The Leavitt Family

Brace yourself...I did it again

2011-11-30T12:23:00.000-08:00

So about 7 years ago I attemped to cut bangs on myself..with disastrous results. Ahem. Some of you may still vividly recall this. Well, I tried it again...on Cady! Cady is such a little glamor girl. If it's sparkly, pink, or feminine, she loves it! As I was fixing her hair for school today she said the magic words. "I wish I had bangs." This statement was followed by a big long sigh. Suddenly, a light bulb turned on in my head and I said, "I can do that!"

Tadah!! Doesn't she look cute. I've got to confess, I was nervous while cutting, but I love the result. Only problem is that she wants to wear them straight in her eyes! :) I'm going to pull up some pictures of the side swept bang on Catherine Zeta-Jones to show her how it's supposed to go.

*a funny side note, she was late for the bus today because she was so busy posing and I was just a grinning fool, clicking away with my camera. :D

Calico Critter House...Reinvented!

2011-11-30T12:05:00.000-08:00

Who says you need different toys for boys and girls? This is what I found Ronnow doing today with the Calico Critter house.

It's now an 8 room garage!

Tribute to Gingerbead houses

2011-11-30T12:02:00.000-08:00

Well, I tried.

For the second year in a row I have made the ginger bread batter from scratch a day ahead. (So the dough can chill).

I have baked the dough hours in advance of building time. (So the walls will harden).

I have unwrapped insane amounts of candy. (So it'll look cute).

I even planned a Family Home Evening lesson on homes and how they can be like heaven on earth. (So I'll have a guilt free conscience when I go to bed Monday night)

During FHE, we all talked about what we can do to make our home better

*Claire and Cady will both share more
*Mom will be more patient
*Dad will "try not to drive mom nuts" (I responded tartly that that he's already failing with that kind of answer...I guess we both had a pretty short life regarding our resolutions) :D

We then made gingerbread houses. The only problem was that I used leftover strawberry icing from Cady's cake. The icing wouldn't stick! We couldn't get the walls and roof to stay upright. I wish I had taken a picture of the failed attempt. I didn't because I was too discouraged at the end result of my hard labor.

Suffice it to say, strawberry frosting everywhere, sticky candy faces and fingers, and kinda-sorta happy kids. I had to convince them that it was more fun to eat the house than make a beautiful one to look at.

Lesson learned: make the darned home-made icing recipe included with the batter recipe! :)

The story of a picture

2011-11-30T11:45:00.000-08:00

It all started when I was wearing my favorite apron (a wonderful creation from Rhonda) while washing dishes.

Cady and Claire were going through the Christmas box putting up decorations and stumbled across our Santa Hats. Cady then brought me a hat to wear, so I put it on.

After finishing the dishes, I warmed up some milk for Ronnow's bottle (yes, I still give him a bottle before bed...hey, the routine works! I don't want to mess things up) scooped Ronnow up from the mischief he was currently engaged in, and carried him to his room to read some bedtime stories.

Not two pages into our first book, both girls wander into the room and perch where they too can hear the beloved, much listened to "Going to bed" book by Sandra Boynton.

Bryce happened to look into Ronnow's room as he passed by, laughed and said, "I need to grab the camera."

And that is how this picture came to be.

Thanksgiving madness

2011-11-30T11:26:00.000-08:00

Why do guys play football on Thanksgiving? It has never made sense to me. Well, for someone unfathomable reason, they love it. Here's my man ready to take on the entire other team. :)

*Special note, this picture was taken before the ambulance and four police car units were sent to the field to rush one of the men playing to the hospital. (It involved a head, a shoulder, and three broken facial bones). Once again, why do guys do this?

Bryce turned on the Food network channel the day before thanksgiving and decided to make the turkey himself. He soaked it in Brine and roasted it in the oven. Then, he carved it and arranged it in the coolest way! It totally looks like a turkey! :) I was so impressed (i.e. relieved, grateful not to have to do it myself) that I gave him the job for ever more.

Happy Thanksgiving!

My boy

2011-11-30T11:12:00.000-08:00

How can my little angel go from this

to this so quickly?!?

And yes, these are Claire and Cady's sand art projects that they had so painstakingly made...all over Ronnow and the counter now! This boy has figured out how to push chairs around the kitchen so he can climb upon whatever surface takes his fancy. I'm in trouble!

Happy 6th Birthday Cady!

2011-11-30T11:06:00.000-08:00

Cady wanted to have a Scooby Dooby Doo party, so here's what happened...

They made scooby doo headbands and played in the mystery machine (a big appliance box). Then we had a pizza picnic on the flattened boxes. We were ready to have her birthday cake when we discovered that it had been stolen and a note was left from the cake ape! Then, of course, we had to play a bunch of silly games (scooby scooby monster, balloon pop, spider web, Velma's glasses, etc) to find the clues of where her cake was.

We topped the night off by sending Cady and some unlucky volunteers to be bait to bring the ape down to our trap (some curtains the girls were lying behind). I had the genious idea of Bryce borrowing his friend Tyson's full bodied ape costume. In my mind it was going to be really cool. In reality, it was...scary! I didn't realize how BIG Bryce is until all 6'2" of him was covered in black fur!

Despite a whole lot of screaming (and Ronnow and another little friend's tears), we tickled him down to the ground and unmasked him. My favorite part was him saying, "I would've gotten away with it too if it weren't for you pesky kids!"

It was a fun, if a bit chaotic, night. Happy birthday Cady!

Choir Girls

2011-11-30T10:53:00.001-08:00

Yes, Claire and Cady are following their parent's footsteps and singing in a choir! We signed them up for Rochester Area Girls Choir, and here they are in their dresses, singing a song for me. They have their big Christmas concert at the stake center coming up this weekend, I'm so excited to see them perform. :)

The last 4 months in a nutshell...

2011-03-28T11:40:00.000-07:00

My big girl Claire.

Yes...he's chewing on a bannana peel. (He's learned that there are all kinds of treasures to be found by reaching into the trashcan!)

Baby shower for Rahnie!

Happy first birthday Ronnow! Bryce and the girls are opening his present (a super cute ride-along train), while Ronnow plays with the box. :)

Yes...he is eating an onion. This is his favorite thing to pull out of the cabinet and munch on. Yuck! Oh, and the girls were just posing for the picture. :) They'd rather eat different things. :)

Merry Christmas Claire! She got what she really wanted, a "realistic baby doll."

A reunion with our dear friends from Oregon, the Ries family. (Their son married a girl from MN, how cool is that?)

Handsome Ronnow. I love dressing him up in his Sunday clothes.

The Leavitt family. (JaNae took family pictures while we were visiting for Christmas, I'll post our family pictures up as soon as I figure out how)

Merry Christmas Cady! She got what she really wanted, a pixie hollow tea set with Rosetta the fairy. Can you tell she was excited?

Little diva. :)

Christmas lights at the Ethel Merman Factory...my favorite part was how they put lights on the cactus!

Our future quarterback.

We went to an outdoor hunting store where they had all kinds of safari animals stuffed and on display. When we came upon this setup of a mannican repelling down a cliff, Cady, clearly worried, leaned over and whispered, "Mom, did they catch that man?"

Visiting with Grandma Toni. We love this woman, she is an inspiration to us.

Happy birthday Cady!

Can you believe this man grew up in the desert? :) I'd say he's acclimated to MN rather well.

Horse and buggy rides---beautiful, picturesque, quaint, but always slower and colder than I remember!

The girls playing in our front yard with their neighbor friend Cole. (Cady's eating snow, she does that every time she goes outside...I had to give her the talk about NEVER eating snow if it's yellow...)

New pictures

2010-12-14T08:33:00.000-08:00

So, as you know, life is busy. :) But Buffy convinced me that I have time enough to just post plain pictures on the blog. Here you go! A few little snapshots of our life. One note, I had uploaded some pictures on Bryce's laptop so I don't have pics of the girls on Halloween or their birthday parties. More to come later.

Hello!

2010-09-23T13:23:00.000-07:00

Hello! Here are some family updates:

Ronnow is almost 7 months now and starting to crawl! He is a very sweet happy little boy who positively lights up when he sees his dad--definitly a daddy's boy. He loves to watch and laugh at his sisters too. He has brought so much joy to our family. My fears of having a boy were apparently nonfounded. :) Or is it too early for me to be saying this? Every time I take him to church, I get so many comments on how he looks like his daddy. It's so true! I think my favorite thing about Ronnow are his ears---such Leavitt ears!

Claire has started Kindergarten! The first day was rather traumatic for both of us, lots of tears, (Of course, I waited until she had left). I had felt nothing other than excitement for her to go, but then once she boarded the bus, it sunk in....my little buddy was leaving me, every day, for the rest of her life!!! (Or so it seems). I'm happy to say that with each day that has passed, Claire has gotten more comfortable with school and is almost eager to board the bus and go to her class. I have high hopes for her this year.

Cady is doing Preschool now, three days a week. She loves it! The first day that I picked her up from school she burst out, even before I could ask, "Mom, I had a gweat time at Pweschool today!!" :) Yes, she still has a hard time with her letter "r" and it is so cute! She is enjoying her one on one time with me twice a week as well. Thus far, we have played princesses and littlest pet shops every afternoon after Claire gets on the bus. And yes, she is wearing makeup in the first picture...she let me pratice on her. :) I got this eye makeup book from the library and had already tried one style on me that morning...It really has been nice having this time with her. :D She enjoys it too.

Bryce and I are doing really well, we've just been doing our things and enjoying our sweet children. Bryce is in his fourth year of oral & maxillofacial surgery residency and will graduate from Mayo medical school in June. We're starting to think about our future and where it may take us...so exciting! Well, got to go pick up Claire from school now, but I will be posting again! (Especially now that I've figured out this new set up and how to post pictures, I was struggling for a while with this!)

I love this picture! I think it says a lot about our girls. :D
Hope you all are doing well!

Pictures

2010-06-29T13:03:00.000-07:00

These were taken by Mark Zollinger. Isn't Ronnow so cute? :) Sigh.

Happy anniversary to us!

2010-06-29T12:59:00.000-07:00

For our 8 year anniversary we went on a 8 mile bike ride! Cady and Ronnow rode together and Claire rode solo. She's such a trooper! It wasn't until we were almost back to our car that she told me, "Mom, I'm starting to run out of gas." :) We celebrated when we got home by getting Pappa Johns pizza. Yummy. It was a very good day.

Kitchen Cuteness

2010-06-29T12:53:00.000-07:00

The girl's got style.

Cady's donation

2010-06-29T12:44:00.000-07:00

Cady turned a little schoolhouse into a bird house. She decided that the birds would really like to make a nest out of...her hair!! She's got a 2 inch fringe on the side of her head. I'm just grateful that I braided the top part of her hair that morning! (She doesn't look very remorseful about her donation, does she?).

Father's Day

2010-06-29T12:35:00.000-07:00

Happy Father's Day! Like the tie?

Ronnow's birthday, feb 24

2010-05-26T19:41:00.000-07:00

Current Events

2009-11-17T05:31:00.001-08:00

Hello! It's me again. :) I have a few minutes this morning to post some pictures of what we've been up to lately. Enjoy!

I went to time out for women in Minneapolis with a wonderful group of women, it was so much fun! We left friday and returned Saturday evening. It was like EFY for grown ups! I returned home feeling inspired to be better and much rejuvenated. I'd say the most important thing I took home was to make my time count with my children.

Happy Halloween! The girls were witches this year. I shopped the after halloween clearance last year and they even had little cauldron buckets for their candy. Sigh, so cute!

Claire is going to preschool this year, and I'm doing a co-op with some moms for Cady. I made their little welcome board and felt so proud of how it turned out that I just had to show everyone. :) Yes, I spent way too much time on it! When the girls arrive, we have them find their name, take it down, and trace it with a washable marker (they've all been laminated). They love looking at their pictures too.

Claire has started her ice skating class. I LOVE watching her do this. Her class is for 4-5 year olds and they are so darling. Yes, there is a lot of falling, but Claire is a champ and just keeps getting up. I always knew her determined personality would serve her well. :) It's nice to start seeing the benefits of this instead of hopefully telling myself, "Some day it'll be great that she's so headstrong!"

Cady is now taking gymnastics, her class of choice. She is so cute in her little leotard. Unfortunatly, the parents have to stay in a little observation room, so I was unable to get any better pictures of her. She loves to dance and tumbling is right up her alley too!

I've learned to crochet recently and it has been so much fun! I haven't had the time to branch out much yet, so far I've been making beanie caps with flowers. It is addictive and so much fun!!

I decided to participate in the Mayo craft fair this past weekend and sell my hats. I was nervous before hand, I had no idea what to expect. Everything came together perfectly though, it was really a blast! Bryce helped me the night before by assembling my little display bow holders. He drilled holes for dowel rods in some scrap wood we had and I painted them black. Bryce attached chicken wire to an extra picture frame for me. I glued fabric to the back of the frame, and voila. It was so easy! (Thanks for all of your help and ideas Sara!). The only drawback to my display was that people didn't realize that the flowers in the vase were actually hair clips!

The craft fair was buzzing the entire time, I actually sold 15 of my 20 hats (I had only infant sizes left at the end) and took orders for 32 more! I will definitely participate in this again next year. I don't think you can tell from my big smile in the picture how much fun I was really having. ;)

So, that's the past month in a nut shell. Wheew. I hope you all are doing well also, and thanks for checking out our blog!

NC part 6

2009-10-03T19:38:00.000-07:00

Buffy came prepared with some cute crafts. One of the things she did was make sponge balls. She sliced up some sponges and tied them together. The original intention was for them to throw them at each other and get wet, but the kids discovered that there was soap in the sponges and changed the game to cleaning off Sara's back deck. :) It was a win-win situation, the kids were occupied, happy, and cleaning! By the end of the week, Claire was completely tuckered out. That girl rarely naps, but on our last day she completely slept through the play dough activity that the other cousins were doing. :) It was a very good week, and a wonderful trip.

NC part 5

2009-10-03T19:35:00.000-07:00

After the wedding, the cousins got to spend time together. Sara, Buffy, and I went down to Sara's place in Charleston, SC for a week. It was so much fun seeing our kids play together. They are finally getting old enough where they can interact independantly and actually have fun together. It was a lot of fun for us as well, we talked about everything, ate delicious food, and stayed up way too late. :)

NC part 4

2009-10-03T19:33:00.000-07:00

Wedding pictures. The little boy standing with Claire is her cousin Luke, he was the ring bearer. Claire, Cady, and Luke just crack me up--they wanted to do a silly face picture. What a couple of cuties.

NC part 3

2009-10-03T19:26:00.000-07:00

Bryce came out to spend a few days with us close to my cousin's wedding. When he came, he told Claire and Cady that he had a surprise for them, and boy were they excited! He told them that before he would give it to them, they had to sit down nicely on the couch like little ladies. They sat down and delicately placed their hands in their laps and crossed their legs. They were so serious about being little ladies, it was cute. Bryce gave them biscotti from the airplane trip, and they were thrilled. :) Bryce went fishing with the girls a few times and then Bryce, Claire, and I got to go to a rehearsal dinner with the wedding party the night before the wedding. It was a nice little "date" with Claire. She was such a good girl! And finally, the day of the wedding! Claire took so many pictures and she did well considering. I loved seeing her all dressed up standing next to Nancy. I was so proud of my little girl, and Nancy made such a beautiful bride!

NC part 2

2009-10-03T19:20:00.000-07:00

The little house we stayed in is so cute, my parents designed and built it after a picture in a magazine they once saw. Claire decided she is a cat lover, this is Paws, a cat that put up with a lot of love and affection from Claire. I was able to attend the Craven reunion (my Grandmother's family) while there. The picture is me with my Aunt Cassie, my Grandmother's oldest sister. She hasn't seen me in 10 years, and when she did she said, "You don't look like a Craven, you're so...brown!" :) She was honestly surprised at my complexion. I guess it has been a long time since she's seen me, and I definitely have the Bunton family skin. I had a good laugh at my reception from her. The last picture is Claire and Grandma cooking together, Claire loved being able to brown the meat on her own. :) She did a surprisingly good job too.

NC part 1

2009-10-03T19:16:00.000-07:00

After a looong hiatus of blogging (and basically anything else that involves the computer), I'm back! I got hacked on my facebook account shortly after returning back from NC, and haven't had a desire to use the internet much since. I do want to fill you all in on the past 3 months, :) so here we go, starting with our trip to North Carolina.

It was a lot of fun being in North Carolina again and seeing my family! Soon after our arrival, Cady had the misfortune of falling and getting a buckle wrist fracture. We spent two days going to the hospitals and getting her arm x-rayed. It worked out though because Grandma Bunton had an accident involving a window and her upper lip (the window broke during an animal rescue attempt) and so needed stitches on the same day that we took Cady in. Hence the matching hospital bracelets. The girls had a great time, we fed the chickens, geese by the lake, went on walks, canoed, fished, played in the dirt...what more could you want?

We're ready!

2009-07-24T11:48:00.000-07:00

I've been gearing up for our trip to NC...the girls and I leave tomorrow and will be there for 3 weeks!!! I am so incredibly excited, it feels like ages since I've seen my family. Bryce is going to be able to come out for 5 days as well.

One of the big events of our trip is my counsin Nancy's wedding. Claire gets to be the flower girl and is oh so excited about this. I finished both her and Cady's dresses. No, Cady is not a flower girl, but she wanted a pretty dress too. :) Go figure. I used a sheer fabric with Cady's dress that I had originally bought to use for Claire's dress but didn't use (I decided to go for simple elegance).

We went out and bought shoes, headbands, and necklaces yesterday. This is the result of our photo shoot. I wont be posting again for about a month, so enjoy the pictures!

More Spam Please!

2009-07-01T12:01:00.001-07:00

I don't know what happened to me today but I woke up feeling really restless! I felt like I needed to leave not only my house but Rochester as well. I charged up the portable dvd player, re-activated the trak-fone, paged Bryce to let him know we were going on a trip, packed lunch, and away we went. We went to a place about 35 minutes away...the Spam factory!

Believe it or not, the factory is very nice to tour and it shows the history of Spam, variety of ways to cook it, sample platters, old advertisments from the 1940s, and has a little dress up and play area.

We came home 2 hours later feeling happy and refreshed. I'm going to have fun telling Bryce all of the little known facts about our dinner tonight...Spam!

Strawberry time

2009-07-01T11:46:00.001-07:00

It's one of my favorite summer activities, picking strawberries! We went for FHE on Monday night and picked strawberries for about an hour. It was a lot of fun, Bryce and I picked a lot of good ones and Claire and Cady ate a lot of good ones. :) The only down side was when my arms broke out in hives. I guess I'm allergic to some of the weeds that were out there. These darned allergies, they keep cramping my style! You can't see them very well, but my arms were covered in little white bumps. Next time I'll have to wear long sleeves. I spent most of the day on Tuesday making Strawberry jam, yummy. I do need help with one thing---does anyone know how to can strawberry jam and have the fruit not all rise to the top? Any tips are appreciated. :) Hope you all are having a wonderful summer.

Sticky hands!

The spoils of our labor.

Rochesterfest

2009-06-29T19:31:00.000-07:00

This past week was Rochesterfest. It's a week long celebration throughout which are many different activities and events each day. We participated in a few this week and I wanted to share the highlights with you.

We saw the "moon glow," where colorful hot air balloons lit up the sky. Bryce and I loved it, but the girls weren't so sure. About every 2 minutes fire would be shot up into the balloon and it was a noisy affair. We actually lost Cady for a minute because she ran away when she first heard the noise.

We also went to the "Rochester Has Talent" show on Saturday afternoon. We sat down and enjoyed an afternoon of ballroom dancing, belly dancing (an unexpected surprise), cheer leading, and a surprise performance by...Cady! Well, almost. They ran ahead of schedule for a few minutes and the announcer opened the floor up to anyone in the audience. There were about 100 people there. Jokingly, I asked Claire and Cady if they wanted to go up on stage and sing a song. Simultaneously, Claire said no and Cady said yes. Cady stood up and began walking towards the stage. Slightly stunned, I stood up and followed her. I asked her again and she said she wanted to do it. She took the microphone and went up on stage by herself. The announcer asked her name and she said, "Cady," and then started to giggle. Right after the giggle ended, she covered her face up with her arms. That was the last the crowd saw of Cady's face. The announcer tried to persuade her to sing and eventually suggested that Cady turn her back to everyone and sing, but to no avail. Well, if nothing else, Cady got three minutes of fame along with her picture in the local newspaper. :) Bryce and I are pretty thrilled with the newspaper bit, that's going in her scrap book! Claire is already practicing the song she is going to sing next year, she wants to be in the paper too.

Anything You Can Do...

2009-06-29T18:55:00.000-07:00

So, we had a "Provident Living" Talent Show for Enrichment this past month. Molly Johnson and I thought it would be funny to do a slightly unique singing number. We got the sheet music to the song "Anything You Can Do" from Annie Get Your Gun and changed some of the words around. It was a blast to do this number, and Molly was a total delight to perform with. I honestly feel that our roles should have been switched---she is amazing! This video is the last few moments of the song. We have been asked to do this number again at our Stake Relief Society training meeting this fall. :) I'm looking forward to singing it again.

Anything You Can Do (Jean and Molly Style)

Jean: Anything you can do I can do better ......I can do anything better than you Molly: No, you can't
J: Yes, I can
M: No, you can't
J: Yes, I can
M: No, you can't
J: Yes, I can, yes, I can

M: Anything you can be I can be greater ......Sooner or later I'm greater than you
J: No, you're not
M: Yes, I am
J: No, you're not
M: Yes, I am
J: No, you're not
M: Yes, I am, yes I am

M: I can tend a baby, one two or 80
J: I can tend a dozen, bring along a cousin
M: I can live on quaker oats
J: That's really nice, I can on rice

M: Any note you can reach I can go higher
J: I can sing anything higher than you
M: No, you can't
J: Yes, I can
M: No, you can't
J: Yes, I can
M: No, you can't
J: Yes, I can
M: No, you can't
J: Yes, I can
M: No, you can't
J: Yes, I can

J: Anything you can buy I can buy cheaper ......I can buy anything cheaper than you M: Fifty cents
J: Forty cents
M: Thirty cents
J: Twenty cents
M: No, you can't
J: Savers!! Yes, I can, yes, I can

M: Any friend you can make I can make faster
J: I can make any friend faster than you
...Both start greeting and complimenting the audience
M: No, you can't
J: Yes, I can, yes, I can

M: I do visit teaching at each month's begining
J: I always sign up fer things in the binder
M: I can clean most anything
J: In skirt and heels?
M: In pearls and rings

M: Any talk you can give I can give longer
J: I can give any talk longer than you
M: No, you can't
J: Yes, I can
M: No, you can't
J: Yes, I can
M: No, you can't
J: Yes, I can, yes, I can
M/J: No, you can't - yes, you can

J: Anything you can make I can make cuter...I can make bows and cards cuter than you M: That's not fair, where'd you learn?
J: At Leah's house
M: When's my turn?
J: Thursday July 2nd at 10 am

M: Anything you can bake I can bake better
J: My bread and rolls taste better than yours
M: No they don't
J: Yes they do
M: No they don't
J: Yes they do
M: No they don't
J: Yes they do Yes they do

M: I can can beans
J: I can sew things
M: I can knit a sweater
J: I can fill it better
M: I can do most anything
J: Can you bake a pie?
M: Yes
J: So can I

M: Anything you can sing I can sing sweeter
J: I can sing anything sweeter than you
M: No, you can't
J: Yes, I can
M: No, you can't
J: Oh, yes, I can
M: No, you can't
J: Yes, I can
M: No, you can't
J: Yes, I can
M: No, you can't, can't, can't
J: Yes, I can, can, can, can
M: No, you can't
J: Yes, I can

Summer fun!

2009-06-15T12:37:00.000-07:00

It has finally gotten warm enough to pull out our little wading pool. We bought this thing when Claire was just a few months old. :)We had some friends over and I had the brilliant idea of pulling it out to use. I got a kick out of this, five kids crowding around this little thing. I think it may be time to invest in something bigger...

Our LOOOOOOONG bike ride

2009-05-27T20:52:00.001-07:00

Hi guys! We are officially cyclists. It all started when Tyson (Bryce's co-resident) called us Sunday night and left a message asking us if we wanted to pack a picnic and go on a long bike ride on Memorial Day. We called back Monday morning and set a time to meet. I began making sandwiches while Bryce went to the store to buy a bike rack for our car. A few hours later and we were on our way. We drove to the Douglas Trail, about 10 minutes from our house. After the girls were nicely situated in our bike trailer, the journey commenced. It was a perfect day - about 70 degrees, sunny, with a constant light breeze. After about 4 miles we stopped to rest at an old water pump/picnic area in Douglas (a very, very small town). After we finished eating our picnic and the girls stretched their legs for a bit, we continued on the trail. It was a beautiful trail with honeysuckles, wild rhubarb, little farms tucked here and there throughout our path, and greenery everywhere. We rode another 9 more miles until the trail finally ended at Pine Island. Fortunately for us, there was a beautiful park and playground at the end of the trail. The girls were troopers during the ride, but they were more than ready to get out and play. Crazy enough, the 13 miles we had biked didn't seem that long or hard. The trail was very level due to the fact that it was built and paved directly over an old train track route.

The 13 miles back was a different story. The wind was now actively blowing against us the entire way. Poor Bryce, the bike trailer that he was pulling was acting like a "parachute loaded with bricks" as Lindsey so appropriately described it. :) Well, long story short, we made it back to the cars. And yes, we felt pretty proud of ourselves for having accomplished a 26 mile bike ride!!! Despite the fact that we had no idea just how "long" the bike ride would be when we first agreed to go, I would totally do it again! I have discovered that I'm more "outdoorsy" than I once thought. I would take biking over running any day. Bryce and I have talked about trying to get out and do this a little more often now that we have a bike rack. :) However, before I turn pro, my first investment is going to be a padded seat!

Claire's photo shoot

2009-05-05T13:56:00.000-07:00

When Claire came home from preschool, I thought it would be fun to have her do the same thing. You'll notice that I have less pictures of Claire in this collage. As a disclaimer, that is not due to a lack of effort on my part. Imagine those few pictures of her pouting I included in here times 50. Evidentally, she did not agree with my idea of fun. Can't imagine why. Who wouldn't love to sit on a bathroom counter (she ended up sitting in the sink), with a clip you do NOT want in your hair (that's what started the pouting), and being told to smile for 5 minutes. :) Poor girl.

Cady's Photo Shoot

2009-05-05T13:55:00.000-07:00

Hi guys! So, I've been seeing some amazing photography of your children posted on your blogs and decided to give it a try myself. It all started when Claire was at preschool and I decided to curl Cady's hair and put a new hair bow in. I had her up on the counter in the bathroom and thought it would be cute with the mirror behind her. As you can see in her pictures, she was loving it. Cady is the kind of girl who could happily spend the rest of her life in front of a mirror. :)

We are prepared!

2009-05-05T08:11:00.000-07:00

So, this is a tribute to Claire and her 72 hour kit. My parents gave us 72 hour kits for the girls this past Christmas. It had a few things like coloring books, crayons, ponchos, a compass/whistle, and a flashlight included. Claire has been asking me all kinds of questions about 72 hour kits and why we have them. I told her it was in case there is an emergency (like a flood or fire) and we had to leave our house quickly. She went into her room and emerged about 45 minutes later with her 72 hour kit. Some of the things she had in there were her baby doll, cabbage patch doll and accessories, princess coloring book, stuffed dog, plastic plates from a princess tea set, overalls and shirt, black sunday shoes, a snack baggy filled with goldfish and raisins, among other things. She also figured out how to clip on more bags with a beaner buckle that came with one of her pants. She has kept this 72 hour kit near her at all times for the last week. She sleeps with it next to her bed and carries it from room to room with her. Fear not, this girl is prepared!

It's finished!

2009-04-27T17:55:00.000-07:00

Hi guys! I may have told some of you that I was working on a new project, a flower girl dress for Claire. My cousin is getting married this summer and she asked Claire to be her flower girl. Claire is beside herself with excitement over having such an important job in the wedding. I am thrilled to have the opportunity to sew a beautiful fancy dress for my girl! :D Well, after hours of labor (and many more hours of procrastinating sewing the zipper on) I can now say that it is done. :) I've posted pictures for you to enjoy. (Can you tell that I'm pleased with myself?) This is the first formal dress I've sewn. It was actually really enjoyable to make. Now I'm going to start making one for Cady to wear. (Not a flower girl dress, but a nice dress in the blue fabric that Claire's sash was made in).

I won!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-04-08T07:00:00.000-07:00

I am so excited!!! I finally won the dream catch on Ebay!!! After weeks of just barely missing out on my bids for Calico Critter homes, I finally wise up and won! :) Thought I'd share my ebay tips with you in case you're ever tempted to purchase something there.

1. Look at the item daily during the bidding so you REALLY want it and make sure the bidding price hasn't gone out of your price range. :) (but be sure you don't give away your hand by making any bids)

2. Stay by your computer until after midnight on the last night of the auction, waiting for the bidding time to draw to a close.

3. At precisely 1-2 minutes before the bidding window closes, make your offer $1 higher than you would've gone. (For example, $56, or $96, or $101). That way if they counter before time runs out, you are probably still $1 higher than them.

4. Sit back and watch that lovely item become yours.

I must admit, I felt a twinge of guilt doing this last night, that other person was probably pretty bummed because they were lulled by my prior inactivity into thinking they were going to win. However, I also felt justified because that is what has been happening to me repeatedly in my ebay experiences--loosing in the last few minutes by a dollar of two.

Well, this is what I've been loosing sleep over lately. And who says my life isn't hard? :D Truthfully, I'm a bit embarrassed about this entry, but I am excited enough about this to want to share it with you.

This is my haul! Hours of fun, coming my way. Now, if only I could figure out a way to nicely display everything...any ideas? (I'm thinking a low table like the Thomas train tables ones...)

Proud Mamma

2009-02-24T17:56:00.000-08:00

Hi guys! Hope you all have been well. We've been having a good time up here, I really can't complain about life. The above picture is Julie Cutts and I, we had a 7 year reunion this last month. (She's now living 1 1/2 hours away from me). I grew up with her and it was so great to talk and catch up on things. It's a wonderfully small world. Here are some updates from this Leavitt family:

1. I gave my dreaded talk this past Sunday. The neat thing was that it wasn't as scary as I thought it would be. I got my weeks mixed up and prepared my talk a week early, so I had all this past week to review my talk nightly. By the time I was supposed to give it, I was really familiar with the content and able to speak comfortably. It was a really good experience. I think the next time I'm asked to give a talk, I wont stress out. :) I just have to remember to prepare my talk a week early.

2. I'm so proud of my little girls. They are so cute and make me laugh daily. This is my little brag time for Claire. Today I was updating my play list and the girls and I were grooving in the kitchen to Beyonce's irreplaceable song. At the point where she sings in the song, "Can you walk and talk at the same time?" Claire piped up and said, "I can!" :) She was so proud of herself for that. The other funny thing she did happened at her gym explorations class. Claire was in a class with 8 other 4-5 year olds and they were playing the game "Captain May I." (The same game as "mother may I," different name.) The teacher was telling all of the kids to move a certain amount of steps forward, and then it was Claire's turn. The teacher said, "Claire, take three steps backwords." Claire said, "Captain may I?" She then immediately turned her back to the front of the room and took 3 big steps backwards towards the teacher. :D We all laughed about that, and I was so proud of my clever little girl. The funny thing is that that really defines Claire. She is such a practical little thing. She didn't even think about what she was doing, she wanted to move forward and so she made it happen.

Claire playing hockey (so cute!)

Claire playing soccer (I love how she would put her foot on the ball when she was listening to the teacher)

Cady is doing well also. She's taking a ballet class now and is so precious in it! (Her pictures are on Bryce's laptop, I'll add them later). Her favorite moves are making a sailboat with her legs (stands on one leg and lifts the other foot up to the side of her knee) and jumping like a frog. It's exciting seeing her learn and grow. She's still my little bookworm and loves to read to herself.

3. I've started a hobby of collecting...Calico critter things! It all started this past Christmas when my inlaws bought the girls a calico critter house and some animals. Now, I find myself looking on ebay daily and making bids on things I don't need but really want. :D I think I like these things more than my girls. I just have this vision of a huge table (like one of the big train tables) and a whole village of calico critter houses, playgrounds, shops, and families. Doesn't that sound like fun? Fun, but dangerous. I find that I get so caught up on ebay in bidding and wanting to win that by the time I remember to factor in shipping costs, I haven't really gotten as good of a deal as I thought. I've only bought two things so far. :) I'm trying to pace myself.

4. I just finished reading a wonderful book-- Left to Tell, by Imacule Ilibaganza (not sure that's the exact spelling of her name). It's a true story written by a Rwandan holocaust survivor and how her relationship with God helped her through the ordeal of hiding in a bathroom stall for 3 months with 7 other women. It really was an exceptional story, it really changed my perspective on life and made me more grateful. I awoke this morning feeling so thankful to be alive, safe, and living in America with my freedoms and with my beautiful family.

5. We went ice skating as a family this past weekend. It's the first time Claire and Cady have ice skated. They were so cute! They loved it. By the end of the night they both had skated on their own without holding on to us. Bryce and I were so proud of them! We're thinking about signing them up for ice skating classes, as a tribute to their Minnesota heritage. :)

6. I'm doing a preschool co-op with 2 other moms, and I taught this week. One of the days we talked about babies. I went somewhere that I'm now regretting...I let them use baby bottles during snack time. Claire has been asking me to let her drink from the bottle again for the last 3 days now! I forgot how much she loved the bottle, guess she still hasn't outgrown it. :)Sound familiar to anyone else?

Well, that's all of the current events I can think of right now. I guess I'll end this post by saying that life is good and we love and miss you all. It's wonderful to be in touch with all of you. Technology is amazing. Hope you are having a great day, and thanks for checking up on us!

Hello again!

2009-01-22T16:27:00.001-08:00

Long time no post, sorry about that! Here are some pictures of recent happenings. Hope you all are well!

Christmas with the Leavitts. Claire and Cady with their Truman cousins.

Christmas with part of my family.

So, I got new kitchen knives for Christmas....need I say more? Yes, they are indeed sharp, and yes I have a new found respect for them.

Doctor Bryce! How convenient that he just happened to have all of the supplies necessary to give me stitches sitting in our garage (old dental school supplies).
The girls were alternately fascinated and horrified by the sight of Bryce stitching me up. We used this as a lesson for them as to why they should never play with knives!

My new thumb with 4 stitches. This was my first time ever getting stitches. Bryce did an excellent job. However, I'm going to do my best to avoid this experience in the future!(Now if only I could figure out how to use my new apple slicer without cutting myself as well...) :D

Our house. We wanted to show you how much snow we are surrounded by. The ground in front of our house is completely flat, right now there is about 5 feet of snow piled up by the sides of our driveway. I find myself frequently thinking about summer and trying to wrap my mind around the fact that it really does exist and will return to MN at some point in time...

We love you guys!

Oh christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree...

2008-12-12T14:36:00.001-08:00

So, last week we bought our first live Christmas tree! We chose a beauty, a 3 foot little thing. It was the only one we could fit easily into our car, and the price was right, $9. We were so excited to have a tree that we decided to go ahead and spend some money on decorations. We bought an $.88 box of candy canes at Walmart. Mysteriously enough, there was not a trace to be found of them by the second day, only plastic wrappers littered throughout my house. Can't figure out for the life of me where they went to... :D Needless to say, I'm NOT buying anymore candy canes for that tree.

This is a picture of Claire in her awsome fort she built, with our little tree in the background.

I'm sad to announce that after last night, we no longer have a need to decorate our little tree. I noticed yesterday that I had little bug bites on my arms and legs. I've heard before of someone getting a flea infestation in their house thanks to a live Christmas tree, and at first I thought that was my problem. Then however, I realized that there was no earthly way the fleas were biting my arms, hands, legs, and tummy all at the same time without me seeing them at all. After a few hours and a mammoth breakout of hives, I realized that I was having an allergic reaction to the tree!!! I guess it kicked into high gear once the tree started drying out and the needles were dropping everywhere. We disposed of the tree immediately, vacuumed, and emptied the bag into our outside trash. Happily enough, my rash hasn't progressed, I'm still rather itchy though. I'm hoping I wont have a repeat of last night--waking up every hour or so because of unbearable itchiness! I love real trees, I love the look and smell of them, but I think we are going to be an artificial tree family from now on. (It's definitely not worth the great smell!)
Well, it was fun the first 2 days we had it. :)

Fall Fun

2008-11-30T13:28:00.000-08:00

We were playing outside with some friends when I had a brilliant idea. I made a bed of leaves right at the bottom of our slide so they could slide right into it! Yes, that is the extent of my great idea (hope you weren't expecting more). :D The kids loved it, it was fun. We buried each other and had leaf fights too.

Claire saw that I had the camera out and begged me to let her take some pictures. I, feeling exuberant and a bit reckless from our fun play, decided to turn her loose with it. The following slide show is composed entirely of pictures taken by Claire. I think she may have a photography career ahead of her...I'll have to send her up in a few years to train with Johanna. :D

Hair Cuts!!!!

2008-11-30T12:47:00.000-08:00

****This is a break from my catch-up posts. This is something that happened this past week.*****

After seeing my friends give their little girls hair cuts, I decided it was probably time to do the same for Claire and Cady. But then when I actually looked at Claire's hair I thought, man, this hair is too pretty to just throw away! I then hit upon the idea of getting it cut professionally and then donating it to Locks of Love. Seriously, this decision was one of the best I've ever made!! The day after I had Claire's hair cut, I took Cady in to get hers done as well. Claire and Cady both had 10 inches of hair cut off. I no longer have to bribe them with TV to do their hair---all it takes is a quick 2 minute round brush session with the hair dryer to poof out their bed head hair. I'm really enjoying this new look for my little girls.

Before pictures. Claire had slept with her hair in a braid the night before.

Cady's before pictures

Cady holding her hair! (I didn't bring my camera when Claire's was being cut)

Funnily enough, this was the first time Cady has ever had her hair cut, and she fell asleep in the chair! That's the same thing her sister did during her first "real" hair cut.

After pictures!

This week I was busy sewing the girls new dresses. They helped me choose out the fabric and embellishment. It was such a fun project! I really enjoy sewing, I'm so grateful to my mom for putting me in sewing classes year after year when I was young. :) I wasn't very good back then, but it did give me the feeling that I could sew if I so desired. Well, these were by far my favorite dresses I've made. I just loved seeing them in their new dresses with their new haircuts!

Bryce's Induction to Med School

2008-11-25T19:03:00.000-08:00

Bryce is currently in med school and Mayo recently had an induction ceremony where there was a speaker and then each student walked across the stage to receive a framed Hippocratic oath. This ceremony reminded me a lot of Bryce's white coat ceremony in Dental school. I made it through 5 minutes of the program before having to leave due to the girls being too loud. Claire discovered that the chairs squeaked when she stood up and then sat down really fast and Cady had (has) yet to fully master the concept of whispering. :) I did sneak back in briefly to snap a picture of Bryce crossing the stage. It was a nice ceremony, but I was glad when it was over and the girls could be their normal chatty, noisy little selves.

Cutie Pies

2008-11-25T18:56:00.001-08:00

This was one of those mornings when I looked at my girls and just sighed with happiness. They are so precious to me. Unfortunately, I was unable to get a good picture of them both smiling at me because they were trying to finish their show on TV. (I bribe them with a show in the morning so they will sit still for me to do their hair). I know I'm a nuisance with my camera, but these moments are so worth it to me!

This is Bryce being brave one evening and sharing his laptop with the girls. He was teaching Claire how to use the fingerpad while playing a Backyardigans game. I love their time together.

Fall Afternoon

2008-11-25T18:46:00.000-08:00

These pictures were taken on a warm and windy fall afternoon. The only thing that I want to point out to you is that they are wearing authentic Jean Leavitt dresses. :)

Believe it or not...he's there!

2008-11-25T18:30:00.000-08:00

This is one of the girls favorite pasttimes, pretending the couch is their boat and then proceeding to load up every possession they own onto it. The funny thing about this time is that Bryce is buried beneath their things. :) He chose a rather unfortunate place to nap this afternoon.

2008-11-25T18:22:00.000-08:00

Claire took a gymnastics class this fall, and it was awesome! I got the biggest kick out of her, she just looked so cute and was so very excited about going. She got to do this class with two of her friends as well. This was definitely one of our favorite community ed classes. Claire learned how to do front rolls, a bear walk on two parallel bars placed on the floor, jumped up and down a long trampoline, jumped into a sponge pit, and even attempted a back roll. Lots of fun stuff happening. Cady had a hard time sitting out and watching Claire. Next fall she'll be old enough to do it as well. We can't wait!

Flower Fun/Soup Sunday

2008-11-24T18:58:00.001-08:00

So, I don't think I've told you, but we've realized that this world is smaller than we had previously suspected. Bryce discovered a few months ago that his chief, Dave Webber, is a distant cousin of his! And actually, not all that distant either. I'd tell you how close they were if I could only remember. I think they have the same great great grandfather (something along those lines). We really like spending time with Dave and Dawn. He and Bryce came up with a great idea, Soup Sunday. :) We had our first one in October and had a nice time chatting afterword.

Earlier that day, Claire and Cady had fixed my hair with their flower clips. I kind of like this look on me. :D

After dinner the girls started playing with their flower clips and the boys soon joined in on the fun. After looking at the pictures you can see why I call them boys. :) Good times.

Claire's Squirrel Party

2008-11-24T18:30:00.000-08:00

Claire had her birthday October 4, she turned 4 years old! Another golden birthday. She was very firm on her desire to have a Squirrel Party this year. I tried suggesting Dora, Backyardigans, Wonder Pets, but no, she wanted a squirrel party! :D Where she came up with this idea, I have no idea! I think it may have been because she went to Saffi's party which was a bear theme. At any rate, I used all of my creative juices and think the party turned out really well. It was surprisingly fun. Here's what we did:

We put on squirrel headbands and painted little whiskers on their faces. We played outside while waiting for everyone to come. And of course, while outside I simply had to lift them up and let them sit in our tree like little squirrels. :) I couldn't resist.

We then decorated little squirrel pictures and put them on paper bags. I told them fun facts about squirrels (did you know that they find the acorns they bury by their sense of smell? They don't remember where they put them).

When they were finished, I told them about my poor little friend Sammy the squirrel who had a cold and couldn't find his acorns because his nose was stuffy. The kids then went downstairs to hunt for acorns. I had hidden about 500 real acorns (thanks to Elizabeth who had gathered them off the ground from a kindly neighbor's yard). Having so many acorns was awesome, it was like a never ending Easter egg hunt.

After they finished finding all of the acorns, I pulled out a poster that I had made of my friend Sammy and they then took turns tossing the acorns into the holes I had cut in it. I was rather proud of how that poster turned out. And here I've gone all of these years thinking I have no artistic talent...

We then went outside and played puffy bunny, pretending that we were ground squirrels stuffing our cheeks with nuts. Yes, I was very careful with this game and closely monitored how many marshmallows were in their mouths.

We then went inside and ate some chocolate cake I had tried to make look like acorns. Claire then opened presents, and when we were done I discovered, to my chagrin, that we still had an hour left until the parents were due to pick our guests up. Take it from me, 3 hour birthday parties are still a bit too long at this age. :D Well, we survived and the kids all had a blast. It was a surprisingly successful squirrel party. I think I will keep this party theme on the list for potential parties with my future children.

Sweet Moments

2008-11-24T18:20:00.000-08:00

I had a dilemma after making this cake, my new mixer has two beaters, but they don't come apart! Fortunately, Cady and Claire get along well enough that this was not a problem. I thought it was a cute moment and ran to get the camera before they finished.

Bryce was playing the piano and the girls climbed up behind him and soon this pose just evolved. Claire's the one who said, "Mom, you should take a picture of us." :) That's my girl, I've trained her well!

I know I've already posted several pictures of these girls hogging my bed, but it never ceases to amuse me (despite the inconvenience of being squeaked out of my spot). I love how perfectly happy they are when sleeping in my bed. All is right with their world.

These are the first real stick figures that Claire and Cady have drawn. I thought they were just precious. The girls were pretty proud of themselves too. :)

Quarry Hill Nature Center

2008-11-24T18:07:00.000-08:00

I love going out in the community and doing things. This is one of my favorite places, the Nature center. We went with a few of the mom's and kids in my ward and had a wonderful time. They have a hodgepodge of things to look at and do, aquariums, reptiles, stuffed animals, a bird observatory room, empty turtle shells and horns and things to touch, a real beehive that is encased in glass and connects to the outside of the building, miles of walking trails, and a little lake to walk around. One of my favorite parts of the trip, the kids all got under an old wooden bridge and played the 3 billy goats gruff. :) I love spontaneous play.

Happy Birthday Bryce!!

2008-11-24T18:00:00.000-08:00

Bryce turned 29 on August 29th. This was his golden birthday. We celebrated by going out with our friends Dave & Dawn. We somehow ended up going out to eat at my favorite restaurant, don't know how that happened ;). It was a Japanese steakhouse, yummy. We then went home and had Rhonda's carrot cake with the girls. Bryce has had this cake every year for his birthday, and it is delicious! If you make it, I recommend making it the day before so the flavor really sets in. Happy birthday Bryce!

Carrot Cake-Rhonda Leavitt

2 c flour
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 c nuts
2 tsp baking soda
3/4 c raisins
3 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 c grated carrots
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 c oil
2 c sugar
4 eggs

Frosting:
1/2 c butter
1 8 oz cream cheese
1 box powdered sugar
2 tsp vanilla

1. Stir dry ingredients except sugar. Combine oil and sugar, add eggs one at a time.
2. Add dry ingredients to egg mix. Add vanilla, carrots, raisins, nuts. Combine and
pour into bundt pan.
3. Bake at 350 for 50-60 min. Remove and cool completely.
4. Beat butter and cream cheese together until light and fluffy, gradually add
powdered sugar and vanilla.
5. Frost cake and refrigerate.

The Gutter Man

2008-11-24T17:52:00.000-08:00

Bryce got creative with cleaning our gutters back in August. It was a bit of a challenge to figure out how to get on top of our 2 story house with no ladder. I thought the part about how he actually made it to the top of the roof was especially creative. A bit dangerous and foolhardy, but creative. The girls certainly got a kick out of seeing him up there. I called it quits with the camera and hustled them inside once they started trying to climb up our make-shift ladder and join him.

Holy cow!

2008-11-24T17:42:00.001-08:00

So, we've got our full computer back---sound, printer, and camera uploads!!! Life is good again. Well, almost good. I was a bit taken aback to find that I have over 500 pictures saved on my camera. Are you ready for a TON of blogging entries? :) Here goes nothing! I think I'll do many many small entries to keep them organized by topic. Happy reading.

Recent Happenings

2008-11-13T19:50:00.001-08:00

Hi guys! I've decided that I've been silent long enough. Despite the fact that I am still unable to upload pictures onto my computer, I wanted to say hi and share what we've been up to lately.

First and foremost, it snowed last week!!! I woke up on Thursday to a beautiful white yard. (I thought of saying wonderland, but the snow didn't stick on the roads or side walk). The girls and I unpacked our snowsuits, snow boots, hats, scarves, and mittens and tromped outside to relish in it. The first thing we did was to build a little snow man in our front yard.
Believe it or not, we never did build one last year. We tried but it was just too cold---the snow wouldn't pack. As far as snow men go, it was pretty unimpressive, leaves and brown snow showing through in places, but it was fun to make. I couldn't figure out how to make the raisins stay in place, I poked holes in the snow with my fingers and tried to jam them in, but they would just slide out. Anyone know what the trick is?
I'm sad to say that the snow melted by the afternoon, and we haven't had any since. I'm really hoping we'll get more soon, I'm looking forward to it now. We're supposed to get snow this weekend, so we'll see. Part of the reason I'm so excited about snow this year is because Bryce is home more! I have visions of us going sledding together and playing outside more. Last year it just got too cold too quickly. I remember that by the time I finally had Cady and Claire all bundled and we got outside, Cady would just stand there and wail because she was so cold. (We're talking negatives here). It was in the 20's Monday and Tuesday of this week.
We'll see if my excitement for the snow lasts, I'm sure I'll change my tune once I have to start shoveling my never ending driveway twice a day. :)

Other news...Claire and Cady are growing fast and sweet as ever. I love these girls! They are so bright and eager, quick to learn, and just plain adorable. Our favorite thing to do together is read. We've just started reading the book "Matilda" together, on Melanie's recommendation. I do enjoy Roald Dahl, he was one of my favorite authors when I was younger. I edit as I go though, I omit some of the more unpleasant adjectives he uses to describe some of the characters with. :) Got to shelter them while they are young!

I've started the love hate battle with Santa Claus already. I was running errands with the girls today and we were happily listening to a Disney Hits CD (yes, I said we---that's my favorite music!) and Claire randomly piped up from the back seat and said, "I love Santa more than Jesus." !!!! I take full responsibility for her saying that, obviously I've hyped up Santa too much. Although in my defense, I haven't done much hyping other than say, "Santa will bring you a present if you are a good listener (so stay in bed and don't leave your room again!!!)" and asked her what she wants this year. Well, after her announcement we immediately launched into a conversation about how Jesus' atonement is much better than any old present Santa could bring, and that in fact, Christmas is all about celebrating Christ's birth and Santa brings us presents just like the wise men brought Jesus some when he was a baby. I think she was a bit alarmed by my reaction to what she had said. She unwittingly set herself up to bear the full brunt of a mommy lecture. Oh dear. I'm really going to try to downplay Santa and truly spotlight the real reason for the season this year. :) Wish me luck!

Well, blogging time is up. My bed is calling my name. Hopefully, I'll be able to start posting pictures soon. Until then, I hope you all are doing well.

6 Quirky Things...

2008-10-06T18:48:00.001-07:00

I've been tagged by my friend Amy (sorry, I don't know how to link your name Amy!). I'm supposed to write down 6 quirky things about myself and then tag 3 more friends.

1. I am a little quirky in my bedtime routine. I have done this as long as I can remember (it all dates back to the first time I saw Jaws when I was 9). I turn out the lights and get into bed as quickly as possible, the goal is to have my feet not touching the dark floor more than necessary. I say my prayers in my bed to avoid kneeling on the floor. My closet doors need to be shut before I can fully relax in bed.

2. I HAVE to sleep on my side of the bed each night. Bryce thinks it's funny to lay down on my side of the bed (the right side) and tell me he really wants to switch sides just for the night. He's tried that funny line about 5 times and never yet gotten to sleep on my side of the bed. I'm not sure exactly why this is, but I feel very uncomfortable and exposed and just can't sleep if I'm not on my side of the bed.

3. I always read the last page of a book before deciding if I'll read it or not. I read for fun, I prefer my books to have a good plot and then end happily. I don't want to invest myself and my emotions in something that will leave me feeling sad. (I don't watch sad movies either for that reason).

4. I enjoy cleaning and organizing. The dirtier it is, the more I enjoy it. I can remember back to when Sara and I were sharing a room (I must've been 5-7) and we would re-arrange our furniture about every other week (those dressers took quite a bit of teamwork to move!). I have been told that this is a rather unique and quirky tendency.

5. I think I should've been born in the 50's-60's. Okay, so honestly I'm happy with my life now, but I love that whole time period, the music, the housewife stereotype, the family roles, even the clothes. My idea of a perfect moment would be me vacuuming my spotless house along to Doris Day's music while wearing a pretty skirt with pearls on and my casserole baking in the oven. :D

6. I have a difficult time not smiling when I talk. It all started back in 5th grade when I kept getting repeatedly asked what was the matter. I felt fine inside, but people kept thinking I looked sad. I remember making a conscious effort to try to smile more and show the happiness I felt inside. So, skip about 12 years into the future and there I am in the hospital in labor with my first baby Claire. I was induced and it was taking forever for me to progress, they wouldn't start my epidural until I was dilated to a certain point, and it was agony. I was really hurting and my nurse came in to check on me. I remember through this fog of pain her telling me, "It's okay, you don't have to smile." It was then that I realized I might have a problem with this. :D No joke. Well, the only thing I want to say about this is that if I'm smiling at you, it is because I want to. I am a naturally happy person and I really do love talking and visiting with others. So don't think for a moment that my smile is not real!

The funny thing about this 6 quirky things assignment was that at first I couldn't think of anything! I actually wrote the first two and thought, "that's it. I'm just not a quirky person." :D Guess I was wrong. Out of a desire to protect my personal dignity, I'm going to stop blabbing on myself and choose three lucky friends to do this same thing. Actually, if you all want to you can, it's fun to have a reason to sit and think about yourself and personal tendencies. I'd specifically like for: Sarah Quilter, Stacy Mcallister, and Sara Powell to do this!

2008-09-12T19:29:00.000-07:00

Hello there, just wanted to give you an update on what's going on.

1. Claire informed me on Sunday that she and her friend Saffi both want to marry Caleb (a cute little guy in their Sunbeam church class). It's okay though because they have worked out a good solution, "whomever grows up the fastest gets to marry him." Claire was pretty pleased with this stipulation, I think she thinks she'll win the growing race since she's taller.

2. I've started doing a little home pre-school group with two other moms up here for Claire and her friends. We're just searching for free internet sites and ideas to match up themes for each week. I'm doing next week with the letters E and F. Any good ideas or internet sites I should check out?

3. Our computer crashed. Seriously!!! I always seem to have a good excuse for why my blog isn't up to date, but it's valid. Sadly, I hadn't backed up my pictures for the last 5 months. Just another reason why I should stay on top of this blog and regularly upload pictures to it!

4. We bought a bike trailer to hitch up to Bryce's bike and cart the girls around in. We've only used it a handful of times, but it's been wonderful! Rochester has miles and miles of paved bike paths that wind all over the city. I am not very good on my bike, turns still make me nervous and I'm about 76% of the time on the right side of the path, but I really enjoy it. I have visions of turning pro on my bike and using it hard core in the summer. I'd also really like to go on a biking/camping trip some time.

Hmm, when I started this post I really thought I'd have more news to give. :) I guess I'll just wrap things up by saying that life is good and I feel blessed every day. I'm writing this while waiting for the girls to settle down for the night. They think it's funny to keep leaving their room. Claire just barely came sneaking down the stairs and when Bryce asked her why she was here, she said, "Cady told me to!" Bryce then asked her if Cady is her boss. Does this sound familiar to anyone? Mom? Well, wish us luck! Hope you all are having a great day.

A slice of our life

2008-08-28T19:03:00.000-07:00

<
Here is Cady doing almost what she does best. Normally she is sitting up reading to herself while creating chaos with our bookshelf. She loves books and reads them whenever she has the opportunity to do so. :) Don't know where she gets that from.

Claire's big kick now is building farms out of blocks and then arranging all of our counting animals in it. This has been a multiple-time-a day activity for us lately. Good thing I enjoy it too.

Sunday sing-a-longs. We've started inviting friends over to our house just about every Sunday to sing songs while Bryce plays. We recently bought the complete Disney Songbook, which has proved to be a great investment! Now no one can claim they don't know the song in order to escape singing. :)

a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_46-rZOaKkW0/SLdclj9lO1I/AAAAAAAAAfk/CMZQrfYVBls/s1600-h/IMG_0966.JPG">

This is my masterful creation that I took to Enrichment. If you are thinking that you'd be embarrassed to bring this out in public, you are absolutely right!!! Lets just say that I improvised and made a 2 layer 8 inch round cake into a 4 layer stacked cake, which happened to be assembled lopsided, and then had glumpy thick whipped cream frosting so you couldn't even tell it was cute different sized layers, and to top the whole disaster off, I didn't even get the cherries on top centered correctly!! :D Yes, it was an embarrassing entrance that I made with my cake in front of our wards entire Relief Society. Jean the amazing cook strikes again!

Me and my Beehives group. These girls are adorable! I'm so impressed with them, they are a joy to work with.

This is a new picture that I've added to our home. I love it! I get a little thrill every time I see it, probably because I bought it half off at a thrift store. It's an original oil painting and it reminds me of beautiful North Carolina. I put it in my bathroom over the toilet. Unfortunate place to put such a pretty piece, but it fit perfectly there and it makes me smile every time I go in there now. What a bargain!

We're alive!!!

2008-08-28T19:02:00.000-07:00

Okay, once again, sorry about the delay in postings. Brace yourself for a whole bunch of random pictures, I'll try to do better at regularly updating from now on. :)

Our wonderful spontaneous vacation!

2008-08-12T22:48:00.000-07:00

We went on our first real spontaneous family vacation this past weekend. Bryce didn't have class thursday afternoon or Friday, so we were looking for something to do during that time. Bryce's co-resident Tyson told him that his family was going down to Nauvoo at that time, and Bryce informed him that we were coming along too. :D I hate to crash a family vacation like that, but I'm so glad we did! Hopefully the Teeples didn't mind too much, we sure are grateful for their willingness to have us along.

So, we drove up on Thursday afternoon and arrived in Nauvoo IL that evening just in time for the Nauvoo pagent. After the pagent, we went to a campground and set up our tent in the dark with the light of our car headlights. We awoke the next day and spend the day walking around Nauvoo visiting the different historical sights, seeing a children's play "Anna Amanda" (really cute and well done), and then did the Nauvoo pagent pre-show activities. We then went back to our campsite and made smores and sang songs. Saturday morning we packed up our campsite and took turns with the Teeples in going to the temple. Wow, I have never been in such a beautiful place before. This was definitely my most favorite part of the trip.

This was our second camping trip as a family, and it went a thousand times better than our first time. The girls both loved camping. In fact, Claire spent the whole time we were exploring Nauvoo asking me if we could go back to our tent. :) Funny girl. We had air matresses and so I had no complaints with camping either. The only down side was the 7 ticks we found during our stay, one of which had bitten Cady and had to be pulled out with tweezers. Yuck.

I only wish we had a camera during this trip. We are definitely going to be visiting Nauvoo again during the next 5 years. If anyone is planning on going, let me know and we'll drive up again too. :) I just loved that place, it was so beautiful, full of history, and such an example of the faith and testimony of the early members of our church. I loved this vacation. What a wonderful note to end our summer break with.

Yes, sadly, break is over. Bryce is going to school full time now, but I'll take it anyday over his residency last year. If anyone is confused, Bryce is still an OMS resident, but he'll be in med school the next 3 years getting his MD as well. Supposedly, the first and fifth years are the hardest in his 6 year program. I'm happy to be at the point that we are at now.

Random musings

2008-08-02T21:11:00.000-07:00

Well, don't expect anything deep here, it's just been a while since I've posted and I wanted to update you.

Our memory card has been mailed in, so hopefully we'll have a new one and be able to take pictures again in about a month. Sigh. I think we're not going to buy memory cards off the Internet anymore---it takes too long to exchange them! I'll try to do occasional posts in the meantime, but for some reason I feel like I have to have pictures in order to make it a real post. :) I'll do my best to get over that mentality.

Bryce and I went to the St Paul temple today for the first time. We weren't sure how to manage this before because it is about a 6-7 hour trip away from our home when all is said and done. We've been living here over a year now, and we finally came upon a plan that works, a kid exchange! We left our kids with a family up here that we are good friends with, and then next month they will drop of their kids with us to go. So simple, and yet so perfect. :) I can't remember who came up with this idea, but I know it wasn't me. It feels really good to go to the temple again, I'm excited to be back on track with this!

I have a new calling as the 2nd counselor in Young Womens. I'm so excited about this!!! I have wanted to be involved with the YW program ever since I left it as a Laurel. It's so fun getting to work with the Beehives. I'm in charge of the weekly activities. I want to know if anyone has some fun ideas for activities that they have done? Any traditions? I remember doing a friendship basket on Sundays, and an all-nighter, anyone other ideas?

Claire has a new pet lizard that she got from a birthday party. It is a blue rubber thing and Claire has named it, "Lizzy." She carries it around in a little jewelry box and has slept with it for two nights now. This is definitely a big change from the usual horde of baby dolls that she keeps in her bed.

Cady has discovered the naughty thrill that kids get from saying the words, "poop" and "pee." She inserts those two words at random in her sentences, the songs she sings, and when she plays with her toys. While at our friend's house today, she told them she was making a recipe that consisted of "popcorn and pee." I keep reminding her that "Those are yucky words, Princesses never say yucky words, we only say those words when we are in the bathroom." For some reason, what I'm telling her is just not sinking in. I'm trying not to make a huge deal about it, and I'm sure this is just a stage and will pass. (I'm hoping at least!)

Memories

2008-07-25T13:33:00.000-07:00

I saw this on Johanna's blog and thought it would be fun. It's about memories. You can do it for Bryce and/or me.

As a comment on this blog, leave one memory that you and I had together, or one of the first memories you have of me. It doesn't matter if you knew me a lot or a little, anything you remember.

Hope I don't regret doing this! :) I look forward to hearing your memories.

Grilling Problems

2008-07-23T12:58:00.000-07:00

**As a disclaimer, I got our camera to work temporarily by deleting the old pictures off. We'll be going for a few weeks without a camera after this though because I'm mailing in our memory card to get a new one.**

So, I love my new grill, but wow, we've got issues with each other! I have attempted to use it a few times before, I've gotten okay with chicken, only slightly black around the edges. Today was my first attempt at hamburgers. In my defense, the package said to cook them on medium low heat for 5 minutes on each side. I followed it exactly, even set my timer in the kitchen so I'd know when to go out and flip them. I did think it was weird when I noticed all of the smoke coming out of the grill and saw flames when I opened it to flip them, but I decided not to do anything about it because I was following the directions. Well, 5 minutes later after flipping them, I got this.

I wish I was kidding about this and said I used some chocolate cookies for the picture or some black rocks but sadly, I can't. Bryce shook his head at me and gave me some sound advice. He said, "Jean, with grills, there are no recipes. You can't set a timer and walk away, you've got to be out there with it." It makes sense, and I think I'm going to take his instructions to heart. Ah well, you live and learn, right? Seriously, I should make a book out of the pictures of my dinners gone wrong.

Final Score: Grill:1 Jean:0

We're back!

2008-07-23T12:52:00.001-07:00

We got back recently from a trip to Las Vegas to visit with the Leavitts. As usual, we had a great time. We went swimming, played at parks, rode a carousel, and went up to Bryce's grandparents cabin up Cedar Mountain in Southern UT (with his sisters and parents and grandparents and aunt and her family--I think we counted 27 people total) where we went on walks, had a bonfire, and spent a lot of time just playing games and being with family. I loved seeing the girls paly with their cousins, they were all so darling! Thanks Rhonda and Ronnow for a wonderful week!!The only bad thing about our trip was that my camera wasn't working!!! For those of you who know me, my camera is literally a part of my body during our vacations. I love to take pictures and I'm sure I drive everyone crazy while doing so. :) Well, on the bright side, the Leavitt's got a reprieve from me lingering about taking pictures of them when they least expect it. I did sucker Ronnow (Bryce's dad) into taking some pictures for me, so when I get them I'll post them here for you to see.

My sewing project is finished!!

2008-07-02T15:23:00.000-07:00

Yes!!!!! This is the best feeling---I've FINALLY finished my sewing project!!! I sewed matching dresses for Claire, Cady, and their friend Saffi. I also sewed them matching purses. I wasn't originally planning on making the purses but the pattern included it and I had leftover fabric for them. This was a lot of work, but it feels good having done it. I didn't actually dislike making them, it was just a bit stressful. I think the sleeves and zippers were the hardest part for me. It was also hard sewing this while still being a mom. I'm afraid I've been a rather crummy mom the last few days. I've really been trying to power through this. Fortunately, the girls were happy playing together (happy with a lot of intermittent arguments and tears). :) I think I'll wait a while before I start another project.

The project was a lot of work, but man I love the end result! They look so adorable in their dresses. Just don't look at any of the seams too closely. :)

Rhonda has gotten me interested in quilting projects. I didn't realize that quilting can be used in making many different little projects, not just huge blankets. Perhaps I'll make a fun purse or table runner or baby blanket. Any ideas?

Once again, what happens when I tell them to smile. :)

Twirling Princesses. The first things these girls do whenever they put on a dress is twirl in it. All three of them were spinning around like tops while I took this picture. I think they were pleased.

All dressed up. After I took the first two pictures, they went back and loaded up on bracelets and necklaces and put on their shoes. Saffi even found a crazy little head band. This is probably their most favorite activity, accessorizing.

The Zoo

2008-07-02T15:09:00.001-07:00

We have a little local zoo that is close to our house. The zoo is free and is filled with native Minnesota animals that have been resuced. We love going here, you've probably seen posts of our trips here before. On this particular morning, we were early and needed to kill some time before the zoo actually opened. We found a cute little playground that was right next to a field of cows. Have I mentioned we enjoy watching cows? The charm has not worn off yet. :) I particularly love the barn and silohs in the background. I think this is a beautiful part of the country.

Watching the cows

a href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_46-rZOaKkW0/SGv-tLMjB9I/AAAAAAAAAeU/CLjE8Blq0nM/s1600-h/IMG_0666.JPG">
What happens when I tell them to smile for the camera. Seriously, this is why I get professional pictures taken of them in addition to the 1,000 a year that I take at home.

<
Walking to the picnic area. I love the big leafy trees out here, some parts of this place remind me of good old North Carolina.

Our weekend

2008-06-24T18:07:00.000-07:00

We had some special visitors come spend this past weekend with us, Bryce's old Bishop, Brother and Sister Johnston. We had a really nice time, they were wonderful company.

We were driving down to show them the Mayo clinic and noticed a sign at the fair grounds that said Cattle show. Being flexible in our schedule, we decided to pull in and check it out. It was really neat! There were all different ages of kids showing their livestock, and these cows were impressive! I never knew a cow could have fat legs, but these did! I also never knew that a cow's hide could look so glossy and sleek when brushed.

We were sitting at the top of some bleachers and Bryce got a big surprise when he suddenly realized that a cow was licking his back pocket! One of the largest cows I've ever seen was sitting right behind us, tied to the back of the bleachers! The girls loved petting that large sleek black cow.

Getting Artsy

2008-06-24T17:55:00.000-07:00

We pulled out the old side walk chalk the other day. I'm afraid I got a bit carried away and used up most of the sidewalk with my doodles. Poor Claire. :) She didn't complain though, so we had fun. You can tell her bangs are getting in her face a lot, notice the chalk all over her face from her hands pushing them out of her eyes.

I've been tagged!!

2008-06-24T15:56:00.000-07:00

Okay, my friend Amber tagged me and I thought this was a really fun idea. I am supposed to take 10 pictures immediately after being tagged and post them. These are random pictures, but it gives you a good idea of what is going on right now. I am now tagging Shelise and Johanna.

This is a picture of our beautiful new house, complete with recycling bin and scraggly trees. :) We planted the two trees in the front of our yard last fall. One made it, but the other is struggling. What do you think? Will the one on the left survive or should we plant a new one?

This is Bryce's pride and joy, his garage! He built the workbench and the shelves along the wall. It really turned out nice. Crazy how much junk we have, isn't it? The sad thing is, I've already been through it twice trying to weed down our belongings and couldn't bear to part with anymore of it. I think I've got a bit of the pack-rat in me.

This is a picture of the tree in our backyard that I spend a good part of my day running circles around. Swiper loves to grab the girls stuffed animals and run out of the sliding door down to this tree. Naturally, I follow him out in hot pursuit and then together we do laps around and around this tree. My strategy is to keep him running long enough to tire him out, it's the only way I can catch him!

My growing garden. I've got corn growing in the big square bed and tomatoes and bean plants and cucumbers growing in the background. They are all rather small right now, but it's exciting!

This is our upstairs hallway right now. The girls just got through building a "train." The train is composed of books that are laid out in a long line down our hallway and then the girls place all of their stuffed animals and baby dolls on the books. I actually started cleaning this up and had already put up the books by the time I realized it would be a cute picture. As is, you can still see the animals that used to be riding on the train.

I got this crazy idea last week to make matching dresses for the girls. I'm almost 3/4 done with Claire's dress. I've just been putting off doing the zipper, those things really intimidate me! I'm thinking in about two more weeks I'll be able to post pictures of them wearing their matching dresses! Oh, and I've also decided that sewing clothes is definitely a hobby and something to do because you enjoy it (rather than to save money). Did I mention this is the first and last time I'm doing this? :)

This is a picture of another project I've got going, my scrapbook! I have over 600 pictures from our 4 years in Oregon that I'm now trying to scrapbook. I've got all of the pictures stuck on the right pages, now I'm just trying to label them all. This Oregon scrapbook is 110 pages. I'm suffering a bit of burn out, it's taking me forever to finish it!

This is sweet Claire in her little kitchen. She is huge into organizing things right now. :) Just a chip off of the old blocks, she's got a healthy dose of compulsive cleaning and neatness from both of us! You can see in the picture that she has neatly stacked all of the plates, food, and hung the little teacups up throughout her kitchen.

Cady and me. We posed for an impromptu picture just for this. In retrospect, this would've been a good day for me to do makeup and hair. :) Cady's still wearing her tootsie roll pop on the sides of her mouth (yes, my kids love me and are bribed well to do so!).

The Problem with Wheat Bread

2008-06-13T06:02:00.000-07:00

Hi guys, thought I'd give you an update on my bread making. :) The problem with baking my own bread 4 loaves at a time is...my girls don't want to eat it!!! Picky picky, I think they have a problem with the way my last batch didn't rise at all. Too bad we have to eat it all before I make more. See, that's how we made it through dental school---frugalness! The good news is that we're working on our last loaf of bread now, so hopefully tomorrow I can attempt at try number two. Wish me luck with the yeast!

Happy Birthday to me!

2008-06-06T12:23:00.000-07:00

Okay, I know it's not my birthday yet, but I already got my present and it is so exciting that I want to share it with you! I got a.....drumroll please.....Bosch!! My parents gave us a wheat grinder for Christmas, we bought 900 pounds of wheat for food storage, and this was the only thing holding me back from home made bread! All I have to say is, Boschs are amazing! I tried to make bread the next day (notice the word tried) and even though I didn't quite do it correctly, the Bosch made it so easy to do and I didn't mind it not turning out. (I didn't put enough yeast or flour in it). The Bosch came with a recipe book for all kinds of breads. Once I get Rhonda's whole wheat bread recipe down, I think I'm next going to try to conquer pita pockets. I'm going to try to make all of our bread from now on. Goodness knows, I've got enough wheat to do it for at least 2 years! I'm really excited about this, here's hoping my next batch of bread turns out better! This is the best birthday present ever. :D

The Leavitt's visit!!

2008-06-06T11:21:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I actually typed everything up and was posting pictures from this trip last week, but my computer froze up and everything was lost. I got frustrated and left the computer alone for the last 4 days. Sorry this has been so delayed, but here it is!

We have been positively spoiled. Bryce's parents came up to visit us the other week. Rhonda and Ronnow arrived Thursday afternoon and Ronnow stayed until Sunday and Rhonda stayed until the following Thursday. We had so much fun!! Unlike most of our trips, we didn't go around everywhere and sight see the whole time. :) Perhaps because we already saw most of the touristy things Rochester has to offer during their trip here this past fall.

At any rate, we spent a lot of time at home just relaxing and playing with the girls. Ronnow helped Bryce complete his garage, update our kitchen light fixtures, and build a shelf to mount our microwave over the stove top. I'm loving all of the upgrades in my kitchen!! We also bought a grill that weekend, and Ronnow cooked the best steaks ever! It was so fun to see the girls with their grandparents, they read lots of books together, roared at each other (mainly Cady and Grandpa, and went on walks and played on the swings.

While Rhonda was here we went to our favorite story time and then saw the Byron zoo. We also went to visit my friend's parents who are Amish. My friend left the Amish community 4 years ago, and she has been so patient answering all of my annoying questions about the Amish. I've learned a lot of interesting things. For example, would you believe that she's never even heard of Amish friendship bread?? And they hand wash all of their clothing and hang it out to dry on the line outside, even in the negative weather during the winter! Interesting things. At any rate, her mom makes hand sewn quilts so Rhonda got to visit with her and ask her quilting questions (she's very big into quilting). I loved getting to go inside the house and see what a real Amish family lives like. It was not as different as I had expected it to be. The only difference was there was no overhead lighting, the toilets consisted of a hole in a plywood bench and the waste gets pumped out twice a year into a big truck (it was just like a permanent portapotty), and the furniture was made of wood. The people were very friendly and they practically had their own built in petting zoo with all of the animals they were raising (pigs, goats, sheep, cows, horses). We had a great time.

The end of the trip came far too soon, I was sorry to see them go. There is just nothing better than having family around. We've been trying to sell them on Rochester so they'll move out here, but Ronnow said we'd have a better chance of doing that if we moved back to Oregon. Definitely a possibility. :)

I'm sorry that I don't have very many pictures. I carried my camera around everywhere with me that week, I just kept forgetting to get it out and take the pictures! Here are the few that I have from that wonderful week:

It was definitely nice and cozy in the backseat. Rhonda was a great sport about it though. :)

Claire was so excited the night before her grandparents came that she made up her bed all pretty to show them. She actually fell asleep on top of her covers because she didn't want to mess up her bed.

Beware----addictive test!

2008-05-14T19:19:00.001-07:00

78 words

Speedtest

This is a fun little challenge, but be careful! I have spent way too much time on this trying to improve my score.

The Finished Products!

2008-05-12T19:34:00.000-07:00

So, I forgot to put up some pictures of the fruit of my father's labor. :) The first is our fabulous swing set, complete with kids enjoying it. The second is of my little garden corner, the big square garden bed in the middle was already there, we added the box going along the fence. This will be my first attempt at gardening, and even if worst comes to worst, at least my boxes look nice! :D

My dad's visit!

2008-05-11T17:54:00.000-07:00

We were so thrilled to have my dad come up and visit last week. My parents had a goal of giving each of their kids/grand kids a swing set. My dad decided last Sunday to drive up to see us on Monday and build us a swing set. Dad arrived on Tuesday night, worked all day Wednesday on the swing set, and worked all day Thursday building me a garden box and filling it up for me. Dad left early Friday morning, much too soon for me, :) but just in time because he escaped having to help Bryce build his garage shelves. The girls loved having him to play with and read books to them, and it was wonderful having family here again! We've used the swing set a good 1/3 of every day since it was put up. What a great gift, thanks dad!

Pretty Pretty Princess

2008-04-28T11:25:00.000-07:00

I was in a children's exchange store when I found one of my favorite games there, Pretty Pretty Princess. I LOVED this game when I was little!! Of course, I had to buy it. Of course, my girls loved it. We must've played it 5 times in a row before I pleaded off to start cooking dinner. I took some pictures of Cady, she was just sitting at the table decking herself out in all of the jewelry, so sweet. :) I then took some pictures of Claire in the next room. Claire was wearing her new dress and just looked so pretty in pink.I love my little girls.

Claire's trip to the Dentist!

2008-04-28T11:13:00.000-07:00

Claire went to the dentist for the first time! She was so excited. The little vaccum thing scared her everytime, but she was very sweet and cooperated with it. Claire got a little sleeping beauty toothbrush and picked out a ring when she was done. She's already looking forward to going back next year!

Cady sat in the corner with me, eating it all up. Cady kept saying, "Is it my turn now?" I told Cady next year it will be her turn, but as a consolation she did get to sit in the dental chair and take a ride up and down on it before we left.

Frantic Food storage!!!

2008-04-28T10:58:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I'm not really frantic about this, but it's definitely my number one focus right now. I've had an increasing feeling that I need to stock up and get organized with food storage. I'm sure you've been hearing things about this too, it seems to be every where now. In fact, so many people are buying food storage that bishop storehouses are out of wheat (mine is getting more in two weeks, hopefully it'll stick around long enough for me to get some), and Sams club is limiting the amount of rice people can buy (4 bags a trip). The interesting thing is that my entire family (on both sides) is pushing to do the same thing: get food storage.

I have talked to several different people about food storage and their approaches to it, and I've selected a plan that I think will be best for us. In fact, I think my plan is so brilliant that I'm going to share it with you. What? I'm humble. :D

I have planned out 20 different meals that I can make out of food storage items. I am going to have a box for each month of the year, and in the box will be all of the ingredients necessary to make 15 of the meals. Then, when each new month starts, I will go down to the basement and select the box labeled for that month. I will unpack that box into my cabinets, and go shopping for 15 new meals worth of ingredients. I will then re-stock the box and put it down in the basement until I need it the following year.

Bryce and I decided on 15 meals a month because that gives us a few days for leftovers, eating out, and variety in our menu for the month. We are also going to store the recommended amount of wheat, rice, legumes, honey, etc. so we'll have long term storage as well.

I love this plan because I will know exactly what to do with my boxes of food and everything will be rationed out so I'm organized and fully prepared. Also, I'll be using my food regularly and we will be getting our money's worth out of our food storage. I think it'll be healthier for our family as well, eating more wheat and beans and such. I'm hoping this will save us more money in the long run, I seem to go to Walmart at least once every two days it seems!

I've got an excel file with all of my food storage recipes written on it, I can email the full recipes to you if you want them. Let me know and I'll email them directly to you. Let me know if any of you have any special tips, recipes, or approaches you'd like to share...I'm open for suggestions!

Claire's new pajamas!

2008-04-07T13:16:00.001-07:00

So, after having it sit in the top of my closet for 3 years, I finally whipped out my sewing machine and tried to make something for Claire. I took sewing lessons when I was younger and again my senior year of high school, but it has never come naturally to me. I don't think I have ever even sewn for 5 minutes straight without having to get out my trusty old seam ripper and make some corrections. :) I chose a simplicity pattern for pajamas and Claire chose out some Strawberry shortcake fabric. After two straight days of sewing and the sewing machine needle going through my nail only once, it was finished! The needle did actually go through my nail, it hurt like crazy! (I had some help on that mishap, Claire decided to hand turn the needle on the side while I was attempting to fix the bobbin thread.) At any rate, here's the finished product. :) I feel a burst of pride everytime I see her wearing it...which so far, is 4 nights in a row! I think I may give this sewing thing another try in a few weeks for Cady---but I'll do it when the girls aren't around to "help!"

Spring Break!

2008-04-07T12:36:00.000-07:00

We had a really great spring break! We decided to avoid flying and do a road trip down to VA to spend the week with my family. Flying has always been very stressful for our family, and really hard with Claire and Cady. Historically, one or both of them have cried from the time we get buckled up until the time we get off of the plane. Bryce and I both feel that we have lost years off of our lives from the stress of flying with these girls!! At any rate, we packed up our portable DVD players and stocked up on some books on tape from the library and proceeded to drive 19 hours to VA. The drive was very enjoyable, the girls were happy and we got to stop at a hotel and go swimming with them--which they absolutely loved. The only hitch in our drive was when we discovered 6 hours into the trip that our car power jack for the DVD player was not working. Other than that, things were great. :) We listened to Ella Enchanted and Little house in the Big woods. Our favorite pit stop was at a rest station in Kentucky. There were two workers sitting on a bench when we went inside and they showed us the gleaming brass pipes in the hallway that they had just finished polishing. Of course, we just had to get a picture of that! Then, one of the workers lowered the Kentucky flag for us so we could take a picture next to it. :) We were very impressed with Kentucky and their squeaky clean rest stops!

We arrived in VA in time to meet Buffy and Tim's new baby Eleanor George. (Isn't that such a cute name?). She is a beautiful little girl, she slept the whole time we were there. Tim & Buffy had invited the whole Bunton family up to be with them. It was nice a cozy with 19 people in their house, but we loved every minute of it. I think my favorite thing we did was visit the Historic Monticello house and see my cousin Nancy who is a tour guide up there. This was Thomas Jefferson's house and a really neat place, I loved learning about him and seeing what he had surrounded himself with in his house. We also got to go and stand in the dome that is pictured on the back of the nickle. :) Other than that, we spent a lot of time hanging out and playing Settlers of Katan, monopoly, accompanying my dad to go grocery shopping (we went through an insane amount of food!) and playing with the kids outside. Sadly, my camera ran out of batteries about 2 days into our trip...and of course the one thing I forgot to pack was a battery charger!! I've posted the few pictures I was able to take. Just know that I didn't do the trip justice. It was a great break, and really nice to see Bryce again too. :)

Bear Hunt Play group!

2008-04-07T12:22:00.000-07:00

One of our favorite days is Thursday, because it's play group day. There are two other moms who do this with me, 6 kids total. It's a blast, because Claire's best friends up here, Safi and Caleb, and Cady's friend Paige, do this with us. I took some pictures of them the other day because they were just so cute. We read the book called "going on a bear hunt," a really great book by the way. After reading it, we made a bear cave out of our couch cushions and a blanket. The kids had so much fun hiding in it pretending to be bears. Pretty frightening, aren't they?

After the fun of being bears, they decided they liked being in the cave so much that they just started carrying books inside and reading them there. Yes, it was a very easy and enjoyable play group day for me!

Oh, to be loved.

2008-03-11T22:11:00.000-07:00

Bryce has definitely been the hero around our house lately. With him being gone so much, the girls just can't get enough of him and he, poor guy, can't get any space. He laid down on the couch, completely exhausted, only to have two little monkeys climb up on his back and snuggle in. I was in the kitchen and I heard him sigh and then say, "At least I'm loved." :) There are definitely worse things.

There's no room!

2008-03-11T22:03:00.001-07:00

This is what Cady says every morning when we are all squished into my queen sized bed. Yes, all of us, including their blankies and bears too! Can you imagine how tightly packed we are when Bryce and I are in there too? We keep cycling through this terrible habit of letting the girls come into our bed at night. Normally Cady will come in around 3 am, and she fits fine in our bed. Then, Claire will occassionally wander into our room after that, and how can I tell her no when Cady is already in there? Rather than put Cady back in her bed and have her start crying and throwing a fit, I just scoot over more and let Claire climb on in. This is definitly not a recipe for a good night's sleep! And yet, they love our bed so much. Look at how blissfully content they are. :) What I need is a couple of nights in a row of really crummy sleep, and then I'll toughen up and tell them to sleep in their own bed.

Family Pictures

2008-03-11T21:56:00.000-07:00

The Mall playground

2008-03-11T21:34:00.000-07:00

One of our favorite places to go when we're getting restless is the mall playground. I love the nature theme of it, and the girls have a lot of room to run around. Too bad every one else likes to go there too. :) Free indoor play places are in high demand over here during the winter! Which, by the way, is lasting forever! We are extremely ready for Spring to come and the snow to melt. I've been told that things should get warmer and the snow should stop by May, although it has snowed in June before. Here's hoping that it doesn't happen this year!

Our Body Machine Girl!

2008-03-11T21:28:00.000-07:00

We have a book and tape called, "My body machine." It talks about eating healthy and keeping our body strong. Claire took this to heart, and has been eating lettuce ever since. I chopped some Romaine lettuce for a salad and she snuck the end of the bunch from the counter while I wasn't looking. She carried it over to her dinner plate and went to town on it. Yes, she really was tearing in to it. The funny thing was that she didn't even touch her salad with the yummy cucumbers and tomatoes and dressing on it. Well, I didn't complain. :) I'll let her eat my leftover lettuce any time!

How much is that doggie in the window...

2008-03-11T21:22:00.000-07:00

Swiper...what can I say about this dog. I alternate just about every minute between loving him and regretting having ever laid eyes on him. This is a picture I took of him one of the many times I had decided to sell him. I had to have a picture to post of him, right? Well, shortly after I took it, I changed my mind. This picture was taken minutes after he peed on my nice new couch for the first time. Sigh. I'm hoping that things will get easier with him once the weather gets nicer and we can take him outside to burn some of that energy off! :) Despite our woes with potty training him, we're going to keep him. For now that is...

Busted!!

2008-03-11T21:12:00.000-07:00

We gave the girls grapefruit one morning for breakfast and Bryce split his with me. I wasn't in the kitchen at the time, so he put it on the counter and told the girls to save it for me. As you can see, they didn't care for that suggestion. Claire went to her room, pulled out her little yellow chair, and they both climbed up and dug in...literally! Naughty, but very very cute.

Flower Child

2008-03-11T21:11:00.000-07:00

Claire did her hair herself. Like the flowers? I've started trying to make my own flower clips, and as you can see, Claire likes to wear them...all at once!

Lunchtime pictures

2008-03-11T20:54:00.001-07:00

So I find that I take the most pictures of my girls while they are eating. It's probably because that's the only time that they sit still for me. :) Don't mind the food on the table and their faces!

It's me!

2008-02-22T13:05:00.001-08:00

So, I figured out how to use the self timer on my camera now. It's a good thing, because I was starting to get worried that my kids weren't going to know what I used to look like when I get older. Anyway, here are the pictures. I wanted you to see Claire's new bangs too. I feel a sense of pride everytime I see them. I did that! Well, enjoy the pictures. It's kind of a 'death by pink' day over here. :)

Funny Man Bryce

2008-02-22T12:47:00.000-08:00

So...you're probably wondering what on earth is going on here. :) We got our new camera!! And of course, as soon as the girls were in bed I had to bust out the camera and try to figure out the cool tricks it can do. I discovered a really fun setting where if you hold down the button, it'll take multiple pictures back to back. Bryce was sitting next to me in bed, so he was the perfect person to test it out on. I turned over to him and started shooting, and he really got into the photo shoot! He just pulled these faces out of no-where. :D I don't think many of you have seen this side of Bryce before. Well, let me tell you, he's just full of it! One of the many reasons I love him...his photographic face. He's a natural on camera. ;)

We're still alive!!

2008-02-13T12:40:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone! Yes, it has been forever since I've posted. I'm sorry, but my camera is all funky. Despite Bryce having fixed it (yet again), this time I can't upload the pictures I take onto the computer. I'm hoping Bryce'll come home from work long enough to take a look at it and help me out some time this week. :) And no, I'm not exagerating about how much he's gone. Last night he came home at 4:30 am and slept for one hour before having to get up and go back to the hospital. Other than a very busy husband, things are going well for us. Claire has started her new ballet class---so cute! I also got brave (or judging by my previous experience with bangs you could say "foolhardy") and cut Claire some bangs. I think it turned out very well. Hopefully you can see them yourselves some time soon. Hope all of you are doing well also!

Christmas in Las Vegas!

2008-01-06T19:50:00.001-08:00

Yes, we're still alive. Sorry it's taken me a while to get back up and running. Here's our Christmas vacation in a nutshell:
We had a lot of fun in Las Vegas for Christmas this year. We went over to Bryce's Grandparent's house for the big Christmas Eve celebration. We had delicious prime rib for dinner and then the Trumans rounded up all of the cousins and dressed them up in authentic clothing from the nativity story while Uncle Tom read the nativity story. :) It was very cute. We then played chimes and at first couldn't figure out why all of the chimes were so terribly out of tune with the songs we were playing. Turns out, we were singing the songs completely in the wrong key! :D We then played a game Grandma Cynthia had set up, memory. She put a lot of work into preparing it and it was a lot of fun. The next morning all of the family showed up at the Leavitt's house in their Christmas pajamas from Grandma Cynthia and Grandpa Duke, and we opened more presents. We topped off our vacation by eating at Cafe Rio several times. Yummy! All in all, this was a wonderful Christmas. Hope you all had a great Christmas as well!

Snow Ball Fight!

2007-12-11T12:40:00.001-08:00

Non-Crappy Starring You! eCards on JibJab

Snow day!

2007-12-01T20:29:00.001-08:00

What fun! Today we got about 6 inches of snow as well as freezing rain. It snowed a good part of the day. It was funny, we got all bundled up at 7:30 am because the girls simply could not wait to go play in the snow. I carried the girls down our back stairs and went to get the snow shovel to start working on our driveway. I hadn't been working longer than 2 minutes and cleared more than 4 feet of our driveway (which is at least 30 feet long) before I heard Cady crying. I looked over at her and she hadn't moved from where I set her down. She was all done with the cold snow and ready to go back inside! Needless to say, Bryce ended up shoveling the driveway all by himself. Even though it was very cold (and windy) outside, the snow was really exciting. Claire went outside 4 different times, she couldn't get enough! This afternoon we had hot chocolate and cinnamon rolls and listened to the Carpenter's Christmas Album while we watched the snow. Life is good. :)

Ready for snow!

My short effort at shoveling our driveway.
What a man! Bryce hard at work.
Having fun in the backyard.
Claire looking out our front window, watching the snow.

Claire playing with the umbrella outside. :) Don't know where she got the idea, but she was having fun with it.

Cady's Birthday

2007-12-01T20:12:00.001-08:00

Cady turned 2 on November 25. It was a nice day, we celebrated by making a brownie cake and eating it with ice cream. :) We'll have a party next year.
Birthday girl!
Making the cake...licking the batter!
Eating the cake.

She's got the moves!

2007-12-01T20:08:00.000-08:00

We went to a Christmas concert in the mall given by the "Teddy Bear Band." This was a really cute event, and Claire was loving it. This is a clip of her dancing. What can I say, she got her moves from her dad. :D

30 things I'm thankful for!

2007-11-26T14:29:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I have just discovered that I was tagged (a week ago) by Tara to do a 30 things I'm thankful for. Sorry about the delay, but here goes!

1. Bryce. He is such a strength to me and works tirelessly. He is always up (and usually gone) while I'm still sleeping, comes home late and still helps with the girls and stays up at night with me.
2. My house. I can't even tell you how wonderful it is to no longer be in an apartment and have my own space. I can sing without worrying about my neighbors hearing me, practice piano whenever I want, and not feel like I need to explain to my neighbors that I really am a good mom even though my children are constantly crying. :D Privacy is great!
3. Being a stay at home mom. I am a free woman! I spend my days either cleaning (it's okay), cooking (I like that more), or playing with my girls and doing fun things with them. I honestly think I enjoy the story times and trips to the library more than they do. After apartment managing, I really appreciate the freedom I have to structure my days as I wish to.
4. Blogging. It's such a wonderful way to keep in touch and involved in my friends and families lives since we're so far away!
5. My free long distance. I love knowing I can call anyone at anytime.
6.Rochester. This is a great little place for families. On any day there are at least 3 things I can do to get out with my girls.
7. My ward. There are lots of families with husbands at the Mayo clinic, so there's a great support group of wives for me to connect with and little friends for Claire and Cady.
8. The library. I go there at least twice a week for books, movies, and music. Libraries just excite me. Anything you possibly wish to learn or read about is there for the taking, and free too!
9. Good music. Music makes me happy, it can perk up my mood in seconds.
10. Sleep. Sleep keeps me functioning and happy. I can always tell when I don't get enough sleep...I get weepy! Not pretty. :)
11. Cooking. I get a great sense of satisfaction from cooking a good meal. I'd never cooked before when Bryce and I got married, but I knew I wanted to make good meals for my family. Now, after 5 years of cooking almost every night (that's about 1,825 dinners), I'm starting to get some tried and true recipes. It's wonderful having all of those cooking experiences start to pay off!
12. My extended family (meaning parents, grandparents and siblings). Even though we are so far away from both our families, I love knowing that we have loving, supportive, and involved parents and siblings. My favorite times are when we're with family. I loved Portland, and I love Rochester, but my joy is never complete because we are not living near family. I eagerly await the day when that changes!

***Okay, so this is taking way longer than I had expected, and my girls are starting to get annoyed with me being on the computer, I'll just sum things up short and sweet from here on out.***

13. Facebook. I love re-connecting with my old friends!
14. My friends. It's great being able to pick their brains and see and copy what neat things they do with their children and families.
15. Tivo. Hmm, not sure about spelling, but since getting it I've felt so liberated from watching TV! I actually watch less TV now since I don't feel the pressure of watching it now or missing it forever.
16. Bedtime for the girls. I love having that extra 2 hours a day to myself!
17. Having 2 cars!
18. The dollar store.
19. My bedrobe. It's so nice and warm to put on when I get up in the middle of the night to settle down a crying child.
20. Swiper. That little puppy is so cute!
21. My camera. I have visions of making tons of cute scrapbooks for my children and to document our family history with.
22. Airplanes.
23. Eating macaroni and cheese (velveeta shells in particular) on a cold day.
24. A front sitting room without a TV or computer in it. Makes it so much easier to read my church stuff and visit with people without wasting time on media instead.
25. Nail polish. I really enjoy painting my girls and my own toenails (and Ronnow's too!). :D
26. That Bryce is no longer ward organist. It sure is nice to having him sit with me and the girls during sacrament meeting (when he makes it to church, that is).
27. That my girls like to cook with me. It is so much fun for us to make cookies together, a real fun bonding thing.
28. Hot baths and a good book.
29. Salt and Vinegar Chips.
30. My beautiful little girls!

I now tag Jill Bartholomew, Amy Schnegelberger & Buffy.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2007-11-25T19:20:00.000-08:00

Hello all! Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Sorry I haven't posted pictures in a while. I was convinced for about a week that my camera wasn't working anymore. This is funny, and a great example of why Bryce is so good for me. My camera started acting weird one morning and then totally died on me while I was trying to take pictures. I had charged the battery on it the day before and assumed we had simply dropped it one too many times. I was excited because I've been wanting a newer camera anyway. I started looking at after Thanksgiving sales in the papers, and selected the new camera I was going to buy. I told Bryce of our upcoming purchase, and he recommended trying to recharge the camera batteries before I went out and bought another camera. I thought that was a silly idea since I had just barely charged it, but I humored him. Surprise surprise, there was absolutely nothing wrong with our camera other than the batteries were low (I must've left it on). Once again, Bryce saves the day (and our checking account)! :D Needless to say, more pictures will be arriving shortly.

Our new Puppy!! (What was I thinking?)

2007-11-13T13:33:00.000-08:00

Well, it's true. We now have a puppy in our family. He seriously is, part of the family. I think it's impossible to have a puppy as just a pet. (Little did I know). We went to the pet store last week to look at Turtles (Bryce's preferred pet) and bunny rabbits (Claire's preferred pet) and kittens (my preferred pet). We walked out with the cutest little squirt of a dog and high hopes. He's a little yorkipoo (mom yorkshire terrier, dad a toy poodle). We named him Swiper in honor of Claire and Cady's favorite show, Dora the explorer. We are in the throes of potty training and teaching him that he can sleep alone in his crate at night. I have realized that I am way over my head here, so I'm currently checking out all of the puppy books at the library. Who knew there was so much to know about having a dog! I'm currently learning how to brush his teeth, clip his nails, train him to sit, importance of socializing at an early age, leash training, rationing food, and, of course, litter box training him. The last is definitely the hardest, if anyone has tips I'm all ears! :D In all honesty, I am enjoying him---it's just a much bigger responsibility than I had first anticipated. I tell myself that this was a good thing we got him now, because the girls absolutely adore him, and we'll have a good year or so before a new little Leavitt baby arrives, so hopefully this little guy will be perfectly trained and a great family dog by then. Wish me luck!

Where Swiper spends his days...being carried about in Claire's arms. I'm trying to teach her that he can (and should) walk on his own. :) It's a working progress!

Cady spending her breakfast time under the table holding Swiper instead of eating. Both Claire and Cady's first thought when they awake in the morning is to go play with Swiper.

This picture is hard to see, but Cady and Bryce are playing in background, while Claire has Swiper (poor dog) all bundled up in her special pink blankie on the floor.

This was Swiper's first and last walk outside. It's in the 20-40's temperature-wise outside now, and he was shivering so badly we had to take him back in after about 3 minutes.

Cady playing the piano last night with Swiper by her side. I thought it was a sweet little moment.