Komodo Dragon Day!

Here's a shout out to my best girls, Sam and Kizzie.
Happy Komodo Dragon Day!
Here is our lovable icon, she is grabbing her kimono and getting ready for her close up. May you have Valentine's Day in your lives, but always keep Komodo Dragon Day in your hearts!
Love you, Gals!

Avocado Egg Rolls

When it rains, it pours. That is what it seems like with my blog posts! I have been meaning to post, but for one reason or another, haven't.
This is for you, Kizzie. Mostly because I know that Sam won't make them any time soon!
Do you remember the Avocado Egg Rolls at The Cheesecake Factory? Great times..
Well, I found a copycat recipe and...oh yum..
Feast your eyes on this..and then make some and feast for real!

Copycat Cheesecake Factory’s Avocado Egg Rolls

Dipping Sauce

• 3-4 teaspoons white vinegar
• 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon tamarind pulp
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1 pinch powdered saffron
• 1/2 cup chopped cashew
• 2/3 cup fresh cilantro
• 2 garlic clove
• 2 green onion
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 cup olive oil

Egg Rolls

· large avocado, peeled, pitted, & diced

· 2 tablespoons sun-dried tomato packed in oil, chopped

• 1 tablespoon minced red onion
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh cilantro, chopped
• 1 pinch salt
• 3 egg roll wraps
• 1 egg, beaten

Directions

1. Stir together vinegars, tamarind, honey, and saffron in a microwave safe bowl, and microwave for 1 minute.

2. Stir until tamarind is dissolved.

3. In a blender, puree tamarind mixture, cashews, 2/3 cup cilantro, garlic, onions, sugar, pepper, and cumin.

4. Pour mixture into a bowl and stir in oil.

5. Refrigerate until ready to use.

6. Gently stir together avocado, tomatoes, onion, 1/2 teaspoon cilantro, and salt.

7. Distribute filling evenly onto center of each egg roll wrapper.

8. Position a wrapper so that a corner is pointing toward you; fold the bottom corner up, 1/4 of the way over the filling.

9. Brush remaining corners and edges of the wrapper with egg, roll up from side to side, fold top corner over all and press to seal.

10. Repeat with remaining wrappers.

11. Continue by deep-frying the egg rolls in 375 degree oil for 3-4 minutes, until golden brown.

12. Drain on brown paper bags.

13. Slice egg rolls diagonally across middle and serve with prepared dipping sauce!

Cute Things

A funny thing happened today. I had Pixie in her exersaucer in the kitchen while I was making lunch. She was being so good that we left her in there (we could see her through the doorway) while we ate at the table. Afterward, I went in there, picked up her bottle and said "boogity" to the side of her head. The poor baby didn't wail like she usually does when she's scared...and turned to me and screamed "AH!", with terror in her eyes. I felt so bad and hugged her, but it was so funny because it seemed like a grownup thing to do! She sounded exactly like Scott when he's scared or surprised!

Here are some pictures of the cute things in our lives...

This shirt is adorable, but I think it's going to be outgrown even before Valentine's Day. It was the largest size they had at the One Spot in Target. She doesn't suck on pacifiers..she thinks they are funny and plays with them. And there is nothing on the whisk. I haven't given her any desserts yet! That baby doll is one that my Mom gave to her. It squeaks and she carries it everywhere with her. And yes, that is my overdue laundry in the background!
She probably looks like a boy in this outfit, but hey, it's warm! She crawled over and found an Xbox controller. What is it with babies and electronics? By the way, she only crawls backwards, rolls, and does planks. Nuts, right? It's funny when she backs herself under the futon and can't move. She can maneuver herself easily to electric cords. AH!

Because of the space issue, I decided to store the nice highchair Becca gave me until we get a bigger house. So, I bought a space saver one. I thought there was only one around here, but my Mom did some research and found that there were more in the booster seat area that doubled as both. So, instead of the $50 one, I got this one for under $25 and it's a lot more portable. It's Fisher Price too. I love it!



Remember Perrin? How did he go from this:


to this...


And being tiny next to Nova...


to being..well..see for yourself..

He was such an adorable puppy! I took him to be neutered almost two weeks ago and he was 34 lbs. He was 6 lbs when we got him! He grows at the rate of 2-4lbs a week...and he is only about 5 months old. He is doing extremely well with house training, only has an accident once in a while, and he has a very deep bark and barks at anyone who approaches the house (we're working on this). It'll be wonderful to have him to protect me the 3 nights a week that Scott's working!

The Holidays

So, the much needed update.
Well, the Holidays were just fine. I never got Christmas cards out, but I didn't beat myself up for it.
I got Scott to agree to pitch the idea of drawing names for his family and having a gift exchange. It was a lot less hectic that way! We didn't get his whole family together, but we met with most of them on Christmas Eve. The others were postponed until after Christmas and New Year's were over. I got Pixie only one or two things, but her Aunt Amy and Uncle Michael came to the rescue and played Santa. We got tons of gifts for her in the mail! It was awesome. Here are a few pictures of her first Christmas.

I look like I just woke up. Hey! I did!

We went to my Mom and Dad's house in the late morning.

I needed and wanted these cooking utensils so badly! They are the best, time tested quality.

Pixie hanging out with Grandpa.

After Becca and her family got there..things started to get a little silly. Scott missed the fun, he had to work at 6pm, but got holiday pay! Wahoo!

It was a great season. We weren't planning on doing anything for New Year's Eve really, but we ended up going and visiting Kizzie at her parent's house. We stayed until 11pm after Pixie had a power nap, but we couldn't hack it! So, we went home, let out Becca's dog for her (they were out of town) and walked in the door as it was turning 12am. I put Pixie down, we didn't look at any clocks (we can freeze time that way!), and I grabbed a bottle of sparkling burgundy and we drank it right out of the bottle. We had our own little celebration and then went to bed. It was one of the best New Year's Eves I've probably ever had!

Charlie

The other day Scott and I watched a video on YouTube. We saw a link to another video and I decided to try it out. I don't know if any of you have seen this, but I guess it's widely popular!
To those of us who are parents, or around kids a lot, I'm sure you will appreciate it too.
I laughed my bum off. I just love the older brother, Harry. He seems like such an adorable and sweet boy. Plus, it's cuter when they say things with an English accent!

Missouri Language

Ok, living in Missouri for a long time is hard on your grammar and accent. I find myself slipping once in a while, even more now that I'm a mom and have other things to think about. I'm not tooting my own horn, actually English isn't my strongest suit. I just try to do the best I can.
Yesterday I was in Walmart and I was just about to leave after checking out. The cashier was looking to see if I had left any bags and said "I think that's all ya got". Just as I had turned to leave, I heard her say "All ya got? I think that's all you have". I wheeled around, without thinking, and quite loudly said "Well, good for you!". I then said that it was one of my pet peeves as I turned and hurried away. They probably thought I was a dork, but there are Missourians who are working on their grammar!
I still don't like to hear the word "got", even though it's accepted a lot now. "It's got this or that"..no.."It has this or that". Also, which my lovely husband is severely guilty of, is saying "the dog wants out" or "the baby wants up". AH! "The dog wants to come out", "the baby wants to be picked up". I have been guilty of shortening my sentences because I'm lazy and it seems like a lot of work to use so many words sometimes, but I hope I will never, ever use that language!

A December Post

It has been hard for me to get into the Christmas spirit this year. We have minimized pretty much everything we can. Scott even said that Pixie doesn't need any gifts, that she can play with wrapping paper. I might get her something little just for pictures. We aren't really getting much of anything for each other either. I asked if I could get a little more food storage instead! We borrowed a small artificial tree from Becca because I just didn't want to put our huge one up. Not to mention that if Perrin or Pixie happened to pull it down, it would be a disaster. A week ago I had finally pulled up all our decorations and we decorated the tree. We used plastic metallic ornament balls, some non-breakable ornaments, and some gold bows I tied out of wire ribbon. No garlands or tinsle this year, just lights. It's actually very pretty! I have never had a Christmas tree without a star on top, but our star is silver and I am only doing gold. So I did a big gold bow on top. I left some of the Christmas boxes upstairs and was intending on getting our green garlands to put around the doorways, but the next morning our furnace stopped working. It was 60 degrees in here even with our space heaters. Pixie and I huddled and then went to Becca's house. That was last Thursday. We are just now getting the furnace back up and running. Since it was the weekend, we had someone come out to look at it on Monday. They said they fixed whatever was wrong with it, but found out that the chimney was clogged. They said that probably when the roof was being put on (before we moved in) some roofers knocked some of the chimney bricks inside itself and didn't say anything about it. They said that gas had been billowing into the basement.
Scott cleared the rest of the chimney last night and this morning. I helped some too. We pulled out at least 3 more bricks! He went up on the roof and hurled a 2x4 attached to a rope down the chimney...over and over and over again. It's great to have heat again!

Now for the fun things we have done recently. Last Friday we went to the Stake Christmas Cantata. Last year I was in it, so it was nice to sit there with my little family and just watch.
Last Saturday we went to Eagle Days. I didn't know that we were on the bald eagle migrating route! There is a refuge right by our lake house where they hold the event. It was so neat! They had a demonstration by a bird sanctuary and then we went on a 10 mile car trail and saw 9 mature bald eagles and 1 immature one. It was really something to see them in the wild.
Scott went for a day trip to Nauvoo to see his nephew's baby blessing, so I skipped Stake Conference and went to visit my Mom and Dad. That was nice. There was no way I was going to get to hear anything at Stake Conference without Scott there to help me entertain Pixie and it's such a big ordeal. You have to get there super early to get a parking space and a good seat.
Earlier on this week we decided to stay home, make cookies, and watch "The Santa Clause". I hadn't seen that movie for years! It was fun and I got a super big sugar overload.
Tonight I went to a soap and lotion party at someone's house in the ward. Pixie was so tired and whiny that I couldn't have too much fun. So, I went back home and put her to bed 30 minutes ago....she's still whining.

Pixie has been sleeping better though! Scott and I decided to sleep in the living room so that Pixie can sleep in a room by herself. We have been lugging a futon on the floor and then storing it on top of our bed in the daytime. It about kills me to have to sleep on the floor when my bed is so comfy! It hurts my hips and back, but I slept for 6 1/2 hours straight the other night! Most nights she wakes up 2-3 times, but mostly it's been happening before midnight lately. This morning I brought her in bed with me at 5am when she woke up, but the other day we went in at 7:45 and she was just playing in her crib!
Pixie isn't crawling yet, but in the past week she has all of the sudden started showing an interest! She will roll and scoot all over or just flop up and down on her belly, flailing her arms and legs like she should be able to take off.
I can't believe how old my baby is now! She was 8 months old yesterday.

Perrin is growing at the rate of about 3 pounds a week. He's 22 pounds today and will pass Nova probably in another week. She is 24 pounds. Perrin is also only 3 months old. Nova was 13 pounds at 4 months. Last night I kept Nova in her cage and cuddled with Perrin on the futon. I found out that he is going to be a great watch dog. Scott went through the basement and came in through the back door, when he got home from a Young Men planning meeting. Perrin jumped out of bed and started towards the back door growling, then barking. He's going to have one deep bark! Nova howled/barked once, but she doesn't sound like a big dog. It'll be nice to have a big man about the house! When Scott's gone I mean.

Scott and I got to go to the gym last week, once. With all the stuff that has gone on and is going on with our babysitter (Becca), we haven't been able to go back. It felt so good to go and Scott is like my own personal trainer! He is such a good motivator for weight lifting. I would go myself, but we get to go for free at the University and Scott has to get me in with him. Hopefully we'll be able to go back again regularly and I can get rid of more of this baby fat! I'm still working on baby fat, but I'm working on marriage weight. I should have gotten rid of the marriage weight before I got pregnant!

Scott had his last final yesterday! Only one more semester for him. Hooray!
It has been really frustrating for him lately. He has been trying to find some more business investments, but there was too much competition with a more established opponent on the loose. Finally, yesterday something came through for him. Wahoo! Every month that was going by was another month I was farther away from getting a bigger house. At least now it feels like we might be moving towards something actually. Of course, it'll still take a while, but I can't wait until Pixie gets her own bedroom!

Blah. My one channel is full of repeats tonight. Scott is at work. Pixie finally fell asleep and I forgot to pull the futon out before that happened. I guess I'll find something to watch online! I don't feel like doing anything and I've had something like a cold for weeks.

That is what I have been up to!