California Adventures

Where do I even begin? We had a fabulous trip to CA. Taking two little boys on a plane all by myself was totally worth it. The plane rides actually went just fine. Weston was such a good boy and mostly entertained himself with minimal whining while we flew, and Davin fussed a bit, but ended up sleeping for most of both the flights.

We got there on Saturday evening around dinner time. Mom and Dad picked us up and we went over to my Grandma Snowball's house and ate In N Out and visited. The boys were pretty bushed by the time we got to my parents' house, so it was bedtime.
Sunday morning we all went to church (the whole 3 hours even!). I always enjoy going back to my home ward to see all the people I grew up with. It is fun to catch up. Anyway, that evening my sister, Joy, and her girls came to stay for a few days and play. We had a chicken scampi family dinner and even the kids decided it was amazingly delicious. Grandma B got some Davin snuggling in while Weston "played dough" in the backyard Sunday afternoon.
Here's Joy with Davin. He loves his auntie!
The newest cousins meet at last. They were so cute together. Rachel is a little bigger than Dav, so I had a hard time remembering she is only 3 and a half months old. She is such a cutie pie. I had so much fun getting to hold her squishy little babyness.A little later in the evening I hosted a mini high school reunion with the girls I hung out with back in the day. Some of us had kept in touch more than others, but it was so fun to have us all together again. We just ate and talked and laughed for about 5 hours. I am lame and didn't take any pics, but my friend Lara is supposed to be emailing me some she took, so I will have to post those later. My dad made home made ice cream for us, so that was a fun treat. My mom entertained the kids with Halloween magnet crafts while I visited with my friends. Thanks Mom!

Monday was kind of a down day. Joy and I stayed home and let the kids play. We did get going enough to do a little craft with them. We made the mini caramel apples from Family Fun magazine. Our butterscotch chips didn't exactly melt correctly and became a really thick paste, so we kind of had to frost the apples and then let the kids dip them in the toppings. They tasted great anyway, so no worries.
Look at how big these 3 are getting! They had so much fun playing together now that they can communicate.
On Monday we also went and visited Grandma B at her middle school. Her choir sang for us and they were so good. Then Lizzie and Mimi sang the Scooby Doo song for them. Then Weston and Mimi sang Popcorn Popping. The kids were a hit with the middle schoolers. Grandma B took us all out to lunch then we dropped in at her other middle school and did the singing thing again. Weston even sang Itsy Bitsy Spider out loud! I was so proud. :) Anyway, it was a fun day. That night we had all my grandparents and the Koszyk's over for dinner. It was so great getting to see so much family. Most of them hadn't met Davin, so that was extra fun. Unfortunately I'm a nerd and didn't take 4 generation pictures while we were all together. I'm kicking myself, but hopefully we can do that when we go back to CA next year.

On Tuesday Joy and I stayed home and let the kidlets play again until lunchtime when we all piled into Joy's minivan (it was a sight to behold . . . 5 carseats!) and went to visit Grandpa Bob at work then went for a picnic with him at the park. It was warm and sunny and the kids played and then we fed the ducks.
That afternoon while hanging out in the backyard Weston decided he wanted to wear all of Lizzie's padding to ride the tricycle. It was kind of funny watching him try to pedal with knee pads on. He struggles without them! Anyway, Weston was very happy that his cousins had brought their bike and scooter to share with him.
Tuesday night we had some family friends, the Hennessey's, over for dinner. It was so great. Kim is such a crack up. I laughed most of the night. Since Joy and the girls were heading home the next morning we decided to try to get a picture of all the cousins together. I think this one turned out best.
This was taken earlier that evening. Grandma B and Grandpa Bob with their newest grandbabies.
On Wednesday my mom took the day off work and we took the boys to Disneyland. Despite the 96 degree weather we had an awesome day at the Land of the Mouse. I think we can say the boys' first trip was a success. Disneyland gets its own post though, so more on that to come.

Thursday we recuperated from our Disneyland day. The kids were so tired and grouchy. Davin napped most of the day. That night, after the kids were in bed, Mom and I went to this place called Happy Feet. It is this Asian massage place. You go and sit on the ottoman of a recliner and soak your feet while they massage your back, shoulders, arms, and hands for 30 minutes. Then you turn around and sit in the recliner and they massage your feet and legs (up to the knee) for another 30 minutes. It felt amazing. Especially after a long day on our feet at Disneyland the day before. The best part about this pampering place is that the whole thing only costs $2o including tip!!! It will definitely be a must every time I go home now.

On Friday Mom and Dad both took the day off so we could play. We went to Irvine Regional Park. They have a cute little train the runs around the park. It was surprisingly crowded, even though we got there by 11am. Oh well, such is the life in southern California. Weston still wasn't completely recovered from Disneyland and was being a grouch, so we had to have a little chat about being happy and appreciative. He still didn't crack many smiles, but I think he did enjoy it.
The park also had a pumpkin patch and pony rides, so we did a pony ride. It was kind of cool because instead of the horses going in a little circle on that merry go round thing, you got to lead them around a little track. I do think Weston liked that. He was pretty happy when he got done riding Freddy.
Davin and I watched with Grandma B while Weston rode the horse. Dav was such a happy baby the whole time. What a trooper.
After that part of the adventure we found a spot to eat our lunch near a playground. Irvine Regional Park is also home to the Orange County Zoo, so after we ate we headed over to the little zoo. Even though it's a pretty tiny zoo, it was one of my favorite zoo experiences. The animals were mostly all out and about and it wasn't so exhausting since it was small. Anyway, here is Weston feeding the goats.
The highlight of our OC Zoo trip was the California black bears. They were both out wandering around and came right up to the fence in front of us. I'm talking literally 10 feet away. They were play fighting and everything. I have never seen bears so close like that. It was really cool.
Friday afternoon during naps I got my shopping fix in at Old Navy with my mom. There's nothing better than shopping with your mom and/or sisters. I found a lot of cute stuff and ended up getting 3 tops and a zip up sweater for myself, 3 shirts for Ian, and 2 shirts for Weston. My mom got Weston some church clothes too. So cute. Anyway, that was fun. That night we all went to my home ward's Halloween party. It seriously was a blast. It was mostly all the same people I grew up with, except our kids were running around playing. There was a chili cook-off and a pumpkin carving contest. Weston loved all the games, especially the fishing booth. He got his face painted and won a cupcake at the cake walk. His favorite, by far, though was trick or treating. He was better at it this year too. It was a fun night, so here's the Halloween preview.
Right afterwards I ran off with my sister, Julianna, to play softball. She plays on a co-ed city league team and they were a few girls short, so I subbed in. It was tons of fun even though we are horrible. Here we are screwing around in the dugout.
By Saturday we were all wiped out, so we stuck close to home. First thing in the morning Weston and I ran a couple errands including getting donuts for the cat. I went to the donut shop we always go to that is between our church building and my old high school. I went to pay and found out they only take cash. I was $1.50 short. I was going to just leave the donuts, go get some cash and come back, but the lady was like, "Oh, you can just pay it next time." I was so amazed. Nobody does that anymore. It felt so small town. Needless to say my dad went back later that day and paid my tab. :) Anyway, Weston picked the twisty donut that didn't really go on the cat. We improvised.
Grandma B and Weston made this spooky pirate ship while I was showering and getting ready for the day. It was a lot of work, but Weston had a good attention span and helped out a lot.
A little later in the morning Grandpa Bob had a wood building project to do with Weston. It was so cute watching him work with my dad in his little Home Depot apron and a huge hammer. Weston thought it was so cool that he was building something. He kept saying, "We're building a truck." in his important voice.
Here's the finished product. We will work on painting it here at home. Maybe Daddy can help him do that part. He loves the truck and has been playing with it at home since we got back.
After naps we went over to the little local park and my friend, Paige, did a little photo shoot with me and the boys. The pics turned out great. I will post some soon. It was so hot the whole time we were there, so after the park we hopped in "Grandma B's pool" (aka the spa turned down to 95 degrees). That night after bedtime Mom and I finished watching Hello Dolly and got Golden Spoon. I packed up and after an hour and a half flight delay (while sitting on the airplane on the tarmac) we made it home yesterday.

We are back to the daily grind . . . cleaning, feeding, storytime, sleeping in our own beds, cooking, swimming, etc. If you made it through this post I really am impressed. Sorry it was so long, but we had such a jam packed, fun filled trip I didn't feel like I could leave anything out. Yahoo for California. I am already looking forward to our next trip out.

Looking for an Action Script Ninja.

So my work is looking for an action script 3 flash developer. We have been down to one for the past several months now, and I feel bad for him since he is working even crazier hours than me. Please let any friends of friends who are action script developers know that there is an opening at a pretty cool company in Sandy, even if they aren't currently looking for a job...

You can just send them my way and I can refer them to the right manager.

ian@verite.com

Bowles Update

Davin has been officially 6 months old for a few weeks now, but we just barely went to the doctor for his 6 month check up today. It went well. He is a healthy, growing boy.
Stats:
Height: 27", 73% (one of my kids is tall? what?!?)
Weight: 15 lbs. 5 oz., 15% (he's still runty though)
Head: 50% (I never remember the actual measurement)

Both the boys got flu shots too. I was pretty worried about Weston. He can be such a wuss sometimes. I didn't tell him he was getting a shot too until Davin was all done. Then he went to open the door and I said, "Wait, Weston, you are going to get one too, so you don't get sick this winter." Weston: "I don't want one!" Well, he didn't put up much of a fight and ended up not even crying. Just as the prick was registering, the fabulously fast nurse said, "All done!" and gave him a Bugs Bunny bandaid. He was great about it. He was happy to pick a Superman sticker too. We ended up not leaving for another 30-40 minutes because we had to take Weston to the potty, check out, I fed Dav in the waiting room, then Weston had to go to the potty AGAIN. Sheesh kid. It was still a pretty successful trip to the doctor's office.

We have been spending a little more time home and inside now that the weather is colder. Weston wants to take pictures with the camera all the time. He is getting better and better. He took this one of me and Davin a couple days ago. It's a little blurry, but still pretty good.
We have also been playing more "quiet" games. Weston calls anything that we play indoors quiet. He still loves these blocks. Yesterday we built robots. Here is a picture of my gopher child posing with our creations.
Weston is such a crack up. This is my favorite recent story about him. To preface, I was sitting in the armchair in the den feeding Davin a bottle. Weston was perched up on the arm of the couch next to me, but facing away from me "reading" the newspaper. He sits there "reading" for a few minutes then turns around and looks at me and says:
W: Mom, hero work is great.
Me: Hero work?
W: Yes, hero work is great.
Me: Well, I'm glad that hero work is going well.
W: No Mom, it's great.
Me: Oh right. Who does hero work? (I'm expecting him to say Mr. Incredible because they use the term hero work in that movie)
W: Uncle Eli and Superman do hero work.

I couldn't help laughing. Uncle Eli drives an ambulance for AMR. Weston also has a Sesame Street book about who heroes are. One of the pages talks about ambulance workers being heroes. So, pretty impressive that Uncle Eli ranks way up there with Superman. :)

I am getting very excited for my trip to California next week! Actually we are leaving this Saturday. I'm going to take the boys by myself. I'm a twinge nervous about the flight, but hopefully I will sit next to someone nice, or even better, no one at all and have an extra seat! The next few days are going to fly as we get things ready for the trip and do a little last minute playing here in Utah. To all my CA family and buddies, I can't wait to see you!!! Let the countdown begin . . .

Rockin' the Purple Hair

Another action-packed weekend ends, but this time I have something to show for it. Friday night I got my hair done. I love getting my hair done. I love to change my hair color. I have never had the same color done twice in a row. I can't quite figure out the underlying cause for my haircoloring obsession. It all started in high school. I was not allowed to dye my hair. Finally, my senior year I went on a weekend trip to Big Bear with some friends and while there I decided "no hair dye" was a stupid rule and went ahead and colored my hair (from a box). It was called "Gingerbread" and was maybe one shade different from my natural color. I was sure I would be in trouble, but my mom didn't even notice. After that, coloring my hair became a hobby. My younger sisters have since thanked me for lifting the iron curtain of no hair dye.

I progressively became more and more daring with my hair. After about a year I really wanted purple hair. I was living in the dorms at BYU, which serendipitously was only a couple miles from the Paul Mitchell hair school. I got my hair highlighted then had red and purple color weaved in over the highlights. It looked awesome. I loved it. It lasted about 2 weeks before the purple had completely faded. I have since then had many a hair color.

At this point in my life I still can't decide what motivates me to change my hair as much as I do. Is it boredom? Is it my feeble attempts at asserting my independence? Is it me clinging to being young and rebellious when nothing in my life is rebellious and daring anymore? Whatever the reason, I don't see this hobby disappearing in the near future. It is a tiny part of my definition of myself. Here's a walk down my hair's memory lane . . .

I don't have any digital pics from before this time, so we will start with my dark chocolate hair I got a few days before engagement pics. Loved it.
I went ahead and stuck with the more natural dark brown for the big day.
This is possibly the ugliest picture of me on record, but here is the red I added a few months after Ian and I got married. I am lucky that Ian thinks it's fun that I change up my hair often and doesn't openly rebel against my preference for short hair.
A couple months after that, more red and a short do. First bangs since middle school!
Blonde highlights. I think this was my 22nd birthday.
"I've made a huge mistake." Full on blonde was and is my only hair regret. It looked horrible on my and I could only stand it for about 6 weeks before I resorted to a box.
I went to NYC for the summer with blonde hair. It was a bad hair summer. This maroon look was my favorite color from that summer. Props to Ian for coloring it for me!
Blah mousy brownish red. 4th of July in Central Park.
This started with blonde highlights that were quickly joined by a red weave. Weston 7 mos.
Working the dark brown, almost black look in the winter. Weston was about 1 here.
Before this latest color I did blonde highlights and a short cut with bangs. Probably my favorite hair cut of all time.
Half violet, half chocolate brown. The "purple" look I had always wanted has arrived. Not too punk rock purple for a stay-at-home mom, like me, to pull off, but different enough to let people know I'm not completely boring. LOVE IT! Thanks Debbie!
Thanks for joining me for that nostalgic little stroll. I have to say my hair is one of my favorite aspects of my appearance. Although it has it's moments, my hair is generally very cooperative and does what I want it to. I owe it big time for making me look cute (most of the time).

On another hair note, Saturday afternoon I did one of my YW's hair for the homecoming dance. I thought it turned out pretty good. Especially since it has been years since I did my sister's and roomies' hair and I was never professional. I think she was happy with it. I can't wait to see the pics of her with her hair all done and in her pretty dress.
Saturday night we went to our friends' house for their son's birthday party. Mason turned 2! There were 3 families there and 5 little boys. We had a really good time and the boys played really well together. Balloons were a big hit. Weston tried to hold as many as he could then throw them all in the air at the same time.
There's Dawnie (Mason's mama) playing with Dav and Weston. They both love her.
Weston made a new friend. Aiden and Weston played very nicely together, for the most part. here they are playing catch about 6 inches away from each other. It was cute.
Look at those party poopers. Ian was tuckered out from being with the boys most of the weekend while I had hair adventures and swam. Dav is just being his normal, mellow self.
Davin's first time being a birthday party guest. He was a trooper.
Here are all the big boys during present time. (Mason, Weston, Aiden)
I felt like I spent most of Sunday cooking, but it was well worth it. I made honey lime enchiladas for dinner. Yum. Then I tried out that gooey pumpkin butter cake for dessert. It wasn't quite what I was expecting, but still delicious. It was more gooey that I imagined. More like pumpkin pie cake. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the rest of it. I certainly can't finish it. Perhaps I will donate it to the cause at Verite (Ian's work). Anyway, it is nice to be home and back to my normal schedule today.

Sorry this was such a long post. What can I say, it was a long weekend.

Domestic Goddess

You may (or may not, if you really know me) think that I am a Domestic Goddess. You wouldn't be entirely wrong, just mostly wrong.

Domestic Skills I DO NOT possess (or at the very least, am not very good at):
-sewing, crocheting, knitting, etc.
-cooking without recipes
-cooking with ingredients I am not familiar with
-baking bread
-keeping my floors mopped
-providing art projects for Weston
-interior decorating
-cake decorating
-canning

Domestic Skills I Am Pretty Good At:
-baking sweets
-cooking anything from a box, package, can or from the freezer
-cooking with (most) recipes
-vacuuming
-tidying
-doing dishes
-turning on DVD's for my kids
-putting together Weston's Thomas train track
-making beds
-planning outings for my kids
-paying bills
-grocery shopping
-ORGANIZING!

I have decided to share with you my favorite things for performing my domestic duties. First of all, I think I have mentioned before that my house is not always clean, but it is almost always tidy. I'm kind of Type A like that. That is why I have a hard time letting my 2 year old do art projects. I don't like the mess. Anyway, first of all, my all time favorite thing for organizing and keeping my house looking tidy is BINS. I use bins everywhere, in every room of my house.***

Here is Weston posing with the toy bin storage in his room. I love this thing. I think it cost $3o at Target (by Do Your Room). It looks cute and each bin has specific things that go in it (blocks, Thomas tracks, fire truck, potato head, etc.) so that Weston can clean up by himself, since he knows where everything belongs.
I use one big bin for all the balls. It sits right next to the basketball hoop, so it's easy to clean up. I also like the hanging storage circles from IKEA ($6, I think). I use them to store all of Weston's random stuffed animals.
I am the most proud of this organized area. I just got these shelves all cleaned out and organized a few months ago. I wish I had a "before" picture because it was a mess. This is our "medicine" cupboard. I found these really awesome stacking plastic bins at Walmart for $1 each. Before this got organized all our medicines, band aids, old prescriptions, vitamins . . . anything remotely pharmaceutical, was thrown in one big bin. You could never find what you were looking for and it looked horrible. Anyway, I separated it out in categories and then I added the open stacking bins for the miscellaneous stuff that we use more often.
This is my least favorite part of the house. When we bought this desk I tried to keep in mind that over 5 years I had not been able to infect Ian with the "tidy bug" and it would probably never happen. So, I loved that we could put bins in the hutch that Ian could throw things in and not actually have to organize. It has worked out great. The problem is that the rest of the desk can NEVER stay tidy. It inevitably becomes the collecting ground for loose papers, movies, scriptures, mail, coupons, etc. I have not perfected the art of keeping the desk tidy, and it irks me to no end. (it looks particularly bad in this pic with wires everywhere because we just got cable and Ian was messing with our Eyetv so that we can watch TV on the computer)I am also a big proponent of bookshelves. There are always going to be stacks and piles, but if they can avoid being on the floor or tables, then I'm happier about it. This is our movie shelf in the living room. I know we should probably consolidate to a big disc case, but I like seeing the case covers. It's easier to peruse. Also, check out my new Halloween decoration from my mom! Thanks Mom!
Next on the list, besides bins and shelves, which are pretty obvious, is my Black and Decker Dustbuster. I just got this little beaut a few months ago and I'm not sure how I lived my Type A life without it all those years. I use it for the obvious cleaning up of minor messes, crumbs and such, but it is also great for cleaning the couches, edges of the carpet and tile floors and cleaning out gunk from the highchair, booster seat and carseats. Bonus! It is wall mounted! (see below pic of my laundry room)
Also seen in that picture is the set of hooks that we finally bought to keep the broom and mops up off the floor. SO much nicer.

This next picture doesn't have much to do with cleaning, but simply an example of my need for organization. Snacks on the top shelf, pasta and cornbread and seasoning packets on the next shelf, baby food (fruit on the right, veggies on the left) on the 3rd shelf, and pancake mix and jarred foods on the bottom. These pantries were the best investment (Target, $40 each).
Other cleaning things I can't live without:
-Clorox disinfecting wipes. I buy the big 4 pack at Sam's Club and use them for EVERYTHING. Cleaning the bathroom, wiping my kitchen counters, spot cleaning my kitchen tile, cleaning kitchen appliances, wiping doorways and walls, etc.
-Munchkin bottle brush. I hand wash Davin's bottles and this is by far my favorite bottle brush.
-Dirt Devil vacuum. I have an abnormal relationship with vacuuming. I love it. It is my favorite thing to do when I want to feel productive. Vacuuming is so easy and only takes about 15 minutes (if you live in a little one story 1400 sqft house), but also makes the house look so much cleaner! Most bang for your cleaning buck.
-Toilet brush and Lysol Toilet Cleaner. Growing up we did not ever own a toilet brush. I had literally never seen one. We always cleaned toilets by hand with a rag and some Comet. When I grew up and realized they had these handy scrubbing brushes and liquid cleaner that basically did the job for you, I knew I would never go back. I don't resent you for making me do it by hand, Mom. I think it gave me character. :)
-Endust. I love how it makes my furniture shine and actually gets TONS of dust off my dressers, piano, shelves, etc. Do NOT use this stuff on mirrors or glass. It gets very streaky and will not easily be cleaned. Trust me.

If you made it this far in this post, here is a pic of Weston sitting in front of the TV stand. It's a little blurry, but Weston was looking so cute today in his new polo, jeans and tennis shoes. Also note the several bins in the TV stand that keep all the crap contained.
This morning we went to Gardner Village with some friends to see the witches and all the Halloween decorations. It looked so cute this year! Unfortunately, I forgot my camera. Lame. I borrowed my friend's, but it was almost out of batteries and I don't have the pics yet, so hopefully I got one good one in there. I will have to post those when I get them. In the meantime, get to organizing!

***I counted 31 bins in my house (not including Weston's toy bin storage thing). I got them everywhere from Bed, Bath and Beyond to Dollar Tree.

Remnants of Summer

This Fall has been the most amazing weather so far, however according to the forecast, it will be only a high of 43 degrees by Saturday. We decided to take advantage of the gorgeous, sunny day today and spent it at Wheeler Farm with some friends. We did a couple new things this trip. We rode the tractor wagon ride, which was really fun and totally worth it. Also, one of the pigs had babies a few days ago, so we went in and got to see really adorable pink piglets.

Our group today consisted of 3 mommies and 6 little boys! Here are the big boys standing in a wagon.
We ate our lunch at a bench in front of one of the old buildings, so here's me and the boys on the wagon wheel bench.
I think I took 7 pictures of this shot and I thought this was the best. You try getting 3 big boys holding their 3 little brothers to hold still and smile for the camera!
Weston really likes holding Dav and, even though Davin hadn't had a nap yet, he was really mellow and didn't cry once the entire outing.
Back in the saddle.
I'm hoping that we can manage to eek out a couple more outdoor adventures before the cold really sets in. I still want to do the Aviary to see the peacocks and flamingos. Once it is officially winter we will still be ok since my boys love to stay inside and watch movies too. I turned on Baby DaVinci Sunday night and Davin was seriously cracking up. I tried to sneak pics of their very engrossed and amused faces, but they noticed and tried to pose. Not nearly as cute. Anyway, thanks for answering what some of your fun summer things were.

Now that the ban on using the oven has been lifted (due to cooler temps outside and therefore in my house) I am trying to find some new recipes to try. Specifically recipes that use ground beef or the crock pot. Please please please leave me your favorite crock pot recipe and/or your favorite way to use ground beef to make a meal. The standard lasagna, tacos and meatloaf get old after about 2 months. To reward you for generously sharing your recipes with me, I will post a new recipe that I recently was treated with on my friend, Sheena's, blog. I haven't made it yet, but it is going to be amazing!

Gooey Pumpkin Butter Cake (by the famous Paula Dean)

Cake: 1 (18 1/4-ounce) package yellow cake mix

1 egg
8 tablespoons butter, melted (yes really , i told you it was naughty!)

Filling:
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
8 tablespoons butter, melted (again? YES!!)
1 (16-ounce) box powdered sugar (yep, a whole box!)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine the cake mix, egg, and butter and mix well with an electric mixer. Pat the mixture into the bottom of a lightly greased 13 by 9-inch baking pan.

To make the filling: In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and pumpkin until smooth. Add the eggs, vanilla, and butter, and beat together. Next, add the powdered sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and mix well. Spread pumpkin mixture over cake batter and bake for 40 to 50 minutes. Make sure not to over bake as the center should be a little gooey.

Serve with fresh whipped cream.