Cookies and the Zoo!

Okay, we didn't eat cookies at the zoo but that would have been fun. Wow, what a busy couple of weeks. Jared and Erin came up with their kids for a visit. It was really fun to have them around. It's amazing how quickly kids grow up when you only see them once every 6 months. We have had fun playing, watching movies, etc. The other week we went to the zoo. It was so much fun. My favorite Sophie comment (she is 6 yrs. old and can say the funniest things) was when we were looking at the rhinos. She looked at them eating and said, "Wow, they must poo a lot" then when one of them turned she said, "Ooh gross! I can see it's boogers!" I thought I would pee my pants laughing. I love the zoo, especially with little kids.
We also went to Bear Lake. That was fun and CRAZY! We had 9 adults and 6 kids under the age of 8 who wanted to play Harry Potter all the time. We went to Minnetonka Cave and watching the kids reactions to everything was so much fun. They thought it was all so cool. The Lake was gorgeous! I'm glad to be back though but now I need to catch up on all the stuff at home, like getting back to making cookies!

The last ones I made were Oatmeal raisin. They were so yummy, and I don't even like raisins! They came out so soft and chewy. Sean scarfed them down and took some to work. He said they got lots of compliments. I think these were Sean's favorite cookies so far. I guess I will need to make these more often.

Cookies, cookies, and more cookies!!!

When I was growing up some of my favorite Christmas cookies came from one of my mom's old cook books, the "Betty Crocker Cooky Book" from 1963. By the time I was a teenager, the book had fallen apart and my mom saved our favorite recipes in a binder. In 2003 the book was reprinted and Mom gave each of us kids a copy. I saved mine until we got married when I needed it to make my own Christmas cookies. A couple of years ago I realized that I have this book full of one of my favorite foods - cookies- and I have only made a couple of them. I finally decided I would go through the whole book and make each recipe, and all the variations of them. I'd toyed with the idea for a couple of years now, and have now decided to put this into action. I also wanted a record of this so a la "Julie and Julia" I have decided to write about this in our blog. I have done several recipes so far so I have some catching up to do and will hopefully keep on top of this from here on out. We'll see how well I do.
Week one:Ok, I skipped the first recipe in the book as it called for coffee, and given Sean's and my religious beliefs, this obviously was a bit of a problem. Perhaps one day I'll make it and give them to my non-LDS, coffee drinking friends. The next recipe was Orange drop cookies. They were actually really good. They had a nice cakey texture with a yummy orange frosting that wasn't to overpowering. Sean loved them. I probably wouldn't make them all the time, but they would make a fun change.Weeks two and three: Chocolate drop cookies
These have been Sean's favorite so far. They also had a cake-like texture, chocolate frosting (is it possible to have too much chocolate? I don't think so!) and were really yummy. There were so many variations that it took me two weeks to do this one. The first week I did just plain ones and some with chopped pecans. They were so good. The next week I put coconut in some and chopped maraschino cherries in some. I loved the cherry ones. I was surprised they were so good. I'd do them again in a heartbeat.Week four: Brown Sugar drops
These were OK. They would be really good with chocolate chips, but that wasn't one of the variations. I did some plain, some with pecans, and some with coconuts. They were all good, but not as good as chocolate chips would have been. I didn't get pictures of this one, but I'm sure I will make them again sometime.
A couple of weeks later: Pineapple cookies
I took a couple of weeks break because we went on vacation to San Diego! It was a blast. the next week we had a family reunion, so I finally got back to making cookies the other day. These cookies were surprisingly good. They tasted very old-fashioned. I did half a recipe of just pineapple and half with pineapple and coconut. I can't decide which I like more, they are both so good. I took them when we hung out with friends the other day and they ate them before I knew it. They were obviously a hit. I have to make these again some time.I can't wait to see what this week brings for us and for my next cookie!

Have you missed me? or My excuses for never writing.

Oh, how quickly the time flies. The Mrs. was asking me some questions about the blog and I realized that neither of us had posted anything since November. Shame on us. Unfortunately, we are mostly boring people who don't lead very exciting lives. Highlights of the past few months include:

• Moving into the new homestead -- We really do love our house. As with anything, it is a constant work in progress. We have a complete upstairs, a mostly incomplete downstairs, and a backyard that until a couple of weeks ago, was mostly weeds. The biggest issue we have faced is a broken sewer pipe on the outside of the house. Cost estimates to repair it have ranged from $2,000 to $12,000. Obviously the quality of work is much different between those extremes. We are working to save money towards this as well as researching other possible options. The other issue we have faced is no air conditioning. As the summer heat has invaded we have certainly enjoyed the cool air on our front porch. (we are even contemplating finding a projector so that we can watch movies on the porch.

• We are both working at our jobs and in the church. I was just added as a member of the Boy Scout Committee in our ward. in a lot of ways, working with the scouts has reminded me of some wonderful childhood memories. The Mrs. spent a week at Girls Camp this summer, and really enjoys working with the Young Women.

• The Mrs. keeps me well fed, and is even contemplating using the blog to write about her cookie experiment, cooking through one of her cookie cookbooks a la the movie Julie & Julia. 

• I have started some new medicine that has me feeling better than I have in eons. Even my coworkers who haven't known me very long have commented on how much better I seem to be!

All in all, I think both of us are healthy, happy, and excited for some adventures that we have planned over the next several months. Hopefully, we won't wait that long to keep the three of you reading this updated.

SL

Nearing the finish line!

We are almost there. We finally have all of our flooring in. Our wood floors look fabulous. We are so pleased with them.
I want to thank Laurel Poll for all her help with the tile. I loved learning how to do it and they look so great. It really was a lot of fun, but a ton of work. However, I think they turned out great. I did the tiled hearth all by myself. It was so cool.



We also finally got our linoleum in and it looks fabulous too. After that all we were waiting for was our carpet and for our contractor to finish all his things. Well, we now have carpet and it looks great. It is so soft and thick, we just had to take our shoes off yesterday and tromp all over the house. We love it! We are so excited that it is really looking like a livable house now. We just sat on the floor and stared at last night and didn't want to do anything else. It felt like Christmas to get our carpet in.


So now all that's left is for our contractor to come in and work on his huge list of finishing touches. It should only take him a few days and then we have to get it inspected. Once it passes inspection we can move in! I know we've been saying that we should be done in 2 weeks for about two months now, but now it looks like it really will happen that way! I can't wait to cross that finish line. Wish us luck!

As Time Stands Still

Our wood floors have created a type of standstill for us. We are grateful to Wasatch Ultimate Flooring for giving us a spectacular deal on some quality flooring. The wood is about 90% in. we are still waiting for carpet and linoleum to be installed. Kari and I are waiting for some friends to teach us how to install our own tile. If all goes well, we might be only 2 weeks away from moving in. (of course as I write this, some dastardly thing is probably plotting against us and will reveal its ugly head shortly.)

I also need to share my love and admiration to Kari, who took the painting challenge and ran with it. I admit that painting is not something I remotely enjoy, and so with minimal help from me and a lot of help from her Mom, the two of then painted the house. It looks super fantastic!

We have also installed phone and internet capabilities. Satellite television should be coming soon as well. Things are getting so close, I can hardly contain my excitement.



P.S. On an unrelated note, I am so excited for my cousin Christopher's wife Emily, who set the course record at the Saint George Marathon Wheelchair Division race this weekend. Both Chris and Emily are amazing examples to Kari and I. We only wish they lived closer so we could get together more often than the maybe once a year we are able now. Congrats Emily!!!!!

We are still alive

Wow, I know it's been forever since we've posted. Since Sean is really busy right now, I've decided to write a few things. The house is really coming along. All of our soffits (I think that's how to spell it) and rain gutters are all done. We also have a new driveway! Yeah! I've been very busy painting the entire house. Mom has been a lot of help and we've also had some great help from friends and family too. I was there every morning for about an hour and almost every evening for 3-4 hours for 3 weeks. Needless to say, I'm exhausted, but the house looks so good. We did the great room in a really pretty green color, then painted the rest of the house in a nice tan color. It was interesting transitioning the colors around the rounded corners, but I think we made it work well. It's finally looking like a real house! I'm glad we don't have floors in yet because I could be as messy as I wanted to and not worry about spilling paint everywhere. Now my next project is to clean up all the rollers, and other painting mess so we can get our wood floors installed on Saturday. We still have some painting left like the trim that hasn't been installed yet, and some touch-up work to do. We actually got our appliances on friday. It's so nice to have a fridge and stove. Our kitchen is looking like an actuall kitchen now. They couldn't install the dishwasher becasue the old one which hasnt' been hooked up, somehow got hooked up, and Sears won't unhook and remove it. That is someone else's job. Oh well, it's at the house at least. It's been a long haul, but we are finally seeing a light at the end of the tunnel. We might actually move in one day! Here are a few pics. Hope you enjoy!

Where does the time go?

It has been a busy month or so since my last post. Work is progressing nicely on the new homestead. just this past week, our drywall is installed. unfortunately, no pics yet. The Mrs. and I are currently focusing on choosing paint colors and carpet styles.

We will be painting in just over a week, so anyone who wants to spend some time making stains on clothes and floors, feel free to contact us. Pizza and soda may or may not be provided.

We were able to get a fantastic deal on some new furniture as well over the pioneer day holiday. (I am usually not a fan of RW Sillies, but it was a fantastic deal.

Big Props to our new neighbor Jared, who has sacrificed some quality time with his SuperWife Jessica, to help get our sprinkler system in order. We might actually see some green grass again in our front yard before the summer is out!

I promise, drywall photos will come; (as soon as I take them.)