Yummies

Summing up all the fun times over this holiday season with family, friends and food, "yummies" just seemed to the perfect word :)

BYU Basket ball game with Kates & co.

And then HOME

Foosball was pretty popular this holiday.

Ty dominated the game and infuriated his

two older brothers win after win after win!

I'd just sit on the leather chair and watch it all play out. I don't do stress and competition, so watching was fine with me~

Happy 16th Birthday brumsy.

Little Hayley on cookie day...

...and we're back to foosball.

~~~~~

Daddy-o was my buddy this holiday.

We spent so much time together: cooking, watching movies, running to the office for emergency patients (slyly grabbing a see's candy out of the staff room before we left!), watching food network shows, planning new meals to make then getting on line looking up cookware we wish we could buy, staying up together new years eve watching The Mentalist, reading church books by the portable space heater, etc.

My first 3-D movie, and it might be my last. It was so strange. My eyes were wigging out trying to focus. Some things might just be meant to stay in 2-D for me :)

This was our new years eve fancy dinner adventure.

Sage lemon chicken

Garlic roast potatoes

Petit pois (french for green peas)

We were pleasantly surprised at how good everything turned out, cus sometimes recipes look and seem great, then just aren't.

~~~~~

Swedish pancakes and Belgian waffles

courtesy of grandma & grandpa Rowan

The cousins trickled in and out all morning. Grandma cooked in that kitchen from 7 until 11:30 am!

It's such a unique feeling to just 'know' and love these people we call "Family". I'm so grateful every time we get together in groups to know I can be with every one of them for eternity.

"Bound each to each"

After taking this photo with grandpa I then got to show him how on the iphone 4 (which he actually has too!) you can hold the phone and take a picture of yourself by reversing the camera...

like this! He's so funny. Gets such a kick out of learning new things.

Then it was off to Aunt Ellen's to pick fresh oranges off their tree. Then over to Uncle Matt's for games in the back yard. Mama and I stood off to the side and watched and took photos. It seemed like a boys event, so we let our boys have their time :)

I looked over from where I stood taking photos to see mama standing in my exact same stance taking photos as well. Like mother like daughter! It's fun when your mama can be a style inspiration to you. She's so beautiful.

Genuinely my favorite photo of these two.

Then in the evenings we'd bring the beast in to sit on her little bed and get out of the cold. Honestly thought she was ganna scratch the door down some nights to get in. She just knows where the party's at and wants to come in too :)

~~~Thanks for being amazing HOME~~~

Hold the Phone...

They've done it...

Provo has done the unthinkable...

They've rid my tuesdays of all that was special...

They've taken away dollar night at the local

Baskin Robbins!

It's almost painful to say it. After all...

Think of the memories:

Roommates say they know I'm out of town

when what is missing from the freezer?

Baskin Robbins

When family came into town, who was there?

Baskin Robbins

After a hard test, who was there?

Baskin Robbins

When roommates heart attacked my room,

what did one of the hearts say?

Baskin Robbins

When late night girl chats needed backup sustenance,

who was there?

Baskin Robbins

Congratulating me on a fantastic run, who was there?

Baskin Robbins

For family birthday cakes, who was there?

Baskin Robbins

Grandparents send me certificates every birthday

for 3 yrs. now to where?

Baskin Robbins

Introducing Tori to her first dollar scoop

EVER, from where?

Baskin Robbins

4 yrs and counting dollar nights w/Karin, where?

Baskin Robbins

Their only explanation?

New management

What the heck am I supposed to do on tuesdays now?!

10:44

{It all started around the early hour of 10:44 pm}

Caramel...

Plus pumpkin...

Plus dance...

Plus friends...

And you're ganna get some crazy results.

I don't even know how many parties have begun past 10:44 in the evening.

Ingredients for the food may change,

but ingredients for fun pretty much stay the same:

FrIends

Nutz

Saturdays are my shopping days.

I could seriously spend hours in Sunflower Market.

Today's creation was trail mix.

This is a happy concoction for me because it involves three essential ingredients...nuts, fruit and chocolate.

I used:

~walnuts

~Almonds

~banana chips

~Cranberries

~Ghiradelli dark chocolate chips

Hard to go wrong there.

Tomorrow's experiment???

Chocolate Walnut Meringue Cookies

{I'm teaching my first R.S. lesson tomorrow, so I'm hoping that bringing a treat for the girls will make the whole experience all just a little sweeter}

Remember

For some reason, there are faces I remember

and people I think of quite often

for months and years after returning home

from my trips around the world.

This little man is one of those 'remembering' ones.

He is the one from my post, "Hands."

After having this man come to my mind so many

times, I asked my friend Raegan, with me here,

if she knew how to track down this photo.

~Thank you forever Raegan~

{An excerpt from "Hands" where I talk about meeting him. For complete post, click on

the highlighted "hands" above.}

Before we left I had the chance to work deep in the colony. Three others and I took our supplies and went to two people who couldn't make it out to us. The first little man. No words. We found him sitting on the cement floor with a cloth wrapped around him, no hands, swollen 'feet', and bones of knees and elbows practically visible beneath the paper thin leather skin of his failing body. Miserable. Just miserable living conditions. I just wonder who he used to be and what it has been like to see his body, his life, and his dignity as a human being just slowly crumble away from him. Sitting there. Just sitting there on a cement floor, in the depths of a maze like community as the flies come and feed on his sores. He doesn't even move. I don't know what to make of some of the trials people of this world are made to

suffer through in this life.

Hat-trick

In soccer, a hat-trick is when you make three goals in one game.

I'm not Ty...so...this wasn't exactly what I did.

However,

I did run my first 1/2 MARATHON!

(You can just see me and Brooke's heads behind the girl in red)

The last .5 mile runway was just packed with people

lining both sides. There were just under 3,000 runners and

lots and lots of friends and fans.

We finished in 2:03:27 and

ran the WHOLE 13.1 miles!

Chugged a water bottle then

immediately fell to the ground.

It was so fun to have my roommate to run next to

and pace with me.

This had been a New Years resolution and something

I've wanted to do for SO long.

Seriously, it was one of the most fun physical

activity things I've done. Running through the canyon

with all the leaves on the trees and ground, snow on the

mountain tops, and 3,000 fellow runners

all around me (some very much in costume, since

it was halloween and all)...

At one point I turned off my ipod and just listened

to the river we were running along and the

rhythmic pounding of thousands of shoes

on the pavement.

BEST TIME!

Three of our friends came to cheer us on.

Thanks guys!

Then I went to Ky's to watch the Giants game

while she got ready for a party.

Let's just say I was a little too tired to join her.

So instead of partying, I went home and made

a casserole with Kaitlin and Trevs....

and then homemade Oreos with orange frosting...

and then peanut butter bars...

and then...just kidding.

So my day was a three fold plus, or hat-trick!

Marathon, friends, and cooking.

~Can't wait for my next run~

A sparkly new job

I got a second job!

Now, three days a week, after I put my little preschoolers on the bus, I go to Lehi and do ABA (applied behavior analysis) therapy privately with a little girl in her home in the evenings.

Today was my first session with her, aaaaannd

as part of one of the reward sessions, we painted her nails...

and then mine. haha. Doesn't everybody know glitter nail polish over acrylic is the new wave in fashion?!?!

I'm getting them done again soon enough, so I didn't care.

And, I'm quickly learning that nothing I wear to either job is going to stay 'nice' for long. My once-nice-shoes have now lost 4 of the 12 gems thanks to having my feet stepped on only about, um, I don't know, maybe 20 times a day. And I frequently come home with food, snot, slobber, and bubbles on my clothes and in my hair.

Today, I came home with banana down the left leg of my jeans; I found rice in my hair from the girl I helped to feed lunch, bubbles on my shirt, and play-dough under my fingernails.

So...

it's not glamorous work, or all that sparkly, but I love the little ones.

.

~~~At least I'll go into motherhood with my eyes wide open and at least a small idea of what to expect!~~~

115 is an insane #

I drove down to Vegas last weekend to support daddy-o on his ride.

He and his brother, Uncle Kevin, rode 115 miles on their bikes.

Insane. Exhausting. A once-in-a-lifetime-experience...

or so I thought.

The night before they were all pumped full of pasta, water, and had everything out ready to grab at 5 the next morning. I came downstairs and surprised them around 4:45 am to see them off. They had tons of gatorade, 'gue' (some electrolyte pudding-type stuff which I actually like), electrolyte chews, cliff bars, etc.

That night, after coming in the house and immediately falling to the floor, we heard nothing but "Ah", "Oh", "That was crazy!", "I can't stand that gue!", "Oh that mile 67...or 90...". I guess someone named Bernie asked my Uncle Kevin if he would ever do something like this again. He said, "Bernie...tomorrow this bike is on Ebay!" And daddy said, "I told Marie to shoot me if I ever talk about doing something like this again!"

This was Saturday.

On Monday, daddy texts me saying he's already thinking about doing something like it again.

I guess it was fun!

Brought them a curb-side lunch.

Then, of course grandma took us out for food, multiple times!

With grandma, you can always count on food and shopping. LOVE it~

Costco

...they always have the most amazing things.

One of my favorite lines from that new show "Modern Family" goes something like this:

"I'm like Costco...I'm big, I'm cheap, and I dare you not to like me."

How true that is. I mean, who doesn't love a good taster from Costco???

Thank you Costco, for the joy you bring to my life.