Happy Valentine's Day

Me and Jared on our first Valentine's Day together four years ago!

My Valentine is currently on a plane on his way back home to us. I have missed him like crazy these 4 days he's been gone. He won't even see this post until after I pick him up from the airport but I wanted to post it anyway to say Happy Valentine's to my amazing husband. I love him more and more. Four years seems both too short and so long at the same time. Here's to many, many more silly Valentine's Days to come!

salt lake city temple through the 50mm

I took the babes down to temple square yesterday to enjoy the amazing weather we've had this weekend. I wanted to keep my camera light so I kept the 50mm lens on it. This lens is amazing for portraits but not the best for landscapes/architecture. It was fun to shoot the temple though in this limited way. Forced me to be creative and shoot from angles I wouldn't normally. I'm pleased with the results.

Which one do you like best? I think my favorite is the first.

asher at 2 1/2

My beautiful boy is now 2 1/2 (as of a few weeks ago). I'd been wanting to sit down with him and get some good portraits but it just wasn't happening. Then I caught these images the same morning I took the ones of Miriam below. He was being so sweet about smiling for the camera. And doing a real smile on demand doesn't happen often with kids this age! I just adore him. I think he looks so grown up in this first photo. I can see how he's more and more boy and less and less baby, even if he does still like to say he's my baby.

I'm amazed by how much Ash has changed in the last 6 months. He is talking SO SO SO much. It took him awhile to catch on to English but man now he can say anything and everything. The only unfortunate thing is he still uses Fs for Ts and Ds at the beginning of words. And trucks are his favorite thing ever so we hear a lot of what sounds like a certain swear word. :-)

Asher can be oh so sweet. He's really into asking for hugs when he doesn't want to go to bed. He is such a mama's boy and SUCH a charmer! He's still nursing although we have set more rules and he only nurses morning, before and after nap, and before bed. Hoping to reduce this more in the next couple months. He sure loves "nurse milk". He gets this sweet little smile on his face and says "Nurse, please?"

He is actually quite polite with his pleases and thank yous. When I say "You're welcome" he says back "welcome" in the adorable little sing song way.

The other favorite thing he says is if you ask him a question to which the answer is yes, he will often say "Yeah-ah, I di-id." It is hard to type it how he says it but it is SO cute.

Of course he can throw a tantrum with the best of them. And he's prone to violence at times. He also has a thing for turning everything into a gun with accompanying sound effects. He is such a boy! And yet he loves to cuddle and take care of baby dolls too.

He is really into labeling adults either a Mommy or Daddy or a Man or a Lady. Usually he insists they are Mommys and Daddys even if they aren't. He also usually refers to himself as "You" which we find hilarious. He knows his name is Asher and has recently started using that more but if you point to a picture of him and ask who it is, he'll say "You" and pat his chest. Although I haven't noticed the past few days he's started using "me" as well. It's so fun watching him learn and figure things out.

He also loves to cuddle with me and say, "This MY mama!" And he says "I yuh you, Mama" which just melts my heart. 

One more adorable thing is he never says the word kiss, he just does the kissy noise... as in "I *kiss kiss* Mimi?" and then he kisses her.

Asher is a wonderful little guy to have around. He is so entertaining and delightful. I love being his mother and I love having him as my little friend.

the other morning

Miriam was playing on my bed with Asher's dump truck and the light was pretty and so I snapped a few photos. She's so good at sitting now. I love that I can leave her playing by herself now. She often sits next to me on the couch while I work on the laptop or she'll sit at my feet on the rug. She wants to be able to move around but hasn't figured that out yet. It doesn't help that she abhors being on her tummy still for longer than two minutes. Not sure how she'll figure out how to crawl if she won't hang out on her tummy, but I suppose she'll manage.

ps... I've been playing around with my blog design the past few days. I think I've settled on this for now. maybe. :-)

fractured

Monday morning we got a call from Olivia's school that there had been an accident. Olivia had slammed her fingers in the heavy metal gym doors. She was bleeding and upset and obviously in a lot of pain. Her mom was able to pick her up and take to the ER where Jared met them so her mom could go to work. Jared and Olivia spent the next 3 or 4 hours in the hospital. After x-rays, shots, an IV, being knocked out so her nail beds could be repaired, and finally splinted, this is what Olivia's hand looked like upon arriving home.

She has three broken fingers but they should all heal up nicely. So should her nail beds. She is a lucky girl that she has all her fingers. It could have been so much worse. She's been in pain and unfortunately the injured hand is her dominant one, but all in all she's handling it very well. And apparently her classmates have been wonderful about volunteering to help her. Here's to a speedy recovery, Liv!

birthday flowers

My flowers have died but these photos never will. ;-)

my birthday 2011

I had one of the best birthdays I've had in years I think. Jared went all out and really made it a special day. The morning was spent relaxing and such. Because we had had company the night before we did all our cleaning on Friday so we all got to just hang out on Saturday. Jared ran some errands and came home with this beautiful bouquet for me AND a gift card for a 90 minute massage! Oh, how I am excited for that one!

We had already discussed the fact that I wanted Indian food for my birthday dinner and a Costco chocolate cake for my birthday cake. The cake was purchased the night before and I was under the impression that Jared was cooking me dinner. At about 4:30 or so I was about to get in the bath when Jared's mom and step-dad show up. I thought they just happened to be in Salt Lake (they live in Provo) and so stopped by to say hi when Jared informed me that we were going out to dinner. I thought he meant we were all going out but then he said "And they are here to babysit!" 

I was SO surprised! I was not expecting that at all. Jared even insisted that we leave Miriam. I was reluctant at first because Miriam does not like being left, but since we were only going to dinner and my mother-in-law insisted they'd be fine with her, I relented. And I'm SO glad I did. It was WONDERFUL to eat dinner without any babies. We went to Bombay House and had a wonderful date. Here are pics of us before we left.

I didn't bring my camera to the restaurant so no pics of that but when we got home we had the cake. I had never had one of Costco's chocolate cakes but had always wanted one. They are delicious and so rich! Note the chocolate shavings on the sides--best part.

It was a seriously great day. Jared's stepdad even cleaned my stove! That was a job that really needed to be done. Such a great present! I should have taken a picture of my in-laws. Oops.

On Sunday my brothers (and my brother's girlfriend) came over for dinner and we had more cake!

And then on Monday my other big present came-- Jared ordered a new memory foam mattress pad for our bed. The one we've had for the past 4 years had just worn down a lot and was no longer as supportive. The new one is fantastic! Our bed is heavenly. I love memory foam. Oh and he also bought me Carol Lynn Pearson's The Flight and the Nest.  Such a great book.

And to round out the birthday celebrations, my sister Lauren sent me Sally Mann's Immediate Family. I love Sally Mann. Her photography is so amazing, brave, and beautiful.

We've already been enjoying my gift from my parents--our gorgeous rug!

It was so fun to be surprised on my birthday and to feel so much love from my family. Thank you to everyone who helped make it such a special day/weekend!

valentine's cookies!

A friend of ours sent us a special treat this weekend--a box full of gorgeous Valentine's Day cookies. They are some of the prettiest cookies I've ever seen. And they tasted good too! Thanks, John! Rumor has it you may be able to order some of these for yourself if you want... see here.

Asher liked the lady bug cookie best.

per request: roasted root veggies and quinoa

This is a super easy and delicious way to eat quinoa (a major super food) and to try veggies you may not normally eat. My mom gave me the idea for this dish. It is very simple and really lets the veggies shine.

First a little about quinoa: it is not a typical grain although it can be used as a substitute for any dish that calls for rice or couscous. Quinoa is a seed and also a complete protein. It has a neutral and fresh, slightly green flavor. It cooks very quickly and has a wonderful texture.

Now for the veggies... you can use any veggies you want in this. On this particular day I just got whatever struck my fancy at the market, concentrating on root vegetables. We used carrots, parsnips, sweet potato, red potato, red beets, golden beets, onion, and eggplant.

Chop all the vegetables and put in casserole dish. Drizzle with olive oil and season as you like. We seasoned with salt, pepper, and rosemary. Cover with tinfoil and roast in the oven until all veggies are cooked. I think I had it on 375.

Mix roasted veggies with cooked quinoa and a little more olive oil, raw minced garlic, and fresh chopped parsley. You can warm it all on the skillet if needed. The above picture is actually of us rewarming the leftovers the next day.

So simple, so tasty, and SO healthy! Enjoy!

cast iron lovin'

For Christmas this year we decided we really wanted to get some cast iron skillets. Our big non stick skillet that we purchased last fall for 15 bucks at Costco was starting to die. I feared whatever strange chemicals had been leaking into our food because of it. I knew a well seasoned cast iron skillet is beautifully non-stick and healthy. Cast iron cookware even ups the iron content of your food! Oh, and if you take are of them they last forever! What is not to love?

So I hopped on over to my favorite online boutique--Amazon--and found this lovely little beauty for under $15. And this one which is huge and just what we needed to cook our giant meals. We wanted both a big one and a little one. We decided to get the little one to try out first and make sure we really liked it.

We fell in love! Oh my gosh, I did not know that food would actually taste better cooked on cast iron! And although it takes a little getting used to after growing up with non-stick Calphalon type stuff, they really are very easy to use and clean. I found this great little article with info about taking care of cast iron. Go get one yourself--I think you'll love it!

Roasted root veggies and quinoa in our giant skillet. Yum!