The girls

Basically I am living my dream. I love being a mom to two girls. Like I really LOVE it! I hope I am a good mom to boys when they come along, but for now I am enjoying my little girl party.

This post is just going to be full of pictures and updates of my two little crazies. All of sudden I feel they are growing up way too fast and do too many cute things that I just want to remember and post.

Yes, I am that mom that dresses her children to match whenever possible..... yes, I match too. This is a lot of pink, even for me, but it was Valentine's day.

I am not sure where both my girls got their beautiful eyes.

MADISON ELIZABETH -

*She still talks and talks and talks. "Watch this!" to me and to complete strangers, ALL day long. She doesn't even really do tricks, just wants us to watch her doing who knows what.

*She is scared of a lot of things, and I have to remind her to be brave. One day she will think an airplane is the coolest thing she has ever seen and then the next she will be in hysterics as one is flying through the air. She just barely surprised us all and went down the slides by herself. It was a long time coming.

* She loves to sing and dance. Every song is her favorite. It is amazing to me how fast she picks up on songs.

*She is potty trained. I didn't really want to do it in case it was too early. I did not want it to be too complicated for too long. I don't really like making my life harder. However, she was ready and going through way too many diapers and clothes due to her drinking water quirk. She caught on in the three days that I worked with her and it really has been a very mild complication with almost no setbacks.

*She is getting good at counting. She loves her puzzles that have numbers and runs up to me telling me all the numbers she knows. Sometimes she still gets confused on the order. I found a song that will hopefully help with that.

*She loves her shape ball and loves knowing the shapes. She knows circle, triangle, oval, trapezoid, hexagon, star, cross, square, and pentagon.

* She is getting a bit ornerier and is having to be constantly reminded to choose the right. Usually she does okay. She just thrives on being independent and doing things her way and in her time table. Sadly, that is not how life works usually. Fostering confidence, but taking away independence every once in a while is a hard balance sometimes. Keep working with me Madison.

*She still takes a good 3 hour nap daily. I keep my fingers crossed that this lasts. It really is amazing.

*She loves baby Jordyn! She is always excited when Jordyn wakes up from naps and runs to go greet her. She is usually very nice and soft and will run around, twirls and play peek a boo to get Jordyn to laugh. Luckily, Jordyn laughs easily, which keeps Madi entertained.

Look at those eyes!

Every morning we have 25 minutes of independent playtime where she plays in her room. She has done so awesome at this and it gives me a chance to take a shower or read my scriptures.

Having a little chat with dad about choosing the right

We were making a return to Old Navy and found her like this. See video below too!

JORDYN LESLIE -

*This girl is the sweetest little baby ever. Sometimes I remind her to be a little more of a complainer so she isn't overlooked. She happily watches the world around her with her big eyes, big forehead, big cheeks, and just overall big baby body.

*Speaking of baby bodies. She wins for the best one. She has rolls in all the right places. I have a hard time putting her to bed after bath because she is so cute to watch roll around. I love squeezing her thighs.

*She can roll over both ways, but consistently rolls over from her back to her tummy. I could watch her do this all day. She leads with her legs, and it takes so much work for her to get her little booty over.

*She has the cutest little laugh. Anything makes her laugh. She is not hard to entertain.

* She takes two good naps. One long/short one in the morning, depending on if we have an outing, and one long one in the afternoon. She loves her dad's soft Sponge Bob blanket and sleeps for hours. She also shares a room with Madi and almost always sleeps through the night from 8 to 7ish. REALLY, she is amazing. Being a mom to her is the best.

*She adores Madi. Baby siblings take a lot from their older siblings. They seems to always have toddlers touching them, hugging them, poking them, kissing them, or talking right in their face. SHE LOVES IT, especially when Madi is on the other side.

*She just tried her first little bit of oatmeal cereal. She seemed to enjoy it and loved being with us at the dinner table. She makes the cutest little face when she sucks her top lip under her bottom. With her cheeks and wide eyes, it is unbeatable in cuteness.

Those cheeks!

All dressed and ready for a walk around the block

We visit an Old Folk's home every other week with some friends. Jordyn is one of the main attractions.

First time trying Oatmeal Cereal

She has her own set of eyes!

My hope is that these two girls will be the best of friends. They will probably share a room for the rest of their childhood, play with the same toys, wear similar clothes, and experience most of the same parenting. (the good and the mistakes) Even though I want them to have their own individual goals and personalities. I hope they will support each other, cheer for each other, and be each other's best competitor as well. They will probably be known as "the girls" to us, future siblings, and extended family. Very likely, they will be grouped together more often than not, and I want them to be grateful for that companionship and confident in the fact that we love them individually, no matter how often we refer to them as a pair. As my sister, Leslee, and I got older, I realize no matter how different we thought we were growing up, or even now, there really isn't someone that has as much in common with me as her. She knows the 'whole story' of me. I don't have to explain to her who I am and why. I hope my girls can be that for each other.

I love you Jordyn and Madison!

Valentine cookie hacks for the non-baker

I would definitely describe myself as a 'non-baker'. I don't like to bake or cook. Since cooking and baking are somewhat of vital role as a stay at home mom, I have tried to make it a goal to be a little more happy in the kitchen. I have gotten SIGNIFICANTLY better. However, it is still not my favorite activity. Not even close. I envy the people that tell me that baking is somewhat therapeutic for them. I can't even blame my lack of baking skills on my babies. I don't even like it when they are not around.

Sorry about my rant about how much I dislike working with food. I just wanted to make it clear that my little cookie hacks are going to seem common sense and ridiculous to some, probably most. They are almost comical to m. Still ... they work. Or at least they dramatically make the baking process more successful for me, and I tend to be a very unsuccessful baker.

This year I decided to make some heart shaped sugar cookies! I wanted them to have yummy pink frosting and be nice and fluffy. I have attempted these cookies and frosting a few times before and have learned things along the way. All of these tips are for AFTER you make the dough and let it chill according to your recipe

Here it goes:

VALENTINE COOKIE HACKS FOR THE NON-BAKER

1. Use Lots of Flour

* Don't be stingy on the flour when rolling out your cookies. If you happen to use too little flour and it sticks to your surface, you more then likely ruined your cookie and have to re-roll it out. The less you have to touch the dough the better. This tip has been tried and true, it is better to wipe flour off after you bake it, then over roll the dough or mess up your shape.

2. Roll the Dough Thick

* Once again, don't be stingy with your dough. Sugar cookies don't rise all that much in the oven, and if you want a fluffy cookie, keep your dough thick. Most recipes say to roll it a quarter inch thick. This is taller then you actually think.

3. Don't Trust Your Oven

* Ovens, or at least my oven, tend to be unpredictable. ALWAYS set your timer to the lowest, or even lower then the lowest time that your recipe calls for. I even have to set my thermostat 50 degrees cooler. (Sad I know). Then be diligent in checking and re-checking the progress of your cookies. I have burned way to many things by setting the timer and then going to accomplish something else until the timer beeps. Even if I don't burn it completely, the bottoms of the cookies can easily cook to be too hard and your cookies are RUINED. What a waste of time and money. (Probably my biggest beef with working in the kitchen). If I have learned anything in the past 25 years of my life, it is DON'T TRUST OVENS!

4. Whip Your Frosting For a Long Time

* This is something I probably should have learned as a teenager. My mother pointed this out to me a few months ago, and now I realize that this is actually spelled out in recipes. I never took this direction in the frosting directions very seriously and didn't connect it to the fact that my frosting never turns out. I made cream cheese frosting, and after I let the butter and cream cheese soften, I used a hand mixer and whipped it good. For a while, at least 4 minutes. Coming from someone that used to whip it for 10 seconds, this is a long time. It makes a substantial difference in the texture of your frosting. I actually enjoy making frosting now.

5. Don't Spread Your Frosting Clear To the Edge of the Cookies

* This is a bit of a wordy tip, but something I figured out just this Valentine's day. I really stink at frosting cookies and can never make them look pretty. The ones I made still aren't pretty, but they are significantly better. I used to try to get the frosting all the way to the edge and ended up making a sticky mess. If you don't spread the frosting clear to the edges then the cute little heart shape of your cookie can actually be seen. Who would've thought!

Well, there you have it. My tips for the non-baker. Hopefully there are more non bakers out there besides me.

Happy Valentines Day!

In the Physiology Lab

A couple of weeks ago a photographer came to Jordan's lab to take some photos of  the lab he works in to update a website. Luckily, she sent them out for us all to download. Not sure if anybody did, but me. But I thought some were cute, as well as goofy.

Jordan said that they don't actually look 'that excited' all the time to do lab work.

Still the pictures will be fun to see in the future. I always wondered what my dad's work looked like... now my kids will know what their Dad's work looks like.

Ask in Faith - Stake Standards Night

In the early 1800s a fourteen year old boy came across this scripture:

James 1:5

"If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him."

The very next verse continues . . .

"But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed."

This verse inspired this young boy, Joseph Smith, to ask God a question. He wanted to know which Church was true and which to join. This prayer resulted in a vision where Joseph Smith saw our Heavenly Father and His son Jesus Christ. Throughout the next few years, Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon and restored the true Church upon the earth. Because he "Asked in Faith" Joseph Smith "has done more, save Jesus only, for the salvation of men in this world, than any other man that ever lived in it."

Yes, this sounds a tad melodramatic, but it is absolutely true and how it was emphasized to the youth of my Church. This year, the theme that has been chosen for the youth to focus on is "ASK IN FAITH." Jordan and I were asked to present to the 14 and 15 year olds in our stake the importance of this theme. We prepared for a LONG time and put together a fun little activity/presentation that made the theme new and exciting. Our hope was to motivate at least a few youth to really take the challenge of asking in faith seriously and put it to the test.

Our stake started out with a little opening exercise and showed this little video that the church put out to introduce the theme. It's a cute little clip and I liked that it seemed to have real questions and real answers. Click the link and it will take you to the theme homepage with the video on it.

After the opening exercises we split into groups. Jordan and I had the 14 and 15 year olds. They told us around 20..... we had 34. Needless to say, it was a bit of zoo. We started off with a little video clip. This was an optional detail in our plan, but we needed a little hook to get things calmed down after the transition.

I also included the LINK to the video in case the embedded video doesn't work. I tend to run into that problem with everyone, including myself, except for my Mom's ipad.

Jordan showed me this little clip a while ago and the more I watched it, the more I began to notice little details and really liked it. We had the youth share with each other something they really enjoyed from the clip. They were a bit timid to share, but we expected this. We tried to make this little clip an ice breaker. The video quotes Joseph Smith as he is recalling his experience before the First Vision. I really like how it talks about how even though there was a lot of confusion and a lot of churches' that wanted him to join, that he stood 'aloof' from them all. I felt that this was especially applicable to youth and really to anybody. Sometimes we are so desperate to belong that we aren't as 'choosy' about who our crowd is as we should be. Good things sometimes take time.

After the video we did a little activity where we split into 2 groups and studied the word ask and faith. We had skittles, M&Ms, and starbursts, took our groups and asked questions, encouraged personal experiences, and had them create a visual. The visual was simple, but we wanted them each to have a little 'something' that they learned or touched them.

As a little handout, we had created this little journal page that had the church's theme logo on it, the scripture, and the conclusion questions we would discuss. I even made little pins for them to put on their backpacks to remind them of the theme.

 I literally made the pins out of Shrinky Dink. It is awesome. I used some to make Jordan some pins for his backpack for Christmas and they turned out so well. When we were asked to do this assignment I knew that I had a lot of the plastic Shrinky Dink leftover and it would be perfect to make some pins. All you do with Shrinky Dink is draw your image, paint or color it, and stick it in the oven. They shrink and turn into really hard durable plastic. I also attached Tie Tack blanks to the back.

Kind of amazing how they turn out.

I even made one for diaper bag. :)

In the end we had a little chat about different questions we could actually ask our Heavenly Father. We discussed questions that they could ask in the next years, and even down to every day. We ended with the question for them about how they think they would change as a person if they Ask of God everyday and act upon promptings they receive.

Overall, the activity went well. I wish we could work with youth consistently then they would get to know us and would be really comfortable sharing, those experiences sometimes take time and trust needs to be built. However, the best that could, happened. We had a little bit of crazy fun mixed with a tad of touching experiences. Hopefully we inspired a few to really ASK IN FAITH.