Happy Birthday John

My brother John's birthday is the 29th of June. John's always complained that his birthday got screwed up every year. Something always interferred with celebrating, so I hope you have a wonderful birthday today. Wish we could be with you!

J-okester

O-regon lover

H-onestly, you are my best friend, you have always been my best friend

N-umber 1 BYU fan

The Birthday Girls...

J-ohncelyn (John's twin)

O-nly child syndrome

C-hanging all the time (she is growing up fast)

E-legant Ballerina

L-oves to watch T.V.  

Y-oung, beautiful, and talented

N-icest aunt

C-rooked Fingers, man hater, lazy eye, & TV turner offer

H-ilarious

A-mazing

R-ighteous

This is the beginning of many consecutive birthdays celebrations in our family. It all starts with the birthday girls that share the 28th of June. My Grandma and my sister Jocelyn share the same day. We have always loved celebrating this day together.  Happy Birthday you two.  I hope you both have a wonderful day.  Can't wait to celebrate tonight!

BLT Pasta Salad

This is a variation of my friend Christine's awesome pasta salad. This is great to serve for dinner with a piece of crusty french bread.

BLT Pasta Salad

1 package bow tie pasta
16 oz. package thick cut bacon, cooked, and crumbled
4 vine-ripe tomatoes, halved and sliced
3 handfuls spinach (optional)
13 oz. can white chicken shredded with fork (optional)
½ cup mayonnaise
2 Tbs. cider vinegar
1 tsp. Sugar
½ tsp. Salt
¼ tsp. Black pepper

Cook pasta according to package directions. Rinse under cold water, drain, and transfer to large bowl. Pour about 1 tsp. Extra Virgin Olive Oil on pasta to keep from sticking together. Add bacon, tomatoes, spinach, and chicken. Put in fridge. In small bowl, whisk together mayo, vinegar, sugar, salt, and pepper. I usually double the dressing. When ready to eat, toss mayo mixture with pasta and serve immediately.

Water Punch

This is my new all time favorite drink.  It has such a light flavor, but tastes so yummy.  This drink looks great in any type of glass see through jar.  I got my jar at Sam's Club this year.  It was one of their seasonal jars.  I also love the jars from Pottery Barn.  They are pretty pricey, but I bet they will go on sale after the summer.   I got the recipe from my friend Hilary who got it from my friend Jana.  Thanks for passing on this awesome recipe.  It is especially great for a BBQ, any party or celebration, baby shower, or bridal shower.  

Water Punch

3 limes
3 oranges
3 lemons
sliced

5 quarts water
3 cups sugar
1 TBSP lemon extract
1 TBSP citric acid (this is a powder substance available in the pharmacy section of Walmart or Albertsons)
1 bag ice

Raspberry Cream Cupcakes

These cupcakes were so yummy and looked cute too.  I tried them at my friend Hilary's house.  

1 (18.25-ounce) box white cake mix

(recommended: Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe)
1 1/3 cups water
3 large egg whites
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 teaspoons almond extract
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 (6-ounce) containers fresh raspberries, cut in half
OR 1 (16-ounce) container fresh strawberries, coarsely chopped
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/3 cup powdered sugar, plus additional for dusting

Line 18 muffin cups with muffin papers. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Using an electric mixer, beat the cake mix, water, egg whites, melted butter, almond extract, and vanilla extract in a large bowl for 2 minutes, or until the batter is well blended. Using about 1/3 cup of batter for each cupcake, spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups.

Bake the cupcakes until they are very pale golden on top, about 15 minutes. Cool the cupcakes completely on a cooling rack.

Using a fork, coarsely mash 1 1/2 containers of raspberries in a medium bowl. Beat the cream and 1/3 cup of powdered sugar in a large bowl until firm peaks form. Fold the mashed raspberries into the whipped cream.

Remove the muffin papers from the cupcakes and cut the tops off of each cupcake. Spoon the raspberry whipped cream atop the cupcake bottoms. Place the cupcake tops on the cupcakes. Dust with more powdered sugar and serve with remaining berries.

Recipe courtesy Giada De Laurentiis

Strawberry Cheesecake Trifle

This seriously is so so good. Try it before strawberries aren't in season anymore. You won't be disappointed!

STRAWBERRY CHEESECAKE TRIFLE

2 (8 oz.) pkgs. cream cheese
2 c. confectioners' sugar
1 c. dairy sour cream
1/4 tsp. powdered vanilla or 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. almond extract
1/2 pt. whipping cream
1/2 tsp. powdered vanilla or 1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tbsp. sugar
1 angel food cake, cut into bite size pieces
2 qts. fresh strawberries, thinly sliced
3 tbsp. sugar
3 tbsp. almond flavored liqueur or almond extract to taste

In a large bowl, cream together cream cheese and sugar; add
sour cream, vanilla and almond extract. Set aside. In a
small, deep bowl, whip the cream, vanilla and sugar. Fold
whipped cream into cream cheese mixture; set aside. Combine the strawberries, sugar and the
almond liqueur/extract.

Layer together in large glass bowl, starting with the cake pieces, followed by cream cheese mixture, and last the strawberries.   Continue layering;
finish with strawberries. Cover with plastic wrap; chill
well.

1st 5K

Before the race

Emily, Greg, Ali, Bradey

Ryan, Greg, and Bradey

Greg at the finish line

I made it

1 1/2 months ago, I started running for the 1st time in my life.  I have always hated to run.  Since then, I have run about 3 times a week.  I am not a very fast runner and I get side aches almost every time I run.  My goal was to run in a 5k race on the 4th of July, but I got talked into running on Saturday in a race.  I was really nervous because I had only ran the full 3 miles a few times and my time wasn't that great.  

This was such a great experience.  I loved every second of it.  My friend Ali and I ran together.  It made it so nice to have someone to run with.  We ran the same pace and is was great to have someone to push me along.  Thanks Ali.  I ended up running in 33 minutes, which was 5 1/2 minutes faster than I have ever done it before.  I was really happy with the results.  I hope to run on the 4th and knock a couple more minutes off of my time.  We will see.

Greg also decided to run at the last minute.  He had not been running, but I think he wanted to support me and many people told him he couldn't do it.  When Greg gets challenged, he doesn't back down.  Greg did so awesome.  He ran in 26 minutes and hadn't run more than 2 times before this.  

Our friends Ryan and Bradey also ran with us.  It made for such a fun day.  It is always great to have mutual support.

My Mom and sister also came up for the race.  Thanks Mom for all the support and being at the finish line for us. 

Till next time... 

7 Months Already?

Crew is 7 months old and I can't believe it.  This is such an incredibly fun age.  I love it.  Crew is very interactive, but not yet mobile.  It is perfect.  Here are a few milestones...

-Is just starting to sit up

-Is completely bottle fed as of one week ago

-Likes real people food better than baby food

-Loves to be outside

-Loves to be entertained by whoever will pay attention to him

-Has been sleeping really horrible due to being sick

Happy Father's Day...

Happy Father's Day Greg.  You are such an amazing Dad and the boys truly love every single second they get to spend with you.  You are the person they look up to in every way.  I love to see the way their eyes sparkle when they are spending time with you.  We all love you so much and can't imagine our life without you!  

Happy Father's Day Dad.  I love you so much and appreciate everything you have done for me and taught me in the past 28 years.  You are a true example to me.  There are many things you have taught me, but one of the attributes I love about you is your generous heart.  You give so much no matter the situation.  I appreciate you teaching me that.  I love you and hope you have a wonderful day.  I wish I could spend it with you.

Happy Father's Day to my father-in-law Ron.  This is a perfect picture of him because he truly finds joy in spending time with his grandchildren.  He is a great Dad, Grandpa, and Father-in-law.  Thanks for all you do for our family.  We love you!

Day #7 Baseball Game...

Day #7 was an exciting day for the boys.  We stayed at the house all day, then  we went and ate at PF Chang and went to the San Diego Padres Vs. New York Mets baseball game.  They were so excited to go to their first MLB game.  We were only a couple rows up from the third base line, so it was easy to see all the action.  The funniest part about the night is that they said the stadium is just about the same size as our pioneer league Chuckars stadium.  We all thought that was pretty funny.  I guess that shows that little boys are happy with just about anything. The highlight of the night was Cannon getting a foul ball.

Thanks Mom and Dad for the wonderful trip and thank you to all my family for going. Especially thank you to everybody who helped with Crew.  It really made it relaxing for Greg and me.  We love you all and can't wait until next time.   

Day #6 Relaxing at Home and Old Town...

Day #6 was spent relaxing at the house all day and then going to Old Town for dinner.  Old Town is such fun area of San Diego.  We ate dinner at a fun outdoor Mexican Restaurant where they had a 3 man singing band that sang during dinner.  It was so fun.  The singers sang Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer to the boys.  

Day #5 San Diego Zoo

Day #5

On Wednesday we braved the cool wind and sprinkling rain and went to the San Diego Zoo.  It was all worth it just to see the Panda exhibit.  Panda's can only be found in a couple zoos in the U.S. now.  The San Diego Zoo is very hilly, so we opted to ride on the double Decker bus around the zoo.   The boys were exhausted and the bus lulled them to sleep.  Therefore, they slept through most of the zoo.  I hope to get back when they are a little older and can walk through it.  Then we went to dinner at Outback and back home for some more swimming.

Day #4 San Diego Temple and Wild Animal Park...

Day #4 

We spent the morning at The San Diego Temple and did some sealings. Wow, what a beautiful temple. I loved seeing all the unique features of this building. It was nice to do sealings as a family and enjoy the spirit of the temple.  We went to Cheesecake Factory for lunch.  That is one of my favorite restaurants.  Then we went to Wild Animal Park. This was really great because they put the animals in huge open spaces to mimic the animals natural environment. Then they put us on a bus type vehicle and drove us around to look at all the animals. We all really enjoyed this park!

Day #3 Sea World

The boys loved the kids rides at Sea World

The boys were amazed how big this horse was they got to pet.

Day #3 was spent at Sea World.  My boys absolutely love Sea World.  They loved all the shows we went to, but there 3 favorites were Shamu, the dolphins, and Pet's Rule.  We spent the entire day at Sea World and then headed back to the house.  The boys were dying to go swimming.   So, we enjoyed Costco pizza for dinner and let the boys swim all night.  

Day #2 Traveling to San Diego

Day #2 was spent traveling to San Diego to the home my parents rented for all of us to stay in.  The house was great.  The inside was very clean, but needed to be updated.  But, the outside was paradise.  It had a basketball court, putting green, full size tennis court, swimming pool, hot tub, and a huge outdoor living patio.   It was great.  Thanks Mom and Dad for renting the house for us. After getting our luggage unloaded in the house we ran to Costco and ate at In and Out.  

Day #1 Travel Day to LA...

Where is the sun?

Are we there yet?

That is a lot of luggage.

The waiter at the restaurant loved the Jazz

Swimming the evening away

Day #1 Travel Day...

We traveled to Utah so we could fly out of the Salt Lake Airport for our vacation.  We flew into the LA airport and spent all day Saturday at my sister Megan's house.  We got settled and went and ate at an Italian restaurant at Venice Beach.  The restaurant had really great garlic bread balls and it was fun to sit outside and eat.  Then we went back to Megan's apartment to swim.