took Weston to see his first official movie at a movie theater. We went to see "Horton Hears a Who" at the dollar theater. They had booster seats for him and I brought some candy to keep him occupied. He was riveted for about 40 minutes then got antsy and came to me and said, "we all done, Mom?" It was like, um no we have about half the movie left. He still behaved really well and enjoyed it for the most part. Ian and I thought the movie was really fun. So that was our fun-filled Saturday topped off with Weston's visit to the park with Ian for his Superman photo shoot. :)

Driving the blue tractor.
He was quite the chatter box about the brown cow and he could reach to pet his ear, so he told all the other strangers in the vicinity about it.
This was a major highlight of Weston's day. He got to sit in the digger and pretend to drive.
We think he's pretty darn cute.
Weston liked to lean down and say "Hi pig" or "Hi cow" and then wait for an answer. It was pretty funny. I loved that the one brown pig was seriously sleeping in that tub of water.
Davin was a trooper and slept the entire time we were at the Farm.
Weston liked the tractors way more than the animals. There were 3 different tractors that he could climb up on. He sat in every one. He also liked the BIG wheels.
Eating our picnic lunch at the park. It was perfect weather.
Ok, so funny. Weston chased this duck all around the grass for about 10 minutes straight. Finally I told him that the duck didn't want to be caught and he unhappily gave up.
Checking out the baby chickens.
In front of the movie poster at the theater.
This is Davin today. He was just looking so cute and grown up so I had to take some pictures. He is 10 weeks today.