The Boy Who Cried Wolf...

We've had a bit of a rough start to the year. I mentioned in my first post that Jared had hives.... well he ended up in Urgent Care that Sunday afternoon and had to get a steroid shot and pills. Poor Guy. I would post a picture..yes we took some for posterity's sake.. but I don't think he would appreciate that very much. I'll just say this: His earlobes and lips and eyelids even had them. He was so swollen and miserable. Thankfully the medicine kicked in and he started to heal quickly. I'm happy to report that he's back to normal.

My uncle passed away almost two weeks ago. It was expected, but it was still sad. He was a really funny, awesome, great man who lived a good life. He was 67 and lived in Price, Utah his entire life. He was loved by that entire town. We got to visit him a few times in 2011 and I'm grateful he got to meet our kids.

Since we were going out to Utah for Murry's funeral, we decided to make a trip out of it and visit some friends and family for the weekend. We always feel bad that we can't see everyone we would like to see when we visit.... There is never enough time. We always enjoy visiting with everyone we get to see. Thanks for making time for us.

Unfortunately, Mikayla picked up a mean little bug on our trip. We got home Sunday night and Monday morning she was covered in throw-up. Tuesday night she was still throwing up, Wednesday was even worse. Because she was sick, I spent a lot of time holding and loving on her. I think it made Carson a tad jealous because he kept saying "Momma, Carson sick." He wanted me to hold and love on him too.. which I did whenever Mikayla was napping.

So, last night things started looking up. She kept down her dinner and slept good. Carson hadn't shown any signs of being sick. He's been playing like normal, went swimming last night and had a ball. Today, I thought we were on the up and up. So we ventured out to the mall. He played at the little play land there and ate a Happy Meal for lunch. He seemed completely normal and healthy. On the drive home he kept saying "Mamma, Carson sick." And since he's been saying that same phrase since Monday, I didn't think anything of it. But, just as we pulled into our neighborhood and drove past the park behind our house, he said it one more time and then threw up all over his new booster seat, his clothes and the car. Ugh. I'm so sick of cleaning up puke. Jared had class tonight, so I didn't have any help.

The boy who cried wolf... on the way to the mall. Doesn't look sick, right?

I hate having sick kids. It breaks my heart to see them suffering. Holding their little bodies while they throw up is seriously one of the saddest things. I can only imagine what it must feel like to have a child with more serious conditions. This has become one of my favorite quotes:(sorry I don't know who said it)

"While we try to teach our children all about life, our children teach us what life is all about."

So true. I think I've learned more about what life is all about and what love really is in the last three years than in my entire life before motherhood. I am blessed and I'm so grateful for the chance I've been given to love these little ones.

Mikayla in her "big girl" seat.... her first ride today.

Need I say more?

No, not really. But I will. This is Carson's cart. He is extremely protective of it and likes for it to always be nearby. If he's watching a movie, it's next to him watching a movie. If he's in the kitchen eating, it's there with him. He pushes it around the house and unloads and reloads it frequently. If Mikayla even looks at the cart like she might want to touch it, or take one if his prized possessions.... he gets really upset and I have to jump in as referee. It's pretty ridiculous. I hope it's a phase. Please let it be a phase.

Who Cares if a Cookie's Pretty if it Doesn't Taste Good?

I love cooking and I especially love baking. I enjoy finding new recipes,ones that are tried and true. And usually, when I find a recipe that I like for something I stop looking. For example, my sugar cookie recipe. I love it and I've been using it for years with consistent results and happy, satisfied recipients. I have a reputation in my neighborhood for making cookies and all the kids know it. But, even though my cookies are tasty, they aren't always pretty. I also wish they would hold the shape of the cutter better and not spread so much. I like the way Royal Icing Looks.

I recently fell in love with this blog. SugarBelle makes the most amazing cookies I've ever seen and I want mine to look like hers.

However, I'd never made royal icing before. Her recipe looked easy enough and I wanted to try it. She swears by her sugar cookie recipe.... that they're soft and sturdy. The recipe is also appealing because the dough doesn't need to be chilled. So, as apprehensive as I was... I spent 4 hours after church today attempting to make her cookies. I know, they're hearts and Valentine's Day is still more than a month off, but I thought they'd be the easiest to decorate.

The dough looked just like hers and I created the perfect icing for what I wanted to achieve... I was pretty pleased with how they turned out.. Until I tasted them. The cookies kept their shape better than mine and the frosted results turned out beautiful... but they tasted BLAH!!! It's official now that I definitely dislike Royal Icing, even if it is pretty. The cookies were crumbly and tasteless and a bit hard. (Maybe the high altitude here affected the baking... but either way, they tasted bad.)

So, at least now I know. I am completely capable of creating pretty cookies and I could whip up some royal icing of any desired consistency on request, but I think I will stick to my not-so-pretty... DELICIOUS recipe that I never should have cheated on. If you feel so inclined to try it out... here you go:

My Favorite Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:

3 ½ cups Flour

1 ½ cups Sugar

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

2 sticks butter, softened but not melted (1 cup)

3 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 tbl milk

In a large bowl, mix all dry ingredients. Add softened butter. Use pastry cutter or knife to chop butter into dry ingredients until it looks like corn meal.

In separate bowl, lightly beat eggs and stir in vanilla and milk.

In dry ingredient mixture, make a well in the middle and pour in egg mixture. Mix with hand or wooden spoon until dry ingredients are coated. Use hand to mix in any leftover dry ingredients and form into ball. Don’t over mix. Cover ball with plastic wrap and place in fridge for a few hours or overnight (if you don’t have a lot of time, put the dough in the freezer).

Pull chilled dough out and lightly knead until it is soft enough to roll. Roll dough to about ¼ inch on floured surface and press with cookie cutters. Bake at 375 for 9-11 minutes or until edges become slightly golden.

Frosting

1/3 cup butter, softened but not melted

4 cups powdered sugar (about half of a 2 pound bag)

¼ cup milk (or more)

½ tsp vanilla

½ tsp almond extract

pinch of salt

In mixing bowl, beat butter slowly with powdered sugar. Add milk and continue to beat. Add vanilla, almond extract, and salt. If needed, add more milk to make frosting spreading consistency. Color with food coloring if desired.

And Now... for some cute pictures of my favorite little gems:

New Year, New Us

As I am writing this post, my poor husband is upstairs in bed covered completely in hives. I gave him the maximum amount of Benadryl and rubbed him down with anti-itch cream in hopes that he can recover quickly. He has tomorrow off and I want to go do something fun with our little family. We decided not to go to church today since Carson was up most of the night with a beastly cold. Mikayla is napping.... she is such a little angel.

We had a fantastic Christmas without company and without travel. It was splendid. After our Thanksgiving, we deserved it. We had nine of my in-laws here for the holiday and they all stayed with us, our house isn't that big. It would have worked out OK except that half of our guests and both of my babies got a 24-hour flu bug and spent most of the weekend (collectively) throwing up. At one point I had been double teamed by each of my children, there was vomit on the walls, in the bed and all over the floor. This is after we had spent the majority of the same afternoon cleaning Carson's carseat. Ugh. It was miserable, but I'm so thankful neither Jared or I got it. And actually, all in all, I think everyone had a good time.




So our Christmas was quiet. We took the kids sledding at the hill behind our house next to the school. I didn't make a big meal. We had tomato basil soup and grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner on Christmas Eve. After building a gingerbread house with Carson, we had the kids open their new pjs and read The Night Before Christmas and Luke 2. We put the babies to bed and decided we would open our gifts together so we could enjoy watching the kids Christmas morning.



We had decided not to do presents for each other this year, or so I thought. But we had a few gifts from our parents and the kids to open. However, as Jared always does.. he had a BIG surprise up his sleeve. He handed me one last box and said it was from him. I opened it and found our computer... odd. So I opened the computer and he had made me a video with music and subtitles and pictures of our family and things that had happened over 2011. I was so touched and cried the entire time. Then as I was reading "I want to make all your dreams come true... that's why... on April 14, 2012.... we will be boarding a flight to Fiji.... " I about passed out! I've wanted to return to Fiji since I got home from my mission there in 2005. And every now and then I get an itch to start looking for flights, which is what I had had been doing that very afternoon. Tickets to Fiji run about 2K and it seemed impossible to actually entertain the idea of returning for too long. So I really couldn't believe it when he said the trip was all booked and there was no backing out. He had even arranged with my parents to come watch the kids while we travel. He did get a steal on the trip... an entire week long of accommodations plus airfare for less than we could have purchased two plane tickets at the price I already mentioned.



Christmas morning was fun because Carson is finally old enough to sort of get what's going on. He loved his train table and all of the Candy. Mikayla didn't have a clue what was going on but she had fun anyway. We feel so blessed and so grateful to have such sweet kids. They make our world so exciting and challenging. I'm going to miss Carson saying "Mamma, mamma... Christmas trees, Christmas lights!!!" As we drive through our neighborhood.

2012 is going to be a great year. We are excited to see what the future holds and what adventures await us.