Great experience.

The other night I was talking with my mom on the phone and I mentioned how healthy the family has been this winter. Claire and I both had a cold over Christmas break, but other than that we have had no throwing up or even runny noses. So what do you know, one hour later Cole wakes up in his bed, crying really hard. He was pretty hysterical and just cried and cried. He kept putting his hand over his mouth. He said his mouth hurt. This went on for about 30 minutes with him crying very loudly and brent and I trying to do anything we could to calm him down. Finally I asked Cole if he wanted Daddy to give him a blessing. He said yes..So Brent gave him a blessing. As soon as Brent started talking, Cole got quiet and closed his eyes. When Brent was done with the blessing I took Cole into his room and laid him down..He was asleep within 30 seconds. He slept all night and woke up happy. He said his mouth didn't hurt anymore. He never showed another sign of being sick. It was pretty amazing. The priesthood is so powerful. It was definately a testimony strengthening experience.

Decorating advice!

Help! We need your advice. Brent and I are thinking about replacing our countertops. But we keep putting the project off because we aren't sure what to do. Brent would like to go with a darker color,(dark grey, black) but i'm not sure how that would look against the white fridge, stovetop, etc. We are just having a hard time deciding. So check out the picture and give us your advice...please! As I look at this pic I realize the lighting isn't too good, sorry! Hopefully you can still get an idea.

Claire loves bathtime! She has sure been fun lately...her personality really seems to be coming out. She is now an expert stair climber..I just wish she would learn how to get down.

We had a fun weekend. Brent and I finally had our "Valentine's Date" Saturday night. We went up to the Portland grill. Our favorite restaurant in the whole world. It's on the 30th floor of the us bancorp building in Portland, so there is a fantastic view. And their braised short ribs are to die for! So we enjoyed a great meal and then went to see "jumper" at the theater. It was definately not a movie we would recommend. It was okay...but not great. The plot was pretty lame and it just wasn't what we expected. Oh well...it was still fun to be together with no kids. We have to thank my mom for watching the kids for us and giving us a night out!

Our Weekend in Seattle

This weekend we drove up to Seattle to visit Logan and Julia and kids. We had a great weekend. Saturday night we went to a little place called "The Scratch Patch." It's a little store that has all of these really cool rocks. They are all over the floor and the kids can sit in them and play and pick out there favorites to take home. I had to take this picture of Brent because I thought it was Hilarious that the address for the scratch patch was 6507 1/2.

After the scratch patch we went to this little mexican restaurant called Gorditos. Let's just say it's not a first class establishment, but the food was so, so good. I think they offer the worlds biggest burritoes. Here's Jane digging in.


Monday we went to a great park and enjoyed the beautiful weather. We kept catching Jacob and Lucy holding hands and it was pretty cute. But I kept missing my chance to take a picture of them. So this is as close as I got. The kids had a great time playing together. After the park we walked over to Baskin-Robbins for some ice cream.

The kids getting their hands stamped by the bubble man.

Overall it was a fabulous weekend, with some fabulous people. Thanks for letting us take over your house Logan and Julia!

Valentine's Day

I woke up on Valentine's Day morning to a beautiful card written by Brent. In the card he told me my present was in the other room. I found this rug that I had been admiring at Target a few weeks ago. It was funny because I was at Target the night before V-day and walked by the rugs and this one that I liked was gone. So I was a little bummed, even though I wasn't really planning on buying it. My husband is the best! It really finishes off the room. And I have to say that I continued my streak of giving the lamest gift ever...so lame that I will not even admit to what it was. For anyone looking closely at the picture, notice the white spot on the fireplace. Either the sun was playing tricks on me or our house is haunted!

We had a special V-day dinner. Sweet-n-sour meatballs (more like sweet meatballs), rice, Salad, broccoli, and little heart shaped chocolate cakes for dessert. We did discover that Claire loves broccoli. She was turning away everything else we gave her and reaching for the broccoli. Strange...The kids each got a little treat bag and a little gift. There was a little squabbling over "someone's gift being better than the others." You know the story. But other than that we had a great Valentines Day.

***On the way to the library today Jacob and I were talking about getting old. I asked him, "will you still love me when i'm old and wrinkly?" He thought about it for quite awhile and said, "I'll love you ALMOST as much." he held his little fingers together and said, "i'll just love you THIS much less. " :) I guess i'd better enjoy his complete love for me now while i'm still somewhat young.

Keeping busy on a Sunday afternoon

Claire..learning to walk

I can't believe my little baby is almost walking! It will probably be a month or two still, but she is getting more confident every day. She is learning to say yes and no by shaking her whole body back and forth, or up and down. She is using the "sign" for food to tell us when she is hungry. It's amazing how quickly kids learn. She has been a lot of fun lately.

Lemon white chocolate chip cookies

Last year my mom and I went to the Portland Farmer's Market. I bought these lemon white chocolate chip cookies that were amazing. I've always wanted to try and recreate them and today was my first attempt. If you like lemon, you'll love these.

WHITE CHOCOLATE CHIP LEMON COOKIES
1 cup (2 sticks) margarine, softened
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoon lemon extract
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 tsp lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 package (12 ounces) white chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat margarine and sugars with electric mixer until creamy. Add egg and lemon extract and beat until fluffy. Combine dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Add gradually to butter mixture and beat well. Stir in chips.
Drop by tablespoonfuls onto prepared baking sheets. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on sheet for 2 minutes, transfer to wire racks to cool.
Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

I halved the recipe so that I wouldn't end up eating too many. It only made a dozen when I halved it. The only thing I would change is I would probably add even more lemon zest. The kids and i loved these. Brent even said "these are one of the best cookies you've ever made." I think they taste best after they have cooled.

Our weekend...

Friday night a friend of mine offered to watch the kids, just because she's nice like that. I took her up on her offer and Brent and I went on a hot date. Okay, so we hit subway and then went to look at mattresses at Sleep country. I know, we're pretty exciting! We bought the boys some bunk beds last week. We ordered them online and I think we got a pretty killer deal, we're excited to get them set up. We also found that sleep country is not the place to buy mattresses. $$$
Saturday, Malia and I had a girls outing. We went to see Hannah Montana-live in concert. It's a 3-d "concert" thats at the theaters right now. I was surprised that they were charging $15 per ticket. But since I had already promised Malia that we were going, I felt like I couldn't back out. The ticket lady said that sony is charging $15 a ticket because it's "like being at a real concert!" I had a laugh at that. It was a great movie (if you're between the ages of 7-12). But the point of the whole outing was to spend some one-on-one time with Malia...we had a good time.
Saturday night Brent went down and picked up my parents' piano. They have graciously given it to us, and it has already been put to good use. The kids love having it and we are going to use our vinyl cutter to make little letters to mark the keys, so it will be easier for the kids to learn. (they come right off M&D) I've even sat down and practiced a few times. I would love to play better!
Sunday Brent received a new calling as the elders quorum president. He is excited for a change of pace. He also received a promotion at work. He will be a supervisor now, overseeing some other co-workers in his dept. Of course this also means more $$, so we can't complain. We are all healthy and happy. Hope you have a great week!

Since my "what's normal" post, i've been really trying to make an effort to spend some time with the kids each day doing something fun. Either making muffins, playing a board game, reading books, playing with playdoh. It really is something I have to make an effort at, but the rewards are amazing. The kids are so much happier, and more willing to help and be obedient after i've spent a little time with them. I know this is common sense, but I just think it's so easy to go through life doing the mom thing and then *BAM*, they're all grown up.
Just an update on us: Brent is getting a new church calling after being the executive secretary for about 5 years. I can't say what it is until Sunday. :)
Malia: Just found out that she gets to go on her first airplane ride with her Grandma Robbins. THey are headed down to southern California to visit her cousins over spring break. She hasn't stopped talking about the trip since she heard the news. It may be a long month and a half! I have to admit that i'm a little jealous, that warm sun sounds SO good right now!
Jacob: I just signed Jacob up for t-ball. This will be his first time playing a sport and he is so excited. They don't start until April, so again it will be a waiting game until the fun begins.
Cole: This kid makes me laugh. He is so much fun to have around (most of the time) He is just content to play legos, playdoh, and computer games. He's sitting here with me right now and is telling me to write "Happy birthday, and tell them to make cake!" He's already planning his batman birthday in June.
Claire: She decided to get all of her teeth at once. She has four top teeth coming in. She seems to be pretty used to it now and isn't too grumpy. She's a great sleeper and takes two good naps a day. I can't believe she'll be one next month. The year went by so fast. She is moving around holding furniture, but hasn't tried to stand on her own yet.


Just something I was thinking about? I called someone the other day and the line was busy. I got the operator that says, "the line is busy, for only 75cents qwest can keep trying for you." I just want to know, do people actually pay 75 cents just so they don't have to dial a few numbers again?? Who does that?