Dirty Mouth

Clara must have a dirty mouth, because she routinely eats the bar of soap when she is in the bathtub. She doesn't even make a funny face about the taste. She just takes it out of her mouth, looks at it, and puts it back in until I hide it from her. I guess she thinks everything is food!

Grilling

I love grilling! We grilled hot dogs(the only way I will eat them), corn, zucchini and made smores for dessert. Now I call that a satisfying dinner!

Too Many Cooks

I just finished reading a book called "Too Many Cooks" by Emily Franklin. It is a non fiction book in which the author tells about a year in her family's life trying new foods. She and her husband have 4 children, and although I thought their eating habbits were already far from the norm, she wanted to focus on expanding the horizons of her children's palates. This was a very fun book for me. Each chapter had a story about something that happened in their family involving food and at the end of each chapter there were a few recipes for foods they ate in that chapter. Some recipes I have no desire to try and others I found myself looking for the nearest pen and paper to write it down to try later!

One of the best parts of this book was how well I felt I got to know her family. Although I have no idea what her kids look like in real life, I could picture them in my head saying the things they said in the book. And in my head I just kept thinking how I hope my kids (well kid right now) will eat and try as many things as hers do!

Another great thing about this book is it made me excited to try some new foods that I have never cooked with before, and it gave me a recipe in which to try it out on. The author sounds like someone I would love to cook with and could learn so much from. And she was able to make some ingredients that I have been hesitant to try seem much less intimidating. Also, her style of cooking is very laid back. In the introduction she says she would probably be sent to baker's prison because she doesn't sift all the dry ingredients together before adding them to the wet, which I thought was funny because I am the same way. And her measurements are all approximate which I love too.

I guess if you like to cook and try new foods, this is the book for you! She tells a great story through the eyes of your appetite and it is so relatable (mostly, the trips to Italy and London, not so much!) Anyways, fun book!


NOTE FROM JORDAN: This the 100th Post on our blog! Because Crystal has posted it, she wins a prize. I think it will be a banana split.
In these 100 posts, we have bought and sold cars and homes, had a child, moved across the country, visited Disneyland, Mexico, Peru, Graceland and Amish country, eaten lots of yummythings, drawn a picture of a cat and surprised the family for Christmas.
Here's to our next 100 posts! Thank you for following along with our adventures.

Crystal's New Favorite Commercial

Crystal has been quoting this robot for the past several days.
The commercial is funny, but Crystal's impression of it is hilarious!

I Want Chicken & Chi-Chi's - For more funny videos, click here

Flashback

Now that I am done with my first year of law school, I get to participate in the fun-fun experience of writing a long research article as a try-out for one of the school's five law journals.

As I have been writing my Statements of Interest for each of the journals, I have talked about my time as a writer and editor (which has got to help me somehow in my application to be a writer/editor, right?) While figuring out what to say, I was reminded of a funny piece I wrote for The Daily Universe at BYU. It is about camping out for the annual BYU Lost and Found sale, in which they fill up the ballroom in the student center with all of the unclaimed items which have been lying around all year. There is a lot of cool stuff there, including electronics, clothes, athletic equipment, etc.

Here is the article. I hope you enjoy it.

Also, here is a piece of follow-up information: Crystal wore that jacket this week, so I guess it was a successful outing.

Pretty Cake!!!

I did something today that I I have NEVER done before- I made a pretty cake! I am good at making food (especially desserts!) taste good, but I seriously lack the artistic gene that makes food pretty! I decided to try really hard though! Feast your eyes on this! Doesn't it just make you want a piece?

Twenty-Eight Is Great!!

Today is my wonderful husband's birthday. Most of his presents came early this year (the shed, lawn mower, a new flat screen tv, etc) so I felt bad that I didn't really have anything to give him today, except for a yummy dinner at his request. Then I thought, wait! I can tell him, and everyone else how much I love him and appreciate him. Jordan works so hard in law school, but he also works so hard to make sure he spends enough time with me and Clara and to help me out around the house and give me a break from the world of being a mom. I love his sense of humor. I love that he always tries to make me smile and laugh. I love that he can tell when I am upset or sad and that he can always make it better. I love that he puts up with all my quirkiness (and that he doesn't think it is anything to put up with!) I love that he is such a good father. I love how patient he is with me. I love that he does projects for and with me that I know he doesn't really want to do, but that I want them done (the garden, the fence). I love how he always thinks of thoughtful things to do for me. And really, I just love HIM!! Thank you for being my husband, Jordan. I love you so much! Happy 28th Birthday!

Project, Projects, and more Projects!

It feels like our house is a constant project, but in a good way! I just finished painting our kitchen, and it looks so good! Jordan got a lawn mower for an early birthday present (all of his presents were early this year! His birthday isn't until next week!), so today he mowed the lawn. Jordan's mom, his brother Joseph and his wife Maren and his other brother Michael were here this week and we got and built a shed for our backyard(Thanks Joseph and Michael!). Plus we finally put together the rocking chairs for our front porch that we got for Christmas. Add all that to our garden, fence and the painting we have already done and it seems like our house is constantly changing! Here are some pictures of those changes, along with some of Clara, just because she is cute!
Here is the shed being built. Goodbye bikes in the kitchen!

Here is our new lawn mower and by ours I really mean Jordan's because I am pretty sure he will be the one who uses it the most!Here is how bad our lawn looked before this handy mower. I am pretty sure we could have lost Clara in it!
And After!
And here are our new rocking chairs. If you come visit, we will let you sit in them!
And finally here is the new color for our kitchen. The walls are still all taped. I wanted to give the paint time to dry before I took it off, so that will happen Monday, then hopefully our house will get put back together and I can post a real picture of the kitchen!
And finally, here are a couple of pictures of Clara in her first experience of playing in the mud. She LOVED it! (and loved to eat it!)