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

<
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="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4EHNfxUtWvKEaT_tP4Wc0xtt67Of5IPUBdOJxMlFihNZK_clrFVMoXaR7XGK3tgVQSAcZvJyP6KnP_Ig2aV1-qDZTksQvEISD5vkLnxxT-d_8CEESWZfsxcpkO_KeRXvlnptIH0dVDtk/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!!!

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!

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

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

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

**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!

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!!

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

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="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPlV2RdQO4NdZ24x4ahEyjGM4okmoVmI19ug9PHEKDMMaTEw9tuWFDk975_bIIkH_mwCXM2QDq1UA4uWQu9Z5boU44wfe-oikNUYwvEtvFwSbAjy32cj4L4eV3jEta29Gx1wtFUwiIW2w/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.