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Personal Reviews

David Copperfield, Anyone???

I’ve felt inspired by my friend Jamie’s blog post about how she’s read lots of great books lately, many of which she’s listened to on MP3 while she does chores around the house or whatever. What a great idea! Doing something that you want to do (get some reading in), while you’re doing something mindless (yet necessary)!

I’m not a big reader, but I do enjoy a good book every once in a while, if I can stay focused on it. But often it’s a challenge for me to focus on a book!! On the other hand, my mom is probably the most well-read person in the world (you name it, she’s probably read it).  Unfortunately, I don’t think I got those genes, but I do like to think about things and have topics on my mind beyond the cares of the household. I’d like to “read” a book every once in a while, even if it’s just via MP3. I think that still counts!

Our tiny, outdated city library is severely limited… But when I was there last, I managed to grab a copy of David Copperfield by Charles Dickens, on cd. Dickens is a great author, I thought, and I really LOVED reading Great Expectations in high school. The cd cover also said it was the most autobiographical of Dickens’ works, & his personal favorite. Score!

Well… I’m in chapter 7 and I’m thinking of moving on to another book… I love the detail and gorgeous descriptions characteristic of Dickens, but it is VERY sad & depressing. Eight-year-old David is sent away from a very abusive home to an even more abusive boarding school. I remember feeling this same way when I read the A Boy Called It series and Five People You Meet in Heaven. When it comes to severe punishments and child abuse, I’m aware that it exists all over the place, but it just saddens me almost to the point of despair. I can’t imagine living in complete and utter fear of one’s caretakers and what they might do next. I don’t want to be naïve or in denial of reality, but at the same time, I don’t want these things on my mind more than they need to be.

So, any comments or suggestions for some easy, uplifting reads (especially if they come in audio form) are welcomed here!

Categories
Family Fun

Friday Night Fun

On Friday afternoon, Pace suggested that we check out the new Provo Beach Resort in the Riverwoods. It is an odd name for the place. It sounds like a some sort of romantic honeymoon destination, but indeed, it is not. Soon you will learn more! But I have to tell a story first.

We went to the Riverwoods to meet up with Pace & Grandaddy. I’d made sure we had water & diapers & snacks, and that Charlotte was dry before we left home. As soon as we parked, Chase announced, “I’m tired!” and laid down across the back seat to go to sleep. When I told him we could just go home rather than check out this new place, he instantly woke right back up again! It was magic.

I quickly got Charlotte out of her car seat because she was whining about her pee pee diaper (she does this all the time lately!). I was changing her diaper when I discovered that she had wet so much, she’d wet down her leg & her pants were soaked. Hm. How does this happen when the diaper was dry 30 minutes previous? I looked up from my predicament, and there was a Gymboree store to save the day! I was sure they’d be more than happy to assist me in my trial. I told Chase we had to run over there to buy some new pants for Charlotte. He said he would just wait in the car because he didn’t want to go into a store to get clothes. I told him that was illegal. Somehow that convinced him.

After we had bought some green, non-pee leggings for Charlotte (and some glow-in-the dark underwear for Chase), we met up with Pace and Grandaddy. Grandaddy told Charlotte he liked her new UVU pants (green for UVU) and she loved that. (Later on the way home, she kept telling me, “I have new UVU pants!!!”)

So on to the Provo Beach Resort: It’s this super nice, 2-story place that has a carousel, flow rider, arcade games, croquet, a large (& clean) playground, bowling & mini bowling, etc. I labeled it a “money pit,” but it was a really great place! We tried out the mini-bowling and the big playground before we decided that was enough money spent & that we wanted to go get dinner (OK, maybe it was just ME that wanted to go get dinner). The playground alone was worth the $4/kid because our whole family could have spent hours in there! Nice place.

I was starving, and since the others didn’t care where we ate, we got to go to Zupas! I gobbled up my Turkey Artichoke Panini and Wisconsin Cauliflower soup. My favorites! I also ate the bread that comes on the side, the chocolate strawberry, and half of Pace’s ham sandwich that wasn’t as good as mine. I was very stuffed by the time my eating rampage ended.

Pace & Chase went to Costco afterwards, while I took Charlotte home. Somehow those two managed to return some lamps of ours that were already 3-4 years old! ha. Costco is the best. Pace got a few groceries & also bought me a Professional Kitchenaid because the little 30+ year old mixer I’d gotten from someone a couple years ago was malfunctioning. And we can’t have that when we’re whipping up cakes, bread, cookies, etc. on a regular basis! I am so grateful for this new mixer.

We spent more than originally planned (a ton in one day!), but luckily that’s not how a typical day goes around here. All in all, a great evening!

Categories
Charlotte Chase Family Fun

Recent Quotables

Chase:

-  "Aren’t I a genius?!”

-  (I like to put gel in his hair, but he opposes.) Once, when he was headed to preschool he said, “I want to keep it flat, so the girls will like it.”

-  Then another time, I told him we needed to at least put water on his hair before school, because it was really messy after waking up. I was surprised when he consented, saying, “Oh yeah. I noticed it was sticking up earlier. The girls wouldn’t like it like that.”

– (he saw a cool toy in a catalog & suddenly burst out: “I want that so bad, I can’t even go anywhere! I just have to stand here until I buy it!” (Needless to say, he did not get to order the toy.)

Charlotte:

-  “Of course, Mom!”

-  Chase hides & tells her to come find him, and she hollers back to him, “No. I’m too busy.”

-  She also thinks that “busy” is what you say for “dizzy.” So she’ll spin around and say, “Whoa! Busy!”

-  “Oopsies Daisies.”

–  (upset & frowning): “Chase hit me ONE TIME!”

-  “Oh. Yes.” (says it all the time, very cheerfully/matter-of-factly)

 

Categories
Family Fun

Duplo Legos Are Great

I just want to say that of all our fabulous toys, these big Legos have been used the most by both of our young children over time. They can stay occupied with these things for MINUTES! And I enjoy seeing what they build. Duplo Legos are the best toy! (My parents already knew that because they are the ones who got them for Chase a few years ago.)

                                                

Charlotte built a castle, and then Chase constructed his own castle to one-up hers. The “minutes” of fun were ended abruptly by their ferocious squabbles over the flower Legos (found atop Chase’s castle). But all that creative building was great while it lasted!

Categories
Chase

Chase’s Valentines

Chase enjoyed doing his valentines this year. I’d bought some cards for cheap last year (the day after V-Day), so they were ready to have names written on them & some "Blow Pops” taped to them.

                                                 

Chase looked at the list of the names of his preschool classmates and wrote them down all by himself. He didn’t even have to look for Jaxon’s name because he has that one memorized. :)  I’m proud of his cute little handwriting.

He got to have one of the Blow Pops after he got all his valentines ready. Charlotte had a Tootsie Pop because I won’t let her have gum.

They had decorated “mailboxes” at preschool (cereal boxes covered in red paper). I loved his box!

                                                

Charlotte enjoyed sharing in the loot that Chase brought home, although there wasn’t much left by then!

Categories
Personal

“Cake Decorating 101”

I recently finished a 4-week Wilton Cake Decorating class that I took (through the city) with my lovely friend Katie.

It was interesting to do everything from scratch! I can see why people just use box mixes… But the density and flavor of those just don’t compare to homemade cakes.

I loved learning some of the tricks of the trade and some basic decorating skills, even if it was a lot of work to come ready each week with cakes and icing ready to go!

My first cake was a yellow cake with chocolate buttercream icing, and vanilla pudding & strawberries as the filling. It was good enough to eat (although a bit dry).

The second week we did cupcakes, which was a lot of fun. We learned a couple types of flowers and also how to fill cupcakes (my favorite)! I always insisted on using real butter in my buttercream icing recipes because I just don’t like the blandness and yuckiness that is shortening. But the real buttercream melted a little and didn’t make the stiffest flowers. I also just used a German chocolate box mix to make the cupcakes, but I added coconut cream pudding to the mix, which made them super moist.

My last cake had a “fish” design. I didn’t care too much about making it perfect because I only had 20 minutes to decorate the cake. But I WAS able to get the base layer of icing (the white part) super smooth; it almost looked like fondant. The cake inside was dark chocolate cake with chocolate pudding as the filling. It was very moist and delicious!

It was a great course. I was so grateful to Pace for putting our kids to bed each Thursday when I was at my class!

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Categories
Personal

An Almost Perfect Wife

Wife = Great

Happy Valentines Day Joy

I love you!

Categories
Personal

My Dear Wife

Joy has a very calm side. She could lay on my shoulder for hours at a time. I really like how she falls asleep on me. Her soft side stays around most of the day, although Chase knows how to harden it pretty fast. While I’m usually the first to pull away after 5 minutes, I love when Joy hugs and kisses me. I couldn’t ask for a better example for Charlotte to become a wonderful woman. Keep up the good work honey and Happy Valentines Day, I love you.

Categories
Personal

My Great Wife!

Joy is so much fun! I really love how she plays with our kids and makes time for fun. She loves cleaning and doing laundry, but luckily she stops to jump in the pillow pit of doom and watch some Disney movies. I really need a wife with a good sense of humor, especially when I have some food that doesn’t agree with me. Joy always laughs at my jokes. I’m really glad she isn’t too serious about most things (don’t poke her arm pit, she will kill you). Happy Valentines Day Joy, I love you!

Categories
Personal

What a wife!

My wife is great. She means a lot to me. Even though I’m a pretty lame husband when it comes to lovey dovey stuff and buying her things, she still loves me. I really like how well she cooks. She’s even made an all veggie dish that I like. (Eggplant delight or something) She can bake the best cookies! And she frequently makes me cheesecake even though she doesn’t even like it. Happy Valentines Day Joy! Will you be my valentine?