Fun in (and out of) the Sun

Our weather continues to be bipolar, but on Tuesday it was gorgeous and warm. We drove up to the Gateway to do a little Father's Day shopping and I promised the kids that they could play in the fountain after we shopped. I didn't bring swimsuits or towels or anything because in the past neither of them have gotten more than splashed in this fountain, but alas, Weston decided he is now a big fan of running through the fountain. When I realized they were getting really wet I took off their shirts. Weston got soaked. He had a blast though. It was definitely worth it.
Yesterday we tried to go to the park for lunch. Well we did go to the park for lunch, but it was miserable. It was crazy windy and clouds blew in and made it chilly. That afternoon Weston put together this little project while I was on the phone with my sister.
If you guessed it is a giraffe you would be right! I thought it was pretty cool. He just tore his paper into strips, colored on it, and taped it all together. He made a baby giraffe for Davin and a human. He's very into "projects" these days. :)

Last night Ian took the boys to a magic show at the library while I went to a Relief Society activity/dinner. It was nice to get a little break. Ian took on a rush project at work, so he ended up going back to the office after the magic show and he will be working late tonight, but I'm crossing my fingers that the resulting bonus will get us new carpet in the den. We'll see.

I started watching Pride and Prejudice yesterday. It makes me happy. What doesn't make me happy are creepy pregnancy dreams. I had a bizarre and very vivid dream last night. Lets just say in it I had twins (a boy and a girl) and I had them now (at 15 weeks). The rest of the details are even more weird. Also I am tired today. I have finally given up trying to sleep on my stomach. I just don't sleep well on my side though. On the plus side I am feeling much better in this stage of pregnancy and finally have a little more energy. I'm looking forward to a busy, but fun Father's Day weekend!

Lucky

It must be my lucky day. I woke up this morning to find that I won two more blog giveaways!

Today I won the Dinners on a Dime cookbook from HERE. I am super excited to try some of their cheap and easy recipes. I even had one of my own recipes featured on the Savings and Stewardship blog HERE. It's one of my most favorite cheap and easy dinners.

I also won this super adorable monster hoodie from HERE. I decided to get it in Weston's size so that Davin can grow into it and they can both benefit. Isn't it fun? This Etsy shop has some seriously cute boy clothes. Check it out!

I sure love winning free stuff! If you want to try your own luck and enter a few giveaways just click on the Blog Giveaways button on my sidebar. Happy Monday!

Weekend Update with the Bowles

This weekend we kept plenty busy. On Friday it was chilly and rainy. I hadn't planned dinner yet for Friday or Saturday. I really wanted Olive Garden soup, but since we are trying to spend less money I decided to see if I could find a recipe online. I found THIS recipe HERE.
Olive Garden Chicken and Gnocchi Soup

1 cup chicken breasts, cooked and diced (you can use a rotisserie chicken)
4 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons flour
1 quart half and half
1 14 ounce can chicken broth
1/2 cup celery, finely diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup carrots, finely shredded
1 cup onion, finely diced
1 cup fresh spinach, coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon extra virgin oil
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon parsley
Freshly grated parmesan cheese – optional
1 pound potato gnocchi – can buy this in the gourmet section of many supermarkets
Sauté the onion and garlic in the butter, when the onion becomes translucent, add the flour, and make a roux, let the butter and flour mixture cook for about a minute before adding 1 quart of half and half.

Cook gnocchi according to package directions.

Into the roux add in the carrots, celery, and chicken. Once the mixture becomes thick add the chicken broth. Once the mixture thickens again, add the cooked gnocchi, spinach, and seasonings.

MY NOTES about this recipe:
I made this recipe exactly as written. Next time I will add some salt and pepper at the end before letting it simmer for a little bit. I will also make sure I have some fresh grated parmesan cheese on hand to top it with. We used some parmesan from the shaker in the fridge and it was good, but fresh would be better. Also the soup was almost better second day. The gnocchi was a little softer. You could add more chicken if you wanted, but it was pretty thick and hearty as is. Also, when you're looking for the potato gnocchi it will be with the dry pastas. I had to go to 2 grocery stores to find it, so you could call ahead to see if yours carries pre-made potato gnocchi.

So, it wasn't quite Olive Garden, but it was definitely yummy and I will be saving the recipe to make again in the Fall.

Saturday morning we kind of slept in, which was nice. Around 9 we finally got going on the den. We spent the entire day mudding. The kids were really good about staying out of the den and keeping themselves entertained. They did watch a couple movies though. Oh well. We got all of the first coat of mudding done. It is really starting to look like a room! We still have another coat of mud to do, then mud texturing, then painting, and molding. The goal is to have it all finished by the end of June when Ian's family will be visiting us.

Here's how the room looked by the end of the day.

Saturday night after Ian and I finally showered and we had all eaten dinner we took the kids to play at Arctic Circle. They had been cooped up all day so they had an extra good time running around and playing on the playplace. We came home, put the kids to bed, and curled up to watch New Moon. It was kind of fun watching it again. We were so tired though and I barely managed to stay awake through the whole thing.

Today it is still chilly so I decided to dress the boys in their "suits" for church. In the summer it's just too hot to be wearing so many clothes, but they like getting all dressed up. Aren't they handsome (and goofy)?!?

This Week . . .

-I cut fresh roses for the kitchen table. They stabbed me multiple times. I kind of hate roses.

-Weston finished swimming lessons and was sad they are over. He didn't pass Tot 2, but I am so proud of him because he had such a good attitude, put his whole face in the water several times, and made a new friend.
-I made dinner every single night. Even though one night was spaghetti and one night Ian bbq'ed.

-I didn't get the kitchen floor swept. Probably because I was here.
-We went to the park and enjoyed our first free lunch in the park of the summer. It was burritos. The kids were not really fans, but liked their Cheetos and chocolate milks.

-I took both kids to a movie by myself and didn't have to take anyone out.

-I read Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane (Book #2 in the Underland Chronicles) by Suzanne Collins. Even though this series is more geared towards tween/teen boys I really think they are fun books.

-I baked chocolate chip cookies. They turned out flat for some reason. But the dough tasted great!

-Ian finished all the drywall in the den! This weekend we start mudding. If you are in the area and need a service project on Saturday we would welcome the help. :)
-I didn't make lunch most days. Lunch is the hardest meal of the day for me since I don't really like sandwiches. I usually just end up snacking my way through the afternoon or eating a baked potato for lunch.

-I bought popsicles. It is officially popsicle season. Hooray!

-I bought printer ink. It cost $50. Are you kidding me?!? Have any of you used the ink refill service at Walgreens? Is it cheaper?

-My mommy celebrated her __nd birthday! I'm not sure how she feels about me announcing her age on my blog, so I'll let you guess. I wasn't there, but I think she had a great birthday. I thought about her all day and waited to call because I knew she was busy with assemblies most of the day. Then I forgot to call. Until about 8:30pm. Luckily Weston was still awake and sang to her with me. Happy Birthday Mom!

-The kids played outside for hours with their Buzz Lightyear squirt guns. They mostly tried to wash all the sidewalk chalk off the walls of the house and didn't spend too much time shooting at each other.

-Ian hung the hammock.

-Weston took this picture and wanted me to put it on the blog.
-It was summer and we are loving it. This weekend is a little break from summer since it will be stormy and only in the low 60's, but I am going to take advantage of that and make soup and get in some last minute baking.

Musings

After all my complaints about the never ending Utah winter, I am now starting to think I should have just kept my mouth shut. My house is rapidly heating up. It has been in the 80's for the last several days and my house got up to 77 inside. Luckily it still gets pretty cool at night. And we are supposed to get some storms and 60's weather this weekend, which actually might be somewhat welcome.

Despite my narrow window of comfort (Ian teases me that I'm only happy when it's between 70 and 73 degrees) I am prepared for summer. I went shopping for some maternity clothes last night. I have finally gotten to the point where none of my jeans fit. I have never needed maternity clothes in the summer since I've tried to plan it so I'm never pregnant in the heat, so I definitely needed a few pairs of capris and some more short sleeve tops.

I started at Old Navy since my favorite maternity jeans are from there, but alas they had very little and most of it was not that cute anyway. Next I decided to check Kohl's. I hit the motherload there. They had a ton! And it was all on sale or clearance. I felt a little guilty shopping at Kohl's without any coupons, but sometimes you just have to suck it up and buy stuff you need. I ended up getting 2 pairs of denim capris, a smocked cotton dress, and 2 long sleeved tops for Fall/Winter. I spent about $75. I thought that wasn't too bad. Certainly less expensive than shopping at Motherhood.

I'm 14 weeks now and finally feeling less nauseous all the time. Hooray! I still haven't gained any weight. Also hooray! But I look pregnant. How does the weight migrate like that? I'm looking forward to getting some energy back soon too.

Weston is doing fabulous with swimming lessons! Yesterday he put his whole head under the water a few times. He still came up kind of spluttering and wiping his eyes and ears, but there was no crying and I'm hoping he's starting to get used to the idea of putting his face in the water.

I was really excited to find out a few weeks ago that the Cinemark theater near us was doing summer kid movies! They had a deal where you could get a pass for all 10 movies they are showing this summer for $5 per person or $1/person/show. I decided to just pay for the ones we go to since I'm not sure we will go to more than 5 movies. Weston is especially excited about getting to see movies at the theater. Today is the first one. It's Alvin and the Chipmunks. I hope Davin doesn't get too restless. I will be sure to bring him some popcorn. If you live in the area and want to join me one of these weeks let me know!

I think I'm due for a haircut. When my hair ends up in a ponytail by lunch every day that usually means it's time. I'm debating about putting blonde highlights in for the summer. Any thoughts?

Davin's Ears, among other things.

This week was busy with swimming lessons and catching up with laundry and grocery shopping. Wednesday night we also attended the Earnst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Awards dinner with some other people from Verite. We were there mostly to support another company who was a sponsor of the awards. It was fun to get all dressed up again, but we had a hard time finding a babysitter for Wednesday night and ended up taking the kids over to a neighbor's house to play while we were gone. They loved it, but it was kind of a late night for everyone.
Bright and early Thursday morning I woke up Davin and took him to the ENT Surgery Center to get his ear tubes placed. He was so adorably cute all morning and was very happy and compliant while they did all the prep on him.
He was not a huge fan of the gown and ended up just going shirtless for the procedure. I stayed with him until he was asleep under the anesthesia and then waited in the lobby. I didn't wait long though. It was only about 15-20 minutes before they called me back and he was awake. He was not a happy boy. He was crying and squirming and seemed kind of out of it. He kept trying to get out of my lap, which was annoying. Also I think they should have given me the post-op packet and information before they gave me my screaming child because I was having a hard time listening.
Davin calmed down in the car and by the time we got home he was fine. He was excited to eat some breakfast and have some milk. We spent the day mostly relaxing, but did squeeze in a quick library trip. Davin really seemed fine all afternoon. And he's been great since then. He is not a fan of the prescription ear drops he has to have right now, but other than that he has been back to his normal, happy self. Hooray! He also is already saying Weston with the "n" at the end instead of saying it Westie. I think he's going to be speaking better real quick.

Last night we all went to the park after dinner. It was such a nice night. It feels so good to be able to enjoy the long, warm nights. After playing at the park for awhile we drove over to Cold Stone at Jordan Landing. They had a band playing in the middle of the shops, so we got our ice cream and then sat outside to eat it. The kids were so funny dancing and running around and giving high fives to all the other people listening to the band. We just had a really fun night. By the time we got home it was bedtime. Perfect!

Today Ian has some help getting some more drywall up in the den. Tonight is the Elders Quorum BBQ, so that should be fun too. Hooray for weekends and nice weather!

Memorial Day Weekend

We sure enjoyed our long holiday weekend! Ian came home early on Friday and we packed up the car and drove to Logan. While eating dinner at Subway I realized that I had forgotten an entire bag of toiletries at home. Whoops. Luckily there was a Walmart right across the parking lot. The kids were super excited I had forgotten their toothbrushes because they got cool new light up ones. I was less excited since I had just bought new toothbrushes. Oh well.

When we got to Logan we went to my cousin, Larissa's, wedding reception. It was raining on and off, so we mostly stayed inside. It was fun to see her as a bride and meet her handsome husband, but I didn't get to visit with as much extended family as I was hoping to (where were you Jill?!?). After the reception we headed out to drive the rest of the way to Rexburg to spend the weekend with Mel and Brad. We got there around 10pm. The kids stayed awake the whole time. Thank goodness for the portable DVD player.

That night we visited for a little bit before we set up beds and got some sleep. Saturday was rainy and cold. We decided to go up to campus in the morning just to get out of the house for a little bit. BYUI was pretty deserted and all the fun displays in the buildings were closed, but it was still fun to go check out where Mel and Brad spend their time. The kids were supposed to take awesome naps that afternoon, but Weston was not cooperating. Davin took a short nap, but woke up kind of grouchy.

It finally stopped raining for a little bit, so the kids got to play outside for a few minutes before we all went to see How To Train Your Dragon at the cheap theater. It was such a fun movie! We all loved it. Davin was riveted and didn't really even get restless the whole time. Weston fell asleep towards the end. I told him he needed a nap, but 4 year olds don't listen to Mom. Oh well.

We ran to a couple stores after the movie trying to find The Matrix. Brad had never seen it and Ian wanted to watch it with him. He finally found a combo pack of all three Matrix movies plus the Animatrix movie all for $10. Not bad. We grilled burgers and hot dogs for dinner. It was super yummy. Luckily the kids went to bed early and we watched our movie.

Sunday we all went to church. Weston loved visiting a new ward and making new friends. Davin seemed to do great in nursery. I even had to wait a few minutes for him to be ready to leave when I went to pick him up. I sure do envy anyone who lives in a ward with lots of young families. Sigh.

That afternoon we all napped and watched movies. Mel and I took the boys on a walk around her complex to see the horses in the field and get some fresh air. It was windy and cold, but not really raining. Mel made me meatloaf and giant baked potatoes for dinner. It was so incredibly delicious! Thanks Mel!

Monday we planned on going to the zoo in Idaho Falls. Brad wasn't feeling good and didn't end up coming with us. We missed him, but we had a blast at the zoo! I am lame and didn't get my camera out of my bag until Monday, but I have lots of pictures from our zoo outing!

All ready to see some animals!!!
Watching the penguin feeding. They were so funny! They kept sneaking into the food closet.
Me and Mel! We had so much fun hanging out. Love that girl!
Snack time. We had animal crackers of course!
Weston loved this little play area. Davin did not. He just wanted to see animals I guess.
This is what Davin did while Weston was playing in the play area. That pig was hilarious snorting at Dav the whole time.
Daddy braved going into the petting area with the kids. The boys had the place to themselves and made sure they brushed every single goat. :)
I love that the lions were so close! Probably because they had a smaller habitat than the lions in bigger zoos do, but I thought it was cool to see them up closer.
Weston preferred the fake lion. Davin fed it wood chips. So helpful.
Riding the tiger. It was napping in it's enclosure, so this was definitely more fun.
Hooray for zoo day! We had so much fun. We also saw the pelicans getting fed, a camel, lots of monkeys, birds, tortoises, a snow leopard, and a baby zebra. I was highly impressed with this little zoo!
After our zoo outing we grabbed some lunch and headed back to Rexburg to pack up. We left in the afternoon and made it home by 7:30. I drove most of the way. It was much more relaxing to drive than to have to turn around every 10 seconds to get something for the kids. :) What a fun little trip!

It's good to be back and play some catch up with laundry and getting the house in order. We have no food and I desperately need to meal plan and grocery shop. That's next on the list of things to do. But first, I have to mention that Weston started swimming lessons this morning. He was complaining about it when I mentioned that he was starting this week. He kept saying how he didn't like how all the other kids splashed him in the face and he didn't like going under water. Well, he did just fine. He has a sweet teacher and a small class. He had a lot of fun today, so I'm hoping that bodes well for the rest of the 2 weeks of classes. Davin was very disappointed that he didn't get to swim. He kept trying to take off his shirt and shoes. Poor kid.