The Pirate Park

We are steadily working on marking off things on our Summer Bucket List.

One of those things is to walk to all of the nearby parks.

Lets just say that this park was

SA-WEET

We call it the pirate park.

We ride in style around here

Mommy had to go down too

Proof that Daddy and Avery were there too

This is where McKayla says, "No help Mommy."

What a fun park!

The Pinterest Experimnet

We were pretty impressed with most of the recipes that we tried this last week. I am just worried that at the rate we are going, I am going to run out of recipes to try before the end of the summer!

The first is called Lasagna Soup.

Here is the link

Here is a side note. Lasagna and I do not have a good history. Last year we had lasagna on my birthday. It was also during my first trimester of being pregnant with Avery. Enough said. Then, last year we had two of Kyle's brothers over for Thanksgiving and I made it again. Well, the lasagna didn't make me sick, but that night I got the worst stomach flu I have ever had in my life. It wasn't pretty. Then, my sister kept telling me that she found a recipe for lasagna soup and it was so good. So we decided to give it another try. Unfortunately, I thought I could substitute chicken bouillon for chicken stock. Lets just say that the soup tasted like a tomato flavored salt block.

But then my neighbor made it a couple of weeks ago and it was delicious, so I decided to try it again. 

We mutually decided that this was an 8.

I actually liked this soup better than the actual lasagna. The one thing that I would differently next time would be to use fresh sausage. I had some frozen sausage that we used and although Kyle thought it was good, I though it tasted weird.

The next thing we tried is called the Buttermilk Blueberry Breakfast Cake

It has been pretty popular on pinterest so I was really excited to try it. And it was SO good!

Here is the link

I would rate this at a high 8.

I don't know if it was the buttermilk, but this cake was so moist. The lemon was a nice addition and the top was incredible. It was quick to put together but I had to bake it for about ten more minutes that what it called for. I will definitely be making this again.

Summer Bucket List

I thought that it would be fun to have a list of fun things we could do this summer. There is so much to do here in P-Town and I wanted to take advantage of it while we were living here. So I made a bucket list. I had my doubts about how much we would like it and if we would even do the things on it. But, it has been so much fun to do something fun and then come home and cross it off our list. It also gives us some good ideas for things to do when we are bored.

We have it all filled up now. This would be so much fun to do for all of the seasons.

Our Life in P-Town ** Day 18

A Day in Numbers

The number of miles we walked before Kyle went to work-- 2
The number of ducks McKayla woke up by screaming "Wake up ducks!" on our morning walk-- 12

The number of loads of dishes I did -- 3

The number of jars of strawberry jam that I found room for in our tiny freezer for- 16

The number of hours that it poured rain-- 2.5

The number of new cousins that we got-- 1

The number of times McKayla got out of her bed when she was supposed to me sleeping-- 3

The number of times Avery woke up from McKayla getting out of bed when she was supposed to be sleeping-- 2

The number of times McKayla said, "Me happy!" with tears running down her face-- probably 20

The number of laundry loads I did-- 5

The number of quarters I spent on 5 loads of laundry-- 32

The number of hamburgers Kyle grilled for a neighbor bbq-- 12

The number of kids that went to bed past their bedtime-- 2

And because it is lame to post a blog with no pictures.....

The number of times I want to kiss those chubby cheeks-- about 1 million

The Pinterest Experiment

I was beginning to feel like I wasn't pinning any good recipes. 

But then I changed my mind. The recipes we tried last week were pretty okay.

We called the first meal 

A Gourmet Grilled Cheese

and it comes from here.

Don't be fooled. She wouldn't eat it until we took off the guacamole 

This was a good meal and I was really excited to try it. The guacamole had such a great flavor with the cilantro and tomatoes. One of the things that we didn't like was that it wasn't super kid friendly. Also, with the guacamole and the cheese mixed together, it made the inside of the sandwich pretty mushy. 

All in all, we rated this meal a 5. 

It was pretty average. We might have it again someday.

This is the 

Pineapple Chicken Quesadillas

from the Pioneer Woman website- here

These were fantastic. All of the flavors mixed together so so well. We didn't add the jalapenos because we didn't want the heat, but I don't think we were missing out on that much because there was a lot of smoky flavor in the bbq sauce that I used- (sweet baby rays). They were pretty filling which was also nice. 

This was delicious. We rated it an 8.

 All of the servings that we had were gone by the end of the night. 

I would make this again.

Mothers Day

Lets just say that the day started out with good intentions. 

And it ended with Kyle saying family prayers, asking Heavenly Father to please help mommy to not run away.

You see, we have a little joke around here that whenever the kids have been acting up I tell Kyle that I am thinking about running away.

And our kids were acting up yesterday. In a major, no sleep, super naughty, crying and whining all the time kind of way.

Happy Mothers Day to me.

  

The best part of the day was when both girls were in bed, and we didn't have to deal with them anymore. Does that sound horrible? At least we thought that we were done with them for the day. And then we went to bed. 

And there was McKayla, laying in our bed. We thought that was really sweet at first, like maybe she felt bad for being such a stinker. But as we looked closer we noticed that there was fingernail polish on the sheets, on her body and that it covered each little finger and toe.

Yep, it just had to be today.

But enough of that.

Here's the pictures

Yes, we have good days and bad days. We have our ups and downs. Or days where I really do feel like running away.  But, even with that being said, I have to also say that I feel so incredibly blessed that I get to be a mom. I am so grateful to my Father in Heaven for trusting me to be the mother of these sweet spirits. Right after I had McKayla, I was overwhelmed with the feeling that I was finally doing what I was mean to do. And I have continued to feel that everyday since then. And while that may seem like something small, or insignificant to some; it was a life changing moment for me. 

Good Eats- Take 2 & 3

Last Saturday Kyle and McKayla walked walked over to the local bakery 

to see what it was like and get us some breakfast. Also, there is a bakery by where we

used to live that we like a lot and we wanted to compare the two.

They got a few different kinds but we forgot to take pictures until there was only one thing left.

Here is a picture of what they called their "famous" cinnamon roll. Lets just say that that is probably the reason why the bakery isn't that famous. It wasn't that good. I would call the bakery average. Although Kyle said that the glazed doughnuts were delicious, and that was the one thing I didn't try. I would probably go back to try the glazed just to see if it was as good as Kyle said it was.

A few days ago we went out to Nicolitalia Pizzeria with some friends. There is basically one reason why we wanted to go here. You see, after we watched a few episodes of CAKE BOSS, Kyle decided that he wanted to try one of their famous canoli's. Unfortunately, there aren't that many places around here that sell them. That is, until we heard of this place. 

Nicolitalia advertises that they make a Boston style pizza and fresh canoli's. We heard that the bread sticks were good too.

Here are the bread sticks. Kyle liked them. They were really soft, which was nice. They weren't my favorite though. I thought there was way too much garlic.

The pepperoni pizza

Another pizza- can't remember the name.

We ordered the chicken parmesan. I was good but I think next time we will get a different kind, maybe the chicken pesto or pepperoni.

Here is the canoli. We each got one. The funny thing is that Kyle, our local food connoisseur, didn't like them that much. I, on the other hand, loved them. And let me tell you that that RARELY happens at our house. Kyle isn't a huge ricotta cheese fan, which is why he didn't like them that much. It wasn't like you could taste the ricotta, but you could tell it was there by the texture. The cream was delicious, and the batter that was used for the canoli shell, had some cinnamon in it which made it extra good. 

I think we will definitely go there again. The food was good, the price was right and the service was excellent.

Our Life in P-Town** Day 9

Can you say QUACK QUACK? 

 Well we can.

There are two duck ponds really close to us and we unintentionally went to both of them in the same day.

The first was with some cousins. We will definitely go there again. Nobody was there and it was a good place to feed ducks, have a picnic and see the awesome river.

The second, was just as good. We went for our evening walk with daddy.

This pond was way closer and the duck were noisier- which made it exciting. 

We will definitely be going there again.

I think it would be safe to say that these are probably the best fed ducks in the town.

The pinterest experiment

Here are two more recipes that we tired.

If you want to see our rating system again click here.

This was our treat for FHE on Monday.

They are called Boston Cream Pie Minis

Here is the link

I wasn't sure about these but I will say that I was pleasantly surprised. The recipe says to combine cool whip  with the chocolate and I loved that it thickened up the consistency so it didn't make a huge mess. We are dark chocolate lovers around here and the top part of the cupcake was really good. I sometimes hesitate getting recipes off of the Kraft Recipe website. In my opinion they use simple ingredients to make simple meals. Which can be a good thing but in most cases, every recipe I have tried from there has been a little bland. We like a lot of flavor around here and I have learned that to get that you typically have to use more than 5 ingredients. 

Anyway, we rated this recipe between a 6 and 7. We were pleasantly surprised that they were better than we thought they would be. I halved the recipe to make only twelve, which was more than we could eat so we gave the rest to our neighbors. They said they really liked them.

The next recipe we tried is called

Breakfast Cookies

For some reason I feel like I need to stick up for this recipe. The morning I was making them, Kyle asked what was in them. I listed off the ingredients and ended with, "And there is no flour or sugar. Isn't that neat." He looked at me and said, "Well you have fun with that," and then left for work.

 Here is the recipe:

1 1/2 cups oats

2-3 ripe bananas

1 cup applesauce

a handful of craisins 

cinnamon

Mix and place onto a cookie sheet. Cook at 350 for 30 minutes

These cookies didn't have a bad flavor. They just tasted really really healthy. And that just isn't really our style. Don't get me wrong, because I feel like you are. We like healthy food around here. Just maybe not this healthy. They tasted like you made yourself some oatmeal and then cooked it like a cookie. And while they weren't our favorite, I couldn't help but to think of all the people I know who would love them. 

So, I would rate these at a 4. 

Glad we tried them but probably wont make them again.

Need a little pick me up?

This is one of my new favorite songs. It is by a guy named Mat Kearney. I haven't listened to all of his songs but I love the ones that I have. 

Our life in P-Town** Day 8

Today was the best day ever!! We finally got a double stroller. And we love it!

I have been wanting one and researching for one for months now. I definitely wanted something that had the three wheels, and I wanted to wheels to be the real tires. Let me tell you, it makes pushing two kids so much easier. I also obviously wanted there to be two seats- two individual seats, not just a big bench. Just as a side note. McKayla hated going on walks because we she had to walk too. So I told her that we were going to get a stroller that had two seats. And now, ever since then she has been talking about the new stroller we were going to get with one seat for her and one seat for Avery. Anyway, the seats lay down and the shades go anyway you want, which I also love. All in all, I can't say how much I love it enough. I would definitely buy it again.

And here are the girlies. She doesn't so much anymore, but every now and then McKayla asks if she can hold Avery. It doesn't last for too long though, because she starts saying "To heavy, to heavy!" I sure do love these girls! They have been such great troopers with everything that has happened lately.

The pinterest experiment

This summer I have decided that we are going to try all of my pinterest recipes. Why pin them if you never try them, right. So, when we try something new I will blog about it. Things that we liked, didn't like and what what we would rate it- according to our own newly made rating system.

1- I threw up in my mouth

2-It is edible, but lets make something else to eat

3- Had 1 serving

4- Glad we tried it but will probably never make it again

5- Average, we might have it again.

6- Surprisingly good

7- Good. Willing to share without remorse.

8- Multiple servings

9- I am full but force myself to eat more

10- I just died and went to heaven

This was the first thing we tried 

Apple Cinnamon Coffee Cake Muffins

From: Our Best Bites

http://www.ourbestbites.com/2012/04/apple-cinnamon-coffee-cake-muffins/

My favorite part of this muffin was the top. It was delicious. The recipe said to chop a granny smith apple into small pieces and add them into the batter. We didn't think that the apple added to the recipe. They were pretty mushy and made the texture of the muffin a little weird. Another thing that I didn't really like was that from start to finish, it took about 45 minutes. I was making them for breakfast and I don't usually like spending that much time for that meal. 

We rated these muffin at a 4. 

We are glad that we tried the recipe out but probably wont make it again.

The next recipe we actually tried at a friends house.

French Bread Pizza

This is a quick and easy way to have pizza. You just buy a loaf of french bread, split it down the middle and load on the toppings. We think it is better to have the cheese on the top when we do these. Then you pop it into the broiler until it is done to your liking. I like how easy this meal is. It seriously took no time at all. It was pretty tasty too. The one thing that we didn't like and would probably try to change was that the pizza sauce made the french bread get a little soggy. Next time we will try toasting the bread a little before we put all of the toppings on.

We rate this meal at a 6.

Better than we thought it would be and something we will most likely have again.

Our Life in P-Town ** Day 3

We have a little miss around here who has been obsessed with the Temple lately. Or anything that is related to the temple; weddings, flowers, white dress etc. It is pretty cute. She used to think that pretty much anything that is tall or big was a temple. But then one night when we were driving home in the dark, she saw the real temple, in all it's beautiful shining glory, and has been able to tell the difference of what is and is not a temple. Anyway, now that we live very close to a temple, we decided that we would drive up to it after dinner.

When we told McKayla where we were going she said this, "Mommy, I'm so excited. Me Temple!"
I would definitely say that that is a pretty good thing to be excited about.

If you have any questions about the LDS temple or beliefs, look at these websites www.mormon.org or www.lds.org

Good Eats- Take 1

In trying to make the most of our situation here in P-Town, we have decided that we are going to try a new restaurant every week. After all, this is practically the restaurant capitol of the world right? And when I say that we are going to try a new restaurant, I'm not talking about going to the local Olive Garden. We are branching out, going places we wouldn't normally go and maybe even ordering something different than normal.

The first place that we went too, we actually had been there twice before. It is called Spicy Thai and is definitely one of our favorites when it comes to Thai food. We both got the Masaman Curry, lame I know, but it so delicious. And the nice thing about this place is that we both went home with enough food to give us another good meal.

So, we both got a meal of Masaman curry and Kyle ordered an appetizer of Spring Rolls. He likes them but I don't really care for them at all. We spent around $25.00 for this meal, including tax and tip. They have a great lunch menu where you get about the same amount of food, and that is usually when we go.  I would definitely say that we will visit the Spicy Thai restaurant again.

Our life in P-Town ** Day 1

I hate my life.

At least that is how I felt today. In fact, I have been trying to repress it from my memory to keep from having nightmares.

It started at 5:55 in the morning, when McKayla woke up. Kyle left at 6:30 to pick up a van, because it had been raining the day before and was supposed to continue for the next day. Because we had decided to get a moving van we called my parents, who had offered to bring my dad's truck and help us, and told them that we probably wouldn't need any help. First mistake. So Kyle gets back at 7:45 and we started packing it up. I am telling you, it was like going through never ending torture. Every time we thought we were making some progress, we would remember about another huge thing that needed to be done. We were supposed to be done by 10:00, but that came and went. The new owner came, and was trying to get us to leave faster. Lets just say that it was quite annoying and I was tempted to stop packing and stay for another day. We finally finished at 11:00, Avery cried for most of the three hours, and McKayla was still in her oversized pajama shirt with hot chocolate and oatmeal smeared all over it- and her face. I am pretty sure that my kids hated me today. I felt like a horrible mother. We ended up having to leave some of the stuff in the garage, which we wouldn't have had to do if we had one more vehicle. 

We get to our new place in P-Town and we start unloading. My parents came and helped us, which was awesome. Our next door neighbor came out and watched us and then when we were about 90% done said, "Hey are you guys moving in?" Yep, thanks for your help buddy. The van had to be returned at 1:00. We finished at 12:50. Kyle took the van back and then went to work for the rest of the afternoon. I took our girls to my parents, where they napped while I drove back to the house to get the last load of stuff. I then took it to our new place and then went to check on the girls. I told McKayla that she could go see her cousin when she woke up and boy did she hold me to it. I am pretty sure that was the one fun thing that she did in the past couple days and she would not let me forget about it. We then loaded up a load that we had taken to my parents the week before and came to our new place, which was completely full, for the night. 

 Let me tell you here and now, there are some crazies in this town. When we got to our apartment, I was getting the girls out of the van and I hear someone yelling at me. I looked to see who is was and it was a lady across the street. She was yelling at me asking me if I was the one who molested her son. I said no. She then proceeded to yell at me, using more expletives than I have heard in a long time. I looked back at her, and she said, "Don't look at me like that, I'm a freaking homeless person!" Then there was more swearing. I then told her to have a good day and pushed us inside. I seriously thought to myself, "This lady is going to come back and murder me in my sleep". Before I went to bed I double checked to make sure that all three locks on our front door were locked.

When Kyle got off of work he had to drive back to our old house and try to get someone with a truck to help him more our freezer and refrigerator to the storage unit. I made McKayla take a shower before bed and she cried the entire time. Kyle came home, with some smoothies at 9:00. That was seriously the best part of our day. Pretty sure Kyle lost about three pounds that day and my legs hurt worse that they ever have. It was a day that I never want to repeat and was so grateful to have be over.

Goodbye home. Thanks for being good to us!

Hello apartment. 

Can you see McKayla?

Time for a change..

Time for a change.....because that's what you do when your life gets comfortable, right?

That's what we have been doing around here, change change change.

Here is the short version of a very long story. There are some home lots about 5 minutes away from our house that are much bigger than the one that we currently have. And when we bought our home we did it knowing that it was not going to be a long term place for us. So, after a lot of convincing, persuading, and maybe even some arm twisting; Kyle, I mean we, decided to put  our house up for sale just to see if we would get any bites. Four days later, our house was sold. WOW. So then I, I mean we, go from looking forward to having a nice, relaxing and non pregnant summer; to packing, putting 90% of our stuff in a storage unit, and moving all before the month of April is completed. We also buy a lot, and decide everything, to the last detail, that we want to have in our new home. Talk about STRESS!

We are now living in an apartment, close to Kyle's work in a place that Kyle lovingly refers to as P-Town. We are in a very unique situation. So, for the rest of the summer, I will be using our blog as a sort of documentary of the good, the bad and the ugly that happens to us while we are on this adventure.

Feel free to tag along.