A New Year is upon us and I've been pondering on some of the most important lessons I've learned thus far in my life. There are many, however, some are more age applicable to my children. So, here are a few I hope to teach my Son (some work for the gals too). I am pulling from another source (which is one thing I've learned - someone, somewhere, somehow has figured it out before me, written it out before me, and probably done it better). The book: http://www.rulesformyunbornson.net/
Make sure your clothes fit properly. It is not about how much you spend on clothes but proper fit, the impression left is worth it. Fit matters.
Nothing good ever happens after 12am. Go home.
Spend time with your mother. She's cooler than you think.
Passion will always lead you to success. Passionate people who aim high and dream big always win.
Socks are not necessary in the Summer, no matter how formal the occasion. This bit of knowledge was liberating!
Learn to tie a bow tie.
When shaking hands, grip firmly and look him in the eye.
Don't be afraid to ask out the best lookin' girl in the room.
Surprise your Dad at the office. Trust me, whatever I am doing is not as important as you.
And NUMBER ONE: There is something bigger than yourself at work here. Trust God and know you are a better man for it.
Enjoy this little video of our adventures with family on Christmas Eve. Neeley lobbied for the role of Mary once she heard we've be staging our own Nativity together. But the biggest element of the show? Neeley (um, I mean Mary) giving birth to the Baby Jesus. Whaddyathink, should we submit to America's Funniest Home Videos? You tell us?
So sorry for my lousy Christmas song singing. Obviously I need to learn the words. And sorry for the shaking of the camera in some spots - this was actually quite funny, so hard to hold still.
Hey blog readers...(hi Mom!), it's Ry. We've been off the blog circuit for a bit due to the captain of our ship succumbing to good ol' H1N1 and Strep Throat. In almost 10 years (has it been that long, time flies when one is havin' fun) of marriage I don't believe I've ever seen Taani so sick. Nor have we had three kids before, so by Friday 5pm I was shouting from the rooftops, "TAANI, I LOVE YOU! Please rid yourself of the swine flu and resume your position of master of all things Secrist!" I have always known, but now I really know that Taani leaps tall buildings in a single bound daily. I whined and cried as I tried leaping those same buildings but wasn't clearing the third floor. Here's what I am grateful for from last week:
Her conversations. When she had strep and couldn't talk I didn't like one sided conversations. I realize we talk a lot. Severe soar throat means no talking. Not good. EVERYTHING I do gets talked about with her, so it stunk to sit there talking without profound words of wisdom coming back from the other side.
Her beautifully orchestrated mornings from food, hair, clothes and lunches. As I dropped Hattie off at school I notice one massively limp strand of hair from my feeble attempt to curl her hair (I gave up after that one attempt but didn't do anything about it - just left it limp and hanging off her head). I was waiting for a call from CPS all day that day.
Her amazing dinners. She is a master with food and we eat really well. I have always appreciated her infatuation with Ina Garten and ability to make amazing things. Well, her talents in the kitchen were missed.
But above all else I missed her whit and wisdom. We do everything together and we are best friends and I felt a bit like a lone ranger which I did not like one bit. We are partner's in crime.
She isn't paid enough. From all the school events to taxi service she should demand a raise or walk off the job.
She's back and doing well. She is a rockstar. I love ya babe!
This post is not for the faint of heart. For one thing, this first picture she has yogurt all over her face. And, oh yeah, HER TOOTH IS BARELY HANGING ON!! I can't even look at her without getting a shiver down my spine. I told her Grandpa Peterson is really good at pulling teeth, but she knows to stay far away and NEVER let Grandpa even look at your teeth.
And Voila!!! Even though Hattie won't let Grandpa P. or even us touch her teeth, Aunt Diana is nice enough to have a peek. Hattie patiently let Diana look and Diana just quietly popped the tooth out!! No tears, no drama...nothing! Hattie is the last person in her class to lose a tooth so this was really a milestone that she has been itching to achieve.
Once Neeley saw that the tooth fairy delivers the cash, she has been wiggling her teeth like there's no tomorrow. Apparently, (according to Neeley) Aubrey Worthen is the expert on the toothfairy. Anytime we ask her a question about the tooth fairy, she makes up an answer and then says it must be true because Aubrey told her. Of course, her parents don't know what the heck they are talking about, but AUBREY? She's the expert.
I swear, our pew was this dirty when we sat down. Really, I'm half certain we did not make this entire mess. So naughty. Good thing we sit by friends and family who love us despite our messes and irreverance. Pictures were taken with ryan's phone, but sure does show how quickly Wild Westy moves.
This post is for Grandma Sherri. When I was a girl, my mom always put me in hot rollers. I hated them because they were pokey and...HOT!!! Well, the girl who does my hair gave me some tips on the new hair trends and it turns out hot rollers are back in style! So, we tried out the hot rollers on Sunday and my girls pranced around the house saying they looked just like Grandma Sherri! You have obviously left quite an impression at our house!
A few weeks back, Ryan and the girls set up camp in our backyard. Totally roughing it...DVD player and all.
While Ryan was setting up the tent, I caught Neeley looking at her reflection in the back door window. Here are only a few images. I'm not sure what she is wearing on her head, but whatever...
"If you had a choice between pie heaven and regular heaven, I would choose pie heaven. It's probably a trick, but if not....MMMM boy." Jack Handy
I know I'm behind on many many things, but I'm still in the process of trying to figure out how to transfer my pictures onto this computer. Should have that solved today or tomorrow, but in the mean time...enjoy pie!
What a video! Go Church! Seriously, this is an amazing little video that caused us to laugh and ponder on the OPPORTUNITIES we all enjoy as a result of challenges and trials. Gratitude is a powerful thing and the ability to be grateful always is an even more powerful thing. How THANKFUL we are this year for the abundance of blessings in our lives. We wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving.
Our computer finally pooped out on us. URG. As we speak, I am at the library trying to get a few things taken care of on the internet. I never knew how DEPENDANT I have become on our computer. What was life like before computers? Anyway, be patient with us until we get this computer thing put together. More to come....
Every family has one. You know, the child who constantly keeps you on your toes. Meet ours- I have no idea how her brain functions, but her logic makes me laugh out loud. In the last hour, she has informed me that 1. Ms. Kathy (her teacher) lives in Boston thats why it takes her a really long time to get to work every day. AND 2. (my favorite) Cinderella wears gloves to the ball because she has sweaty hands and doesn't want the prince to get dirty.
While on our recent trip north, she got a hold of the camera and had herself quite a photo session. Imagine my surprise when I downloaded about 2 dozen of the following photo. Oh my.
Monday, November 2, 2009
I'm not gonna lie. I LOVE myself a good pasta. The Atkins program was certainly not designed around my lifestyle. I dream about this pasta. SO simple and absolutely delicious.
Baked Lemon Pasta
1 pound thin spaghetti
1/2 stick (4 tablespoons) butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
Juice of 1 lemon
Zest of 1 lemon
2 cups sour cream
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, more to taste if desired
Plenty of grated Parmesan cheese
Flat leaf parsley, chopped
Extra lemon juice
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cook spaghetti until al dente.In a skillet, melt butter with olive oil over LOW HEAT.When butter is melted, add minced garlic.Squeeze lemon juice into the pan. Turn off heat.Add sour cream and stir mixture together. Add lemon zest and salt. Taste, then add more salt if necessary.Pour mixture over drained spaghetti and stir together, then pour spaghetti into an oven safe dish.Bake, covered, for 15 minutes. Then remove foil and bake for an additional 7 to 10 minutes. (Don’t bake too long or the pasta will dry out.)When you remove it from the oven, squeeze a little more lemon juice over the top.Top generously with Parmesan cheese, then chopped parsley.Give it a final squeeze of lemon juice at the end.
Serve with crusty French bread and a simple green salad.
Note: recipe and photo come from a GREAT blog: www.thepioneerwoman.com
Our week was entirely consumed by all things spooky. From the pumpkin walk at school, all the Halloween/fall parties, carving pumpkins, and eating our weight in candy, we are glad to finally put the Halloween box away!
Neeley was constantly asking to make pumpkin seeds so I deemed it her job to gather them up, put them in a bowl and clean them off. Here is cleaning:
And cleaning some more...
aaaannnndddd cleaning some more...
Like I said before, she is a little OCD about cleaning. I think she secretly just loved to feel the slimy pumpkin seeds and wasn't interested in cleaning out the pumpkin. Meanwhile, Ryan was doing all the dirty work.
I think we have hit a milestone in our lives. The girls didn't want anything to do with dressing up as princesses! WOOOHOO!! On the other hand, Hattie was excited about this new darker attitude and, with dad's help, carved herself a skull. And dressed as a devil. And thoroughly LOVED every spooky house we visited.
One of our favorite halloween traditions? Getting together with cousins Sophie and Ellie and trick or treating to our favorite neighborhood.
Even though Hattie was completely enthralled in the "dark side," Neeley didn't venture too far out of her princess comfort zone and opted to be an angel.
Westy was Hattie's little minion but couldn't keep the horns on long enough for a picture.
Hattie embracing her dark side. Can you believe she just walked up to this stranger and wanted her picture taken? What is going on here? I never thought I would see the day!
It should come as a no surprise to say that we are having a major love affair with our little Westy. I'm not sure any little boy has been more doted on. I was going through some images from our recent trip and noticed a common element-Westy's face. He's making the SAME face in almost every picture. Is he happy? Sad? Bugged? Someone should tell him his face may freeze that way.
Okay, so we missed the last two Amazing Race episodes but DVR-ed them so we could watch them at a later time. (How on earth did we ever survive without DVR?) Ryan and I put kids to bed the other night and turned on one of the episodes we missed. We were heartbroken that Zev and Justin came in first only to find they had to be eliminated because they lost their passport!!! It made us so sad! But, we did get a good laugh on the preview for this upcoming race. Did anyone see when Canaan almost threw Mikah down the HUGE slide? I CAN'T WAIT to see this one. They are recenty dating...hmm, can't imagine how this relationship will turn out. Oh, we are such Amazing Race junkies.
After an absolutely exhausting run of "Savior of the World" we took off the next day to see family in Utah and soak in all the beautiful fall colors. My kids were shocked to see that trees actually DO change colors and fall off the trees! Poor Arizona kids...
Hattie was completely set on making a pile of leaves and jumping into them. Unfortunately for her, we didn't have a rake. That didn't deter her from her goal. Grandpa Tom was happy to take it upon himself to throw leaves at her.
Even Westy got in on the action. There is nothing in the world like Provo Canyon in the fall. The smell is intoxicating. Love it.
For the past year, our family has been totally immersed in the musical production "Savior of the World." Ryan was asked to direct it and assemble a production staff and debut it for the community and church here. What an undertaking! "Savior of the World" was originally produced for the Salt Lake Olympics in 2002. The purpose was to show the world that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believes in Christ and that He is our Savior. The LDS church has since made all of the music, scripts, and material available to congregations everywhere.
So, after so much time, sweat, tears, and inspiration, Ryan, the production team, and cast put on 3 wonderful performances! Hattie was a townsperson in charge of skipping across the stage and an angel and Ryan, in addition to directing, played Thomas the Apostle.
Long before we were married Ryan was very involved in musical theater and even went to college on a musical theater scholarship. After his Freshman year in college however, he took his last bow and never had anything to do with theater from that point forward. That was 16 years ago. This production was a fun way for Ryan to renew and rediscover a past love and talent in his life.
Hattie took her part very seriously. She even wore a microphone and had a line!
This has been a completely overwhelming, yet transforming undertaking. Our testimonies in the Savior have been strengthened and we have had a special spirit in our home while Ryan has spent so much time and energy on the production. It has been a wonderful experience and a great memory.
A New Year is upon us and I've been pondering on some of the most important lessons I've learned thus far in my life. There are many, however, some are more age applicable to my children. So, here are a few I hope to teach my Son (some work for the gals too). I am pulling from another source (which is one thing I've learned - someone, somewhere, somehow has figured it out before me, written it out before me, and probably done it better). The book: http://www.rulesformyunbornson.net/
