Tulip Festival

So, I'm really not the greatest blogger....I am trying to be better, but then I think "who really reads this but me anyway...?" I guess if nothing else it is good just to have a record for myself. Honestly this last month has been pretty crazy with it being my month for sharing time and preschool lessons, trying to keep my house decently clean, visiting family, and working on curtains for people. I am hoping that this month will be a little less frantic, but I doubt it since Shad has decided to start finishing our bathroom downstairs.

Anyway, I thought I would write a little about our fun trip down to the Tulip festival this last week with my family. I have LOADS of pictures, so I had to share at least a few of them.

My brother and his wife were moving from Spokane to Tuscan this week and stopped along the way to spend some time with us. They stayed the night at our house on Tuesday and then we had a fun day all together at the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point. After having a great afternoon there, we headed down to Salem for a farewell dinner at the Diamond Grill for Brandon and Megan. It was a long, but fun day. I'm sad that Brandon and Megan will be far away for a while, but glad that they will be living somewhere we can visit easily with lots of family already living there.

Side note: We saw President Uchtdorf from a distance while we were at the tulip festival. He was in the gift shop while we were buying our tickets. I wanted to take Haken to go over and meet him, but then I thought that he probably gets so annoyed with people bugging him everywhere he goes. I was excited because he is one of the only general authorities that Haken actually recognizes and he got to see him.

Gorgeous flowers. I wish my yard looked like this!

The boys at the beginning of the walk. We couldn't keep up!

They were obsessed with their maps and figuring out where we were. This is Taylor explaining it very seriously to Haken. (I love this picture....describes them perfectly)

Grandma explaining the map to Haken

Taylor showing me the "fishy food"

The tons of FISH that we fed!

Stopping to smell the tulips

Playing hide and go seek with Megan and Taylor

The only picture I got of Jack...he was asleep most of the time in the stroller. Thank heavens!

I think this is Shad's favorite picture. It looks like Haken is taking a leak...

Isn't this the cutest picture? We will seriously miss B and Megan. They are the bestest Aunt and Uncle. They are the only ones with enough energy for our boys!

All of the kids huddled around a little phone, playing games while we waited for our food at the restaurant. Who needs crayons...when you have a phone to play on!

Next time they see Jack he will probably be cruising around, so I had to take a picture so we could remember how small he really was when they left.

4 Month old miracle

Today Jack is 4 months old. I am amazed that a year ago we found out that we were pregnant with him. Time has gone by so fast. Just a year ago I decided to reevaluate my life and find out really who I was besides "a mommy." After 2 miscarriages and not getting pregnant after years of trying I realized that I couldn't let my life revolve around expanding my family, but instead I should focus on what I had in my life right now, who I wanted to become, and expanding my talents. This led to a few new things in my life such as experimental food night (which has helped me to broaden my horizons for food), date night (which, admittedly, we have not been that great at lately), and my little side business of home decorating for myself and other people. If you would have told me a year ago that I would have a 4 month old, I don't think I would have believed you. Just when I felt content in my life and had lots of extra things to do, I got pregnant with Jack. Isn't that always the way things go? When I told the Lord that I was a little bored with my life, I think he really listened by giving me more than enough to do. Hopefully, in my time waiting for Jack I learned some important things that helped me to become a better person, woman, mother, and wife.

Anyway....this post was supposed to be about Jack being 4 months old. But, I couldn't help thinking about what I was feeling just a year ago. Here are some things about Jack at 4 months old that I want to remember:

- He loves to laugh. Is especially ticklish around his neck.

- He is a genuinely happy baby

- Loves it when he is staring at you and you catch him.

- Has beautiful "smiley eyes"

- Loves baths

- Blows lots of bubbles with his mouth

- Is becoming quite the droll monster

- Can't keep his hands out of his mouth

- Starting to hold on to toys for a few minutes

- Still not a great napper, but getting over the 45 minute wake up (hopefully)

- Rolled over 3 weeks ago from tummy to back. (still working on the other way)

- Starting to prefer his thumb a bit

- I can't help but make a mowhawk every time I do his hair. It has become his trademark for me (or maybe it is because I love having a baby whose hair I can style)

- Can almost stick his whole fist in his mouth (we Anderson's have big mouths)

- He has eyelashes that any girl would die for

- Has the most pretty face a little baby boy can have, even if I am biased.

- Has been the most wonderful addition to the family

Love you baby Jack Jack!

Starting to like the "bumbo" a bit. Now that he wants to sit up more.

Trying to get Jack to roll over. I guess he got a little stage fright in front of the camera. We got some nice drool action though.

Achieving Sanity

Since becoming a mom and talking to other moms since then, I have realized that every mom (especially those living in Utah during the winter) has to have something, or lots of "somethings", that she does on a daily basis in order to achieve sanity. Lately I have been thinking about what those "somethings" are for me.
Here are a few of the things that I do daily to achieve sanity :

1. Working Out



I find it funny that one of the things that helps me to keep sane lately is called "insanity." About the same time that we started doing our family pizza night I started working out with my friends Jolynn and Shauna doing a workout called "Insanity". They were so nice (or not so nice, considering the hard workout) to invite me to work out with them in the mornings while our kids play. Not only did it come at a good time given the extra calories I was consuming due to pizza night, but it also has given me a time to interact with other adults during the day and given Haken a chance to play with friends on a daily basis. We don't follow the workout "to a T" and I admit that sickness and laziness has made me a bit of a slacker, but it is nice to know that someone will notice, besides me, if I don't work out. Although it is a super good workout, it will be refreshing to replace it with a classic jog around the neighborhood with my friends on occasion once the weather warms up.

2. Naptime

Jack being sick on and off since he was born has really thrown my milk supply for a loop. A wise and experienced mother that I know gave me some advice that I have really appreciated: Eat oatmeal, drink root beer, and lay down for 30 minutes a day. Although some of these things may be mere 'wives tales,' I have found the laying down (aka: nap) to be my solace during the day. Not only does it boost my milk supply, but it has also helped me to earn a premium refund with our health insurance because I working on my goal of "resting my body." Some days I don't take a nap and I just end up laying there, other days 30 minutes is not nearly long enough, and then there are those days where my kids are not conducive to it at all. However, Haken is quickly learning that mommy needs her nap, even if he doesn't that day. Nap time (or "quiet time" as it some times becomes instead) has become a sacred time of the day for me.

3. Social Networking



So it's probably no secret that I was a "social networking virgin" before the first of this year. Since we didn't have a computer at home with Internet access, it just wasn't something that I did everyday. Now I see it as my window to the outside world at times when I am stuck at home with sick kids, need parental advice, or are just dying to have an adult conversation for two seconds. I used to make fun of those people who updated their Facebook status 10 times a day and let everyone know their every move, but as I have come to find out there is something about it that becomes therapeutic. Although I haven't found the need to update everyone on what I am doing every second, it is good to know that I have somewhere I can go to get away for a few seconds if I need to at any point during the day. Thank you technology.

The Philosopher

As everyone probably notices with their children, age three is a year full of questions. I swear Haken was always asking "why?" or "how come?" Honestly, after a while I started to get impatiently annoyed. Then, I would have to remind myself that he was just trying to figure out the world around him in this curious stage in his life. I say "was" because he is coming up on age 4 and I feel like he is starting to move out of this "questioning stage"...slowly... and answer his own questions. Lately he has started to tell me his theories on just about everything. Here are some of my favorite ones, that I can remember, although there are many, many more.

One fast Sunday we were talking about fasting. He said "I know why it's called fasting... because it makes Sunday go really fast" Then he said "Is there something called 'slowing'?" (Obviously he has never fasted before.)

We were riding in the car running errands in our sweet little town of Tremonton. He said "I know why it's called 'Tremonton'...because we have so many trees here!"

As we were walking on the sidewalk to the park: "Did you know that some people call cement concrete? They are really the same thing."

Then, the other night we were making "muddy buddies" for a treat after dinner and he said "mom, why are they called muddy buddies?" (Here is my theory on why) "because they stick to you like mud and become your buddy until you work them off." He thought that was a perfectly good explanation.

Seriously...what would we do without kids to keep us on our toes?! I would miss so much of the world around me. Thanks to my little philosopher, for opening up my eyes and helping me to think a bit deeper about everything!

Friday Night...Pizza Night

In my new favorite book, I got a few ideas of things that we could do together as a family. One tradition that they talked about in the book is to have Friday night be pizza night. I also found a great pizza recipe this month in the magazine that we get called "Family Fun" and wanted to try it out. I loved the pizza night idea because I really wanted something for Haken to look forward to during the week that was special to our family. I think that Shad and I really enjoy it too because it has given us a chance to cook and create together. Haken doesn't really like the "grown up" pizza's that we make, so we always make him a little pepperoni and olive pizza just for him.

WEEK #1: February 25th, 2011

The first week we did this was 3 weeks ago and we made the pizza from the "Family Fun" magazine: "BLT pizza" I always get this when we go to the California Pizza Kitchen so I thought we should try making it. Unfortunately, we were soooo hungry by the time we finished it that I forgot to get a picture. Here is the one from the magazine:

It really did look EXACTLY like this.

We also had purple jigglers as a treat for dessert. Haken's first time doing that. He had a blast!

Here is the recipe from the magazine for the pizza if anyone is interested, including the dough:

BLT pizza

Dough ingredients:

1/2 cup warm water

1 1/2 tsp. active dry yeast

1/2 tsp. sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

2 cups bread flour, plus more for dusting

1/4 cup olive oil, plus more for coating

Topping ingredients:

9 strips bacon

2 Tb. Dijon mustard

4 ounces Jarlsberg, shredded (Our cheese selection in town in lacking. We just used just a little mozz. cheese instead)

2 ounces Parmesan cheese

2 medium tomatoes, halved, seeded, and diced

1 Tb. mayonnaise (we used half spicy mayo that we had- I'd recommend it!)

1/2 Tb. lemon juice

1/2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

2 cups finely shredded romaine lettuce

Directions:

Pour the water into a medium bowl, stir in the yeast, sugar, and salt. Set the mixture aside until it's foamy, about 5 minutes. Add the flour and oil and stir until a dough begins to form. Gather the dough into a ball. On a clean dry work surface dusted with flour, knead the dough until it's smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. (or just put

it in your Kitchenaid and sit back and watch, like I did). If the dough gets sticky, add flour 1 Tb. at a time. Form the dough into a ball. Rub the inside of a large bowl with olive oil. Put the dough in the bowl and turn to coat it with the oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set in a warm place until the dough's bulk has doubled, about 1 1/2 hours. (to shorten raising time use the microwave as an incubator. Microwave 2 cups of water until boiling. Place the covered bowl of dough beside the water, shut the door, and let the dough rise.) Heat the oven to 450 degrees. Slice the bacon crosswise into 1/2 inch wide pieces, then fry it in a large skillet over medium heat until it's lightly browned but not crisp, about 6 minutes. Transfer the meat to a plate lined with paper towels. Lightly grease an 11 by 17 inch baking sheet with olive oil. Transfer th

e dough to the sheet. Use your fingertips and palms to dimple and press the dough into a 10-11 inch circle. Evenly spreading the mustard over the dough, leaving a 1/8 inch border. Scatter both cheeses, the tomatoes, and the bacon on top. Bake the pizza, rotating the pan halfway through, until the crust is lightly browned, the cheese has melted, and the bacon is crisp, about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, lemon juice, and Worcestershire sauce. Add the lettuce and toss to coat it. Transfer the pizza to a cutting board and let cool for 5 minutes. Top with the lettuce, mixture and cut the pizza into eight wedges.

WEEK #2: March 4, 2011

We liked the California Pizza Kitchen recipe knock off so much we decided to search for more like it on the internet. We found their pizza crust recipe here and here (the second one is much more detailed and includes a recipe for their whole wheat dough). It turned out amazing and was worth making the night before and sticking in the fridge. However, Shad still thinks he prefers the one from last week with the oodles of oil in it.

The pizza this week is not one of their recipes, but it SHOULD be because it is amazing! I got it off the internet here. It is called the "Ultimate California Mood Doggie Pizza." It has a pesto sauce underneath layers of grilled chicken breasts, marinated artichoke hearts, and sun dried tomatoes. Again, we couldn't find the cheese it called for (goat cheese) in our little town so we just opted for the classic mozz. cheese. Still amazing! We forgot to take a picture before we ate some, (we were starving again!) but here is what it looked like half eaten:

This is also our first experience using a pizza stone thanks to my friend Ashley who just GAVE us her brand new one, never been used!! We are a big fan of it, just had to figure out how to transfer the pizza without making a huge mess in the oven...Shad is very creative.

Haken's boring pepperoni and olive again....

WEEK #3

This week we decided that we needed to share the love a little bit and invited some friends. We invited the Hardy's from across the street (she's the one who gave us the pizza stone, so it was a great way to say thanks!) We made the pizza's and they brought the healthy salad and fruit. This time we made three pizzas: Pepperoni for the kids (and Ashley), our lovely Moon Doggie pizza from last week, and the BBQ chicken recipe from the California Pizza Kitchen. The BBQ chicken is again one of my favs from the pizza kitchen, so we had to try it. I got the recipe here and I have to say that it turned out EXACTLY as it tastes at the restaurant. We used our favorite bbq sauce, Famous Daves, of course. Here's a picture (yes, we waited this time before digging in). We didn't take pictures of the other pizza's because we had the same ones last week.

Haken sneaking a chocolate cookie with his friend Chloe. They have so much fun together playing "Prince and Princess." It's so cute!

So, there is our last three week of "Pizza night" in a nutshell! If you have any pizza suggestions let me know, we will run out of new ideas soon and could use them. Also, if you are up for sharing pizza night with us, we would love to have you!

New favorite book

So I'm not a real big book reader lately. Shad makes fun of me because I usually can't read anything but novels because anything else puts me to sleep. However, my mom gave me this book ("A mother's book of Secrets") when Jack was blessed at the beginning of February. It's only a 150 page book and about 50 of those are pictures, but it took me an entire month to read those 100 pages. I loved reading it, I just only got to do it when I was sitting down feeding Jack and didn't have Haken talking to me.
Anyway...it has changed my perspective on being a mom. Every chapter that I read I felt a need to do a little better in the area that was talked about. It gave me great ideas that I would like to implement with my family now and in the future. I even found myself taking notes while I was reading, just so I could look back and remember them all. I think it was a great book for me to read at this time because it is easy for me to loose perspective when I am dealing with a newborn who isn't doing everything exactly as I want him to. I learned that I need to just focus on living in the moment, instead of thinking "when will I be out of this trench?" I found myself enjoying my children more, hugging them a little tighter, and holding them a little longer than before. If anyone has not read it and would like to, you are more than welcome to borrow mine...as long as you return it, because I will be reading it over and over again just for a little "pick me up" when I need it.

Bedtime Buddies

I was just going through the pictures that I have taken in the past month and I realized that almost all of the pictures that I have taken are of the boys in bed together. Sometimes they are in the morning and sometimes right before bed. The bed has become a cozy place for us to snuggle and read books. One of my favorite pictures is of Haken holding Jack's hand while Daddy reads them a book before bed time. He loves his little brother so much (which is surprising sometimes to me because of all the attention he has taken away from him.) This week he asked me: "why is it taking so long for Jack to get big?" The day that he can play with him won't come soon enough for him, or me for that matter. A 3-yr-old with his imagination needs someone to share it with every second of the day.