oh baby

Our little two-day trip to SLC this week was so much fun! It was great to spend some quality family time outside of our home. We went swimming, ate out, visited friends and family, saw some fun sights, and had a great time with our cell phones (okay, mine doesn't ring all that often. Klayton's, on the other hand...) off!

Here's a pic of K and Av at the Church History Museum across from the SLC Temple. If you haven't been (this was K's first time. I was shocked! This was my fav as a kid.), go! They are in a bunk like those on the ships the early English Saints used to come to America.

If you have been to the museum, but not since having kids, GO! They have a new exhibit just for kiddies on the top floor. Avery didn't want to leave... ever. Here she is building a temple out of blocks, playing bean bag toss with the three degrees of heaven, and holding the iron rod heading toward the Tree of Life. They also had a huge Nativity where you could dress up and get in on the action, a quilting table, lots of things to color, and a few puzzles, all with Gospel themes. Super cute. And free!!! You can't beat that.
Aver was excited for our trip because we don't her there would be swimming involved. The kid is a fish.

Wednesday we headed into SLC to take a train ride! There is a big double-decker train that rides between SLC and Ogden about every half hour, and, since Avery is a toddler and is, therefore, obsessed with anything with wheels, we decided to take her on a train ride! She loved it (though she was a bit disappointed that it didn't go Choo Choo). In Ogden there is also a big train museum that Avery and K went through while mommy took a little nap on a bench in the foyer of the museum like a bum. haha Here she is getting ready for the train to go, reading the train schedule, and posing in the museum (she thinks that when you say CHEESE for a picture that to successfully smile you have to squinch your face up like that. It's really hard to get a decent picture of her lately. haha).

I wish I had taken more pictures, but it was a great time! Wednesday night we went down to Provo and had dinner with Carson and Shellena, then went to a nickle arcade with them, Brookie, Aaron and Addison. PS Nickle arcade = soooo fun. Now we get to concentrate on willing Spring to get here faster, filling lots of vacancies (K's Property Management business is BOOMING and we are struggling to keep up [this is a good thing... I think :)]), Spring cleaning, more baby prep, and lots of naps. Bring it on, March!

success

Pastry class was a total success! We did pate brisee (we made a broccoli mushroom quiche [not pictured- we ate it all in class]) and pate sucree and pastry cream (both used to make this amazing fruit tart). Y-U-M. Hopefully this Fall I'll graduate to the cream puff and eclair (pat a choux) class. I can't wait!

(yes that is a layer of chocolate in there...)

that's gross

Happy Friday! This made me giggle so I thought I'd share. Life here is good! I need to post pics from our little Babymoon this week. We had tons of fun. And, speaking of fun, I am going to a pastry class at Rush's Kitchen tomorrow and I can't wait! K enrolled me in the class for Christmas and I can't believe it's here already! Where has February gone? But I'll be sure to share my fabulous pastry tips as well... if I ever dare try them at home, that is. Otherwise I'm just prepping my lesson for this week (Abraham and Issac) and planning what to do with our tax return (major food storage shopping spree) and keeping busy with lots of doctor visits (blegh). Wanna play baseball?

WAHOO!!!

One down, ten million to go on my To Do Before Baby #2 Comes list!! Avery is sleeping in her very own big girl bed (with the 20 stuffed animals [oh, there are more under the covers. lots more.], four blankies, and drink of water that she always sleeps with. She is one quirky girl). In the corner is her brand new (to us) dresser that my parents brought us this weekend. It's covered in stickers (for now) but it's huge and is going to work great with two kids junk in it!! Baby prep is going great!! Now if only I could convince Avery that diapers suck and the potty rules!! No luck so far, but I'm keeping hope alive!

life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans

I love making plans!! It's so fun. Seriously, the only thing that could possibly be more fun than planning something fun is to do that fun something!! Wow, that was a hall of fame sentence, there. Anyway, lately I have been scheming more than usual. I think I have upped the ante on making plans due to this equation:

winter blues + pregnancy hormones + Klayton working 80 hours a week = planningplanningplanningplanning

Here are some of the best laid plans of mice, men and me:

• Planning a two-day trip on K's days off to SLC [as far away as I dare go with my preg ban on travelling (Sorry Portland!!! You are the love of my life and my first choice, but you're too darn far away!!)] to stay in a hotel, swim with Avery, visit friends, and eat breakfast at Paradise Bakery [oatmeal with strawberries and banana!], lunch at Rumbi [brown rice spicy Hawaiian teriyaki with shrimp and extra veggies!], and dinner at... somewhere. I'm open to suggestions here. We're going down in a couple of weeks! Happy late Valentines Day to me!
• Planning a move. I love Idaho but I don't love being cooped up indoors 4 months out of the year. Not cool. I don't know if we're gutsy enough (what would my mother say?), but while it's snowy and miserable (I really shouldn't complain. It's been quite a mild winter.) I am constantly making plans for our move. To the South. I've been chatting with my beautiful friend Meagan about North Carolina and it sounds ah-maz-ing. No, I've never been there, but that only makes it more exciting! We also want to check out Charleston and Savannah and... wherever! I'm not picky. When will we move? Yeah, that's the problem. Probably not for another year or two, but until then I get to keep making plans!! And that includes planning a trip to visit those places to see if we can picture ourselves as Southerners (this step is mostly for Klayton. I am totally destined to be a Southern woman [I am definitely cut out for wearing an apron 24/7, fattening up Grandchildren, and sitting on my porch]).
• Planning on baby #2! Picking a name (no luck yet). Arranging the furniture. Getting out Avery's old clothes. Wondering why on earth I saved so much junk. REarranging the furniture. Reading books to Avery about the joys of being the Big Sister. Putting the furniture back where I had it. Etc.
• Planning Avery's epic 3rd Birthday Party! I am decided on a Yo Gabba Gabba theme and I can't wait. She's going to flip. She has converted all of my siblings (the youngest of which is 18, mind you) to the show (I'm pretty sure my older brother, Adam, has bought the DVDs. He has no children.) and a lot of them are planning on coming up as well as my Grandmas (one from St. George, UT, one from Gilbert, AZ), my little cousin, Jessica, my parents... everyone. It's going to be a party (in my tummy! haha). The stressful part of planning this? The perinatologist says he'll most def be delivering me 2 to 4 weeks early!! That means that all of my planning could go out the door and I could be having baby girl #2 right around that weekend!! Gulp. Avery's 3rd Birthday: May 16th. Baby due date: June 20th. Double Gulp.
• Planning a special Valentines Date this weekend while Klayton is at work. Muahahaha! ...Okay, so it's nothing to evil laugh about, but I still can't wait! My mom just told me that she, my dad and Zach are coming up this weekend with more hand-me-down furniture for us and the baby's room (Yay! Thank you!! More to rearrange!!). So that, along with a movie date Saturday with my fam and my besties, the Chandlers, means that I'm planning on having one heck of a Valentines Day Weekend! Wahoo!
• Planning on getting out of credit card debt before the baby comes! And then getting into a heck of a lot more debt when the baby comes! But still, we have a plan. A good one. Until the hospital bill comes. haha

I have about 1,000 more plans that I'm cooking up for the present, the near-future and beyond! I realize that my obsessive planning is probably indicative of life being sort of grin-and-bear-it sometimes right now, but I'm really okay with that. Klayton and I have always been major planners/dreamers/schemers. I love looking to the future and finding ways to make the most of everything right now!

_________ is a warm gun

My friend Livi just did a giveaway where she asked everyone who entered what makes them happy. Like the big dork that I am, I didn't send her mine in time, but I've been thinking about it this morning and to me happiness is...

-Sitting in the stands at a Major League baseball game. Preferrably a Dodger game, but I'll take what I can get.

-Coming into the living room to dress Av in her PJs and finding this...

She made herself a bed in front of the heater to get warm after her shower. So cute.

-Cuddling on the couch with Klayton and a good movie/TV show/book (our latest TV addiction: White Collar on USA).

-Feeling the baby kick (and punch and pretty much have a dance party in my belly).

-Curling up with a good book that I can't put down. Then passing that book along to friends.

-The Beatles. Muse. Jay-Z [edited]. Prince. Foo Fighters.

-Riding my pink bike.

-Road trips with my family.

-The gospel.

-Making plans with Klayton for our future.

There are a thousand others I am sure, but these are a few of my favorite things. Thanks for brightening my outlook today, Livi!

composing hallelujah

Can't stop thinking about our 5th Sunday lesson with the Bishop a few days ago. He made a sort of analogy about the choices we have in life, saying,
"You can either feel the pain of discipline, or suffer the pain of regret."
So cool. He made a lot of connections between these two kinds of pain and how we study and live the gospel, how we treat our bodies, etc. Am loving this idea as you can apply it in nearly every area of life. It doesn't sound very cheerful (actually sounds like it hurts) at first, but I think that you can even substitute pain for joy in the first half, because disciplining our lives can lead up to lots o' happiness. Think about it.