Home again, Home again.

Well, last night we pulled the ultimate all-nighter. We checked out of our condo in Depoe, Bay at 12:00pm and then decided to go do some sight-seeing since it was finally a nice day. We went to check out the tallest lighthouse in Oregon, Yaquina bay, Reagan thought it was the bees knees.

It was our brilliant, idea to head south to avoid all of the crazy storms and weather in Portland and get home to Utah. Unfortuately, because we did not investigate to find out where the storms actually were... we had to back-track back to the north to avoid the storm in the south, central mountains. That put us just a teensy bit behind schedule. We began our trip at about 2:30pm and got home to Utah this morning at 6:00am. A few hiccups in the trip added an extra 2 hours to the already super-long drive. But guess what! We made it! Dan drove the entire way and stayed awake too! I made it to Tremonton and then "rested my eyes" for about 30 minutes. I was very impressed with my staying-awake skills. But now, a few hours later after returning to my satin sheeted bed. I am glad to be home and ready to take stock of the last 11 days. It was really a Christmas vacation for the books!

On your mark, get set, celebrate!

Talk about squeezing in all the fun possible! We have really been trying. We just wrapped up a super fun weekend with friends, and are heading into "crazy week" this is like dead week before finals, you know when you try to cram everything in before the exams. Well, this is my dead week.

We are heading to Oregon, my home state, to celebrate Christmas this year. Who is there? you might be wondering. If you mean family, no one. If you mean old and great friends, tons! thanks to Facebook I have found them. We are going to have some serious Harward family fun. See my old stomping grounds and spend some quality time by the coast and enjoy our daughterswithout crazy pressure. But to get there.... ahhhh! Crazy week!

Every night we are booked with fun dates with friends and family. We are really trying to squeeze in all the holiday fun we can, and get all the work done too. Here is a sample of my to do list.

• I have to pack and wrap all of the Christmas gifts, some decorations and other fun things,
• attend 2 school holiday parties,
• make some more neighbor gifts, for those unexpected deliveries,
• get the car lubed,
• buy snow chains,
• buy Dan's presents,
• get MY presents,
• find things to do in OR
• tell everyone in OR we are coming,
• figure out how to use our new Garmin so we don't get lost,
• and I am sure there is something I am forgetting.

I am hoping I can hang on until Friday when I will have 12 hours of road time to read my latest book, The English Patient. Hopefully Dan won't want to talk much on the trip.

We've got ourselves a winner here!

Yesterday was round two in the Mountain Green Elementary Storytelling festival competition. An Reagan was one of the 2 winners in the 1st grade level!

It was a very exciting day and fun to see her do well, and feel proud of herself. She entered this competition after much pressure and persuasion from her mother, and look! it paid off!

last year we went to the festival and I fell in love with it. After each of the storytellers finished I kept thinking to myself, "I could do that." and I really wanted to! I haven't been that excited about something that I wanted to do purely for myself for a long time. But Like everything else, I gave up thinking about it.

So, I am basically fulfilling my dream to be a professional storyteller through my 6 year old daughter. So far, I am a winner! is this another perk of having kids? Do we really get to take credit for their achievements? In my defense, I did choose the perfect story for her to tell, and I did coach her on the best way to perform the actions and when to inflect her voice. Does that count for anything?

7 down 1 to go...

Remember the butter... My fridge overfloweth from the blessing of the butter. The only way I know to use butter is to make cookies- which I love-

So picture it, a, entire lazy Friday spent making cookie dough. I have spent the last 5 hours making cookies. What!? you may say how do you spend 5 hours making cookies. I made 5 batches of cookies, shaped and froze the dough for future use. Each batch made about 35 cookies, so that is roughly 175 cookies. Wahhhoooo! Drop by any time, I'll bake up some cookies for you!
My cookie selections included:
Lemon Iced Ginger cookies, Black and white cookies (favorite), Soft oatmeal raisin, and Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies.

This has been my 5 degrees of milk experiment enjoy!

1. Cows make milk (Which is delicious)
2. Cream comes from milk (very scientific)
3. Butter comes from cream (which I made)
4. Cookies are made with butter (which I made)
5. Cookies are eaten with milk! (which is delicious)

So there you have it! I have come full circle with the cream that found its way into my fridge so long ago.

I still have 1 more pound of butter...

Christmas Cards

I really like to send out Cards and every year I ask for addresses. So, if you can read this, I would love your address! would you please email it to me, so i can do my part in wasting our natural resources this holiday season. I saw an article that said we should not use wrapping paper this year.... hmm okay, then what? suggestions. I am always looking for ways to go a little green. you know like khaki or olive. I do bring in my own grocery bags. go me!

Oooh this is good.

I love this new song by Eric Hutchinson. So make sure that you wait for my playlist to load. You can listen to the happy tunes while you read about my dieting woes. Enjoy! Another gift to you.

Will-power... what's that?

So, my will power is beginning to wane. I am knee deep in this diet, having mild success and I am loosing steam. My birthday is next week and all I can think about is what I am going to eat! I have allowed myself one day to enjoy all the foods I have been missing- or longing for. I really wish that I was like a certain sister-in-law I have that eats to live rather than living to eat. I am a foodie. I cannot deny it. I wish that I could be hypnotized into thinking that I do not love food. But I do! AHHHH I am so frustrated I want to scream! I had a great day to day, I exercised, ate a light lunch, lots of water, and then BAM! a spur of the moment change and I am eating peperoni pizza and oatmeal cookies (seriously forbidden). I wouldn't feel so bad if I hadn't done that same thing last night! I am like an addict. I fall off the wagon every day. I am starting to feel pretty bad about myself... even though the cookies are making me feel really nice.

Well, onto the topic of food, my birthday is starting out with an awsome blossom from Texas Roadhouse and ending with a Cinnabon. Somewhere in there I am going to Macaroni Grill for Penne rustica and I am going to eat and entire loaf of bread and some brownies. I think I will probably be in a food coma, so don't bother calling me on the 30th. But pray that I come out of this "Celebration" alive. I am hoping that I will feel so terrible that I will jump back on the wagon with renewed dedication. Or else I will have to go buy another pair of fat pants since I threw mine out today. I will keep you posted. I think I love carbs.

my new favorite...

One of my favorite recipes that I have been enjoying these days is sooo yummy I wanted to share it with all of you.

Consider it my gift.
Garlic, butter spray, lemon pepper or lemon juice, tons of spinach and Shrimp. I toss it all in a pan and cook until the spinach is wilted and the shrimp is warm. Yum! and healthy!

Be excellent to each other...
-quoted by a blogging buddy

Go Pioneers!

On occasion, I find myself in possession of groceries that I would not normally have in my kitchen. It is a blessing and a curse. Okay, it's a regular Thursday night. The fam is sitting around after dinner chilling out and Reagan is doing her homework, and I decide to clean out the fridge. In the back, disguised as milk is a gallon- yes, I said gallon, of heavy whipping cream. Strange, I know. So I think, what am I going to do with this???
I could:
A. Make a vat of Alfredo sauce to feed the neighborhood. Uhh, not diet friendly and wayy to tempting.
B. Make whipped cream- but I can't eat pie or ice cream sundaes, so that is out.
C. wait for it to go sour and throw it out... hmmm too wasteful.
D. Make butter. Yes! that sounds like fun, and butter stores right?? we could use my homemade butter for Thanksgiving! I could be like a modern pioneer! Let's do it!

Okay, remember when you made butter in elementary school by shaking the jar of cream for eternity? I decided to use a mixer instead. It still took 20 minutes! I kept waiting and waiting and waiting. But finally, voila! Butter. What I didn't know it that you have to squeeze it, wash it, and dry it. I had no idea about all of this, or how much butter I was going to end up with. So here I am with my butter masterpiece. For those of you who know me, this is as close as I want to ever be to being like a pioneer! It took me about an hour to make all this butter. I am estimating it is about 8lbs, but now I have silky soft "buttery" smooth hands and enough butter to last until Obama has taken over the planet. yea me again. I cannot blame Family Fun magazine for this one. I had this idea all by myself.

Doin' the Halloween thing Harward Style

It all began with the stupid FAMILY FUN magazine. I could rant about that mag, but I will save that for another post... Okay, my week begins with a little party at Abbie's Preschool. Of course I am stupid, so I volunteer to make a Halloween treat. Here is what I make. Cute right?



That goes off well, so I venture to a larger more complex goody for our playgroup party ( yet another stupid thing I volunteered for) And This is what I created. Cute huh, a chocolate cupcake with dirt and worms. Yeah me!

Now, you should note, that at this point in the week, I am really getting overwhelmed and a bit crazed. I am not good, nor very natural at creating baked and decorated snacks. These snacks did not come easy and my demeanor is beginning to show it. At the play-group party I am a mad woman. Things do not go well. There is Orange icing smeared on the floor, 23 uneaten chocolate dirt and worm cupcakes still on the tray, one in the trash and about 20 spider crackers on the tray, children running in the parking lot, ripped costumes, torn decorations, and some happy chatty moms. I however, am fuming inside! Not one of my cupcake creations got eaten! I spent way too much time making the fetchers and not one! oooohhh, but the entire box of powdered donuts is licked clean! AHHHGGHH! So take that Family Fun! I am now buying all my treats at the hostess outlet! Okay, I really want to eat some chocolate right now... Unfortunately, I am on a ridiculious diet that does not allow chocolate, even for medicinal purposes. So I have to sit in the dark for 10 minutes until I can come down from my frenzy.

Okay, after the party was cleaned up and over, the day got progressively better. We went to an assisted living place with the girls to Trick or Treat and then hit the streets to earn ourselves some candy! It was a little rainy, but we had a ton of fun. Abbie was cute, singing and talking to all the people and Reagan loved all the attention. Dan sneakily ate candy so as not to tempt me, and I sneakily ate candy so as not to get busted cheating. So, It was a super fun/super crazy day. Typical Harward style.

Pumpkin patching it.

To get back to our roots, we took the 30 minute trip to J&J to partake of the "Free pumpkin and a hayride" thing. Unfortunately we chose the coldest and the busiest night in October. Man, it was freezing! We waited for about 1 hour and finally picked out the pumpkins as the clock struck 9:00. It was a late night, but part of our little family tradition.

Of course, there is the carving event also. We carved our pumpkins right before Halloween to help get the house all spookied up (as Reagan likes to say.) It was Dan's Idea to make a throw-up pumpkin, so we all had a turn holding the pumpkin puke! yeah, for a silly hubby.

One of our neighbors commented that we had "one sick pumpkin on our porch.

Love letter to Jason Mraz

Dear Jason,
I just wanted to thank you for such a special night that we shared. It was truly magical. I don't know how you do it. How can I be in an arena surrounded by people and feel like you are singing only to me? Your voice transports me to a simpler time and place where everyone feels loved and happy. Thank you for transforming my Tuesday night into a wondrous memory that I will cherish for many nights.
Well, you done me and you bet I felt it I tried to be chill but you're so hot that I melted, I won't hesitate no more, It cannot wait, I'm yours. Look into your heart and you'll find love love love. I'm yours.
Your music is my remedy to an ordinary life. Because of you, I won't worry my life away. Thank you Jason, for being my ray of sunshine in confused world.
Your Love Always, Nicole

Hot Air Balloon Part Deux

Our last balloon ride was cut short because of "bad wind" so we got to have another complimentary ride today. This time we brought along the girls and Mac have them a quick little ride. Reagan thought it was the bees knees and show and tell worthy, but Abbie was a little freaked out when he ran the burner. She would hide her face in her coat and wait for it to stop. She was really nervous about getting burned. I guess that would seem really scary to be so closer to a blazing fire like that. It was a really nice day, but still a bit chilly so early in the morning. Yea, for family adventures.

Wardrobe Dillema

So, I have heard that it is not appropriate to wear white after labor day. But I also heard from our local fashion expert (on good things utah) that we could wear white- but not pants- until the end of September. So here it is October 1st and I am officially packing away my white, and summer clothes. Can it really hoody time? I am an avid collector and lover of hoodies (especially the new one from Modbe, you can contact my friend Anne about that) but can it really be time for that? I swear, it must be like 75 degrees today! That is awesome! if I had it my way, it would be 75 degrees all the time, but I digress. So, it is too hot for hoodies and sweaters, too cold for capris- and probably out of season, and short sleeves... not the morning. Yikes! what am I to do?

As I am packing, I am sad to say goodbye to my favorite spring/summer accessory, aside from flip-flops that never should be put away, my white purse. I was tenative at the first to dive into the white purse waters... but now I am hooked! I adore the colored and trendy purses. White seemed a little to out there for me, but it was great, we had a good run. I do feel strange carrying it around when I am wearing a hoody ( and sweating in it). So, to my favorite white purse I say Adieu and farewell.

Is it time for boots yet???

Wackadoodle

I love this word. It immediately makes me smile. I am a serious fan of the CW and of Bravo. One of my absolute favorite shows right now is Project Runway. There is a guy to who refers to himself in the 3rd person. "Suede." he says this word all the time. If you want genuine wackadoodle- Bravo is the place to find it. This dress in wackadoodle/borderline uglydoodle!

My Quirks

okay, so I have a few little quirks. To me these seem totally innocuous, but as I analyze them I have no reasonable explanation and they do seem a little bizarre.

1. Receipts. I can explain this one. It is genetic. My mother has stacks just like this one. This picture is the receipts that I took out of my wallet when it was too full to snap shut, I am guessing maybe a couple of months worth. the credit card is to show the relative size of the stack. this quirk is to support my second quirk which was also inherited from my mother.
2. Returns. I like to buy and try. This may seem weird, but I am victim to impulse buys and often when I get home I realize that I don't like the item. Or I buy it out of fear that when I come back it will be gone. this is weird, I know.
3. I buy shoes that I will never wear. I have about 6 pairs of heels that have only been worn once. I think the problem here is that I buy them because I love how they look, thinking that I will love to wear them. And then, after 10 minutes it hits me, yes, I love red patent leather heels, but no, I don't love pinched toes and hurting ankles. I realize this just in time to throw them back into the closet and slip on my sequined flip flops. ahh that is better. I have got to stop the shoe buying charade.
4. Magazines. I am addicted, obsessed and yet, overwhelmed. I love magazines, all kinds. There is not one that I will not read. I even have a subscription to "Diabetes forcast" and I don't even have Diabetes! Who cares right? well, they are taking over. I have stacks and baskets of them all over the house. Not only do I love them, but I love them so much that I cannot recycle them! crazy I know. I even save them after I have read them to give to my friends. I give them as gifts. I order them for my husband, who was reluctant at first, but now loves his ESPN mag. The best part is that I rarely pay for them and when I do, I don't pay very much. I do love my magazines. I don't think I am going to give this up anytime soon. That picture is just one stack. I have another basket of old ones in the closet. Shhh don't tell Dan.
   

I guess we are all a little quirky. Some people save cool whip tubs, others buy things they don't need that are on clearance, whatever. that is what makes us all so interesting.

My first week of school

Last week was the first whole week of all day school for Reagan. This is a cutie picture of her while we waited to get on the bus. She was more than ready to start school. In fact on the first day, she got up right when her alarm went off, got dressed, got her backpack on and came into my room to wake me up all before 7:45. That left us about 45 minutes to wait for the bus. We had a leisurely breakfast and then sat on the curb for about 20 minutes. She loves her new teacher and tells me that all she really does at school is have fun. she also uses the school excuse to try to get out of chores. "uh, mom, I can't really do the silverware, I have been at school all day" nice try. Anyway, she loves it and that really takes a weight off my shoulders. Again, I am waaayy to young to have a kid in school all day. with that said...

this is how I thought my days would be like now that I am down to one kid:

• wake up and go to the gym. Shower.
• Go to Ross or TjMaxx to check for deals.
• Stop by the grocery store for any last minute dinner prep stuff.
• Call a friend and go to lunch.
• sit on the porch and read a book.
• tidy up the house and get a healthy snack ready for Reagan.

This is how my days really go:

• get Reagan out the door.
• try to get abbie up without having her scratch out my eyes.
• get to the gym late, miss my class and wait for a treadmill.
• run into Costco for milk, loose Abbie at Shopko.
• Eat a granola bar for lunch.
• go to the dentist/doctor/bank
• hurry home to come up with dinner.
• crash on the couch, pretend to read scriptures and fall asleep while Abbie spills Spaghetti all over the floor.
• barely wake up in time to see reagan walk in the door.

What you ask... no time to clean, do in depth scripture study, prepare healthy meals, put on makeup and be ready to greet my husband? nope. it seems like I have no more time than before, and now I am noticing all the cute and equally not cute things Abbie does.

But it sure is nice to know that at the end of the day, Reagan is actually learning something.

Looks like we made it.

well, we made it 9 years at least. This may not seem like much, but every time an anniversary comes around we are always surprised that it doesn't feel like it has been that long. I suppose that is how a couple can stay married for 50 years.

So what is the perfect gift for a 9 year anniversary?
Traditionally, for the 1st you give paper... hmm, okay.
for the 5th it's wood. I'm not sure what wood thing I would want unless it was a house made of wood.
And for the 9th it's pottery or willow. Okay, another strange one.
How about hot air? Apparently, the list Dan referred to suggested hot air.
So, true to form Dan secretly planned an elaborate and exciting morning filled with hot air.
It was an amazing thing! My very first hot air balloon ride over the Ogden Valley. We met our pilot in Eden at 6:00am Friday morning and we were very excited. After he set off some helium balloons to check the wind, we set off to the Wolf Creek Resort to set up the Balloon. Apparently this was a hands on adventure and we were expected to help. It was very facinating to see the "envelope" unfold and fill up.

After it was all filled and ready to fly, we hopped in an he gassed it up. It was quite a feeling, floating in the sky, it was very peaceful and quiet. I had no idea we were almost 800 feet in the air, until I looked down at our car, that was barely visible. It was a great ride, we even almost hit a roof top. It was a beautiful morning, and a fun adventure.

So here I am looking at these beautiful pictures, thinking about all the amazing, awesome, surprising, one-of-a kind, romantic, and memorable experiences I have had in my life and most of them are because of Dan. He truly has been the most amazing husband a fun-loving girl like me could wish for. Sure, he leaves his dishes in the sink and never makes the bed, (I'm no perfect catch either) but has given me the best gift- 9 years of memories- I hope we can make it many more years because there is so much more I want to experience in this life and I wouldn't want to do it with anyone but him. Dan, Thanks for being such a good match for me and reminding me how to have fun in this crazy world.

They get so big!

Reagan is now officially a School girl! She had her first day of 1st grade and she loved it! Her teacher is super cute and seems really excited about getting these kids started. It is so much fun to see them grow up and yet also a little but surreal. Dan and I still feel like we are teenagers just havin' fun and living the great life. We are much too young to have a little girl in school! So Abbie and I are looking forward to all the quality time we will have together... I think we will BOTH miss having Reagan around during the days.

Everyone else is doing it....

So I got this off a friends blog so I thought I would try it because it could be super fun.

1. Leave a comment with a memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!
2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and read friends' memories of you. If you leave a memory for me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll do the same for you. If you don't have a blog (shame on you!!), I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.
This should be fun.

KABLOOEY!

This is a game we love to play at our house. It all started when we got our King-Sized bed. let me tell you the tale of the bed, it is almost a 5th member of our family.

You see Dan and I short people, so a King really is quite an unnecessary luxury. When we were selling our home the Realtor just laughed when he saw our bedroom, because there was no room on one side of the bed to walk because it was big and because we had a dresser, an armoire and an elliptical. He obviously advised us to get all the stuff out and switch to a smaller bed. We did, but after the first few nights when we thought it was fun to cuddle... we began to get a little irritated at not having any space to move around. those were a crabby few months. our new place was not much bigger and there was a time when we debated taking the Queen bed with us and storing our wonderful king. Perish the thought! The King bed won and when we moved we squeezed it into our small bedroom and have never regretted it. Good or bad I am not sure yet, the girls (Abbie especially) have learned that the bed is so big that they can sneak in during the night and we usually don't know until the morning. So more often than not, there are three people in my bed. At Christmas time, inspired by a great gift of satin pillowcases (thank you Jod & Brandon) we took the dive and invested in some King Satin Sheets! Let me tell you, this bed is amazing. we have a feather bed topper, on top of a pillow top mattress, satin sheets, satin pillowcases, a down comforter and I even wear my satin PJ's to bed. So now, when I want to roll over all I have to do is move my pinky toe and skadoosh, I'm on the other side of the bed. Does it get any better than this!!???

To justify the celebrity status of our bed we started using it for everything, including a little game we call KABLOOEY. It is basically Dan throwing the girls on the bed or pillows, but over the year it has changed often. It is silly and we all end up laughing at the end. Not a good activity before bed. There you have it. The tale of the King Sized bed-enjoy!

6 things to always say YES to...

1. Any LDB that makes you look double hot even if it costs double $$
2. Your gut-whether it's telling you to have your tires checked or growling for a burger.
3. A b-day invite from anyone that is under 8 or over 80.
4. Mom's offer of the family china, blessing gown or well worn game of Life, even if you can't yet forsee a time when you'll want it.
5. Whipped cream with that.
6. A close friend that needs you to listen.

And 1 thing to say no to...
1. Shoes that already hurt in the store- even if they are on sale.

these are thanks to my Glamour mag. Gotta love it!

The Mountain Green Experience

These are some pictures from Trappers Loop which is basically in my back yard. How's that for a view.

Living in Mtn. Green has some amazing perks. This spring we have had some serious and in depth nature lessons. We learn about pokey bushes, moose that stomp on dogs, deer that like midnight snacks, birds that have choir practice at 5 am , and how loud one lonely cricket can be when he is inside your house. We have really loved living in our own piece of the mountains. We were especially delighted to see a mama robin building a nest right outside our sliding door. Grandpa wanted to knock it down but Reagan asked to "please give them a chance" he gave in but made her promise to clean up all the poop. Well, just a few weeks later, we saw little beaks peeking out and then just about a week later we saw three giant birds all squished into the tiny nest. We couldn't believe that they were the babies! it was fun to watch the mom gather worms and feed them to her babies. It was such a special treat to witness. but that was before the accident...One afternoon we were coming home and we quietly came in the door, and suddenly the birds freaked out! one flew inside our house and the other landed on the deck. I was frantic! Yikes! it creeped me out a bit that there was a wild bird in my house (never mind that I have a Parakeet, that is different) So I called Betty to help me get it out and back into the nest. Meanwhile, the mom is out side flying from tree to tree sort of barking at the babies. It was very strange. As we were safely returning the birds to their nest, they freaked out again and flew back out. it was hopeless, they would not stay in the nest.
I had to leave and so I never got to see the birds safely back in their nest again. It was heartbreaking to hear that mom robin barking for her babies. She kept at it for almost a week. Life can be so cruel sometimes.

Livin la Vida

last Saturday we went to the Farmers Market in SLC. It was a beautiful day and it was a fun adventure with the kids. We love to see all the handmade art, hear the music and taste the delicious treats from all the vendors. Of course Dan and girls chose a snowie, and I indulged in a fresh squeezed strawberry lemonade the size of a bathtub. We listened to some Mexican singers that were dressed in robes and had flags and lots of sashes and medals. Reagan kept asking questions trying to figure it out. She asked if they were the people who fight for our country's freedom, or if they were the presidents of Mexico. It was pretty cute.

After the market we went to the planetarium to see a 3D movie. On the way we passed a huge air vent and Abbie climbed up to feel the wind and as her dress was blowing she held out her arms and said "I'm flying!" again, pretty cute. Then of course we all had to give it a try. And so it goes, another easy, fun, relaxing weekend in the sun. Can it get any better!?

Abbie's Big 3!

We went to McDonalds for Abbie's Party- When I asked her what she wanted to do she said "go to the weee" that is what she calls a slide or playground. So, we all packed up and headed to the South Ogden McD's the cousins had fun playing and the adults sneaked in Subway from across the street.







This picture is Abbie blowing out the candle and then she started licking the frosting off the princess dress. Hey, when it's your cake you can do whatever you want! grandma made this cake to look like little Abbie, pretty cute.

Photography By Reagan

Reagan got my camera out and started taking some pictures. Here are some of the best ones.