Arbor Day

Paige and I celebrated Arbor Day last week by going to an arboretum. We met a friend and her kids for a picnic lunch and a few hours of play at the Children's Garden. The Children's Garden is an outdoor place filled with treehouses, wading pools, flower beds, and tree mazes. Basically, the kids get to enjoy the outdoors in specially designed hands-on exhibits.Of course, little did we know what a popular holiday Arbor Day is. Admission to the arboretum was free that day and to say that the place was packed is a huge understatement. The line up to get into the Arboretum was long and causing a big traffic back-up, fortunately a lot of the visitors were there for a plant sale so the Children's Garden was busy but not unbearable.

It was warm and sunny and luckily there were lots of water features to cool the kids off. In these pictures, Paige and her friend Zach are taking turns pumping and drinking from the spigot. The second picture shows what happens when you try to drink at the same time! Uh-oh! That was a close one!

Hail to the Chief!

This blog wouldn't truly be mine if I didn't post something about how much I love President Obama and since he has now been President for 100 days, what a fitting occasion. I will admit, I am a bit of an adoring fan and I do own an Obama t-shirt, but I didn't buy a commemorative plate and I have no interest in the tacky "Chia Obama" (really, I can't believe those things are big sellers.)

What I most admire about President Obama is his leadership and his ability to inspire others. Let's be honest, it has been quite a few years (16 at least, longer for some of us) since we have had a president that we could really be proud of. Despite good work in some areas, it's not like I would every say to myself, I hope my kids grow up to be like President Clinton or President Bush. I think the President of the United States, although not perfect, should be honorable, compassionate, trustworthy, and smart. He or she should be a person that we look up to with pride and feel honored to have him/her represent us--Americans.

I know some will disagree, but I can't help but feel hopeful when it comes to Obama. Okay, maybe I am just a Democrat who feels like I have finally come out of the desert after eight years, but I am moved to tears during presidential press conferences. I might note that I cried during G.W. Bush's press conferences too, but it was the cringing-in-frustration or laughing at grammatical faux-paus type of tears.

Anyways, I appreciate Barack Obama and the symbol he is in America. He is progressive, intellectual, cool, and a good family man. Let's hope for more and better 100 days.

Sporty

It's spring time and that means spring sports!

This is the first year that Paige is old enough to play on a team so she is doing t-ball. I think she is pretty cute with her pink mitt and braided hair.

T-ball is co-ed, so she is playing with a bunch of boys. She is one of only two girls on her team but she is holding her own (although it is not too hard because basically none of the kids have any idea what they are doing!)

The format of the league she is in has the kids meet every Saturday. They practice with their team for one hour and then play another team in a game for the next hour. During the games, all the kids get to hit and run the bases. There are no outs, once everyone has hit, the teams switch and the other team hits. At the end of each inning after all the kids have hit, for fun, they let the coach hit and the kids try to get him out. The kids have a good time chasing the coaches down.

Anwyay, on Saturday Paige has just hit and is standing at 2nd base when her coach comes up to bat. I seriously don't know what he was thinking but he line drives the ball right into the kids and sadly it hits Paige right in the stomach. She doubles over, starts screaming and then comes running toward me crying. It was so sad. She had this perfectly round, baseball-shaped red mark on her stomach exactly where the ball hit her. Of course, she says she is not playing anymore. Dave and I felt like if we didn't get her back out on the field she would be too scared to play again so we encouraged her to go back in the game. I am sure it was pretty funny listening to us tell her that "everyone gets hurt in sports, but when you feel better you have to be brave and go back in, your team needs you, and of course, when you are brave after getting hurt, you definitely deserve ice cream!"

Needless, to say after some consoling and cajoling she went back in the game. Fortunately she wasn't hurt badly (thank goodness it wasn't in the face!) After, she calmed down she was mostly just mad and embarassed, so she stomped out on to the field with a big scowl on her face but she stuck with it and after a while was fine. I might mention too, that we had to reassure and console the coach almost as much as we did Paige, he felt sooo bad.

And of course, after the game, our little t-baller got some ice cream....or should I say frozen vanilla custard with Reese's Pieces.

After our morning of t-ball, we were off to an afternoon of soccer with Ashley. She is playing again with the same team and coach she always has. She is even wearing the same jersey that she has had since Kindergarten! I can't believe it still fits her.

Ashley played well and her team won 4-1. She had a good game and wasn't too rusty after not having played all winter. It will take her a little time to get back into game shape; she has been a little sore from running so much. She got to experience the relief of a little Icy Hot rub on her thigh muscle that night.

Sports will be keeping us busy for the next few weekends, but fortunately we have had nice weather and look forward to some more this weekend.

Easter

We had a busy Easter weekend, which began with the long dormant Smith Bakery opening for business. In anticipation of freedom to eat some Easter goodies and a few church potlucks/activities, I baked some tasty white rolls, 6 dozen mini chocolate muffins, oatmeal rolls, cinnamon rolls, a strawberry pie, and my first ever lemon meringue pie. (I realized I had never made a lemon meringue pie--it wasn't perfect, but overall turned out pretty good.) My oven was working hard Friday and Saturday. Of course, I now am back to eating well, so the "bakery" is closed again until further notice.

Besides all the tasty baked items to enjoy this weekend, we also enjoyed having Dave home for the first time in over a month. On Friday evening, we all went together on a "Walk With Christ," an event hosted by another ward from our church. Basically, you took a tour to learn about the life of the Savior. Rooms in the church building were staged and decorated to depict different scenes, such as the last supper, the garden tomb, etc. It was very well done and helped to remind us of the true importance of Easter.

The next morning, we had a Primary activity (this is where all the chocolate muffins went.) Dave was a huge help as a last minute flight attendant. There was an Easter egg hunt after. I don't have any pictures but I think the girls had a good time.

Later, we colored eggs at home. As you can see this takes serious concentration! This year we opted for the tye-dye coloring kit. It's less messy than filling 8 cups of dye and just waiting for the inevitable spill. With the tye-dye kit, you put an egg in a plastic bag and squirt a few drops of coloring into the bag and swirl it around--done with little mess.

Of course, I did end up having to mop up a spill anyway. Paige spilled her "Shirley Temple" drink during Easter dinner, which left the whole floor sticky--some things are just meant to be.
That evening before bed, Dave had a very nice discussion with the girls about the true importance of Easter.

Sunday was a very nice day, that we just spent together as a family. After enjoying baskets left by the Easter bunny. We got all dressed up and headed to Stake Conference.

Once we got home, we ate dinner, which included cinnamon rolls, roast turkey breast sandwiches, hard boiled eggs, salads and fruit. After dinner, the girls took turns hiding plastic eggs around the house and hunting for them, while mom and dad loafed on the couch.

Spring Break: CHICAGO

Anyone who knows what Dave does for a living knows that Spring Break is anything but a break for him. This leaves the girls and I with the choice of 1)going on vacation without him, which usually means a visit to family or 2)not going anywhere at all. This year we tried to get a little creative and came up with, in my opinion, a pretty good compromise. If Dave, can't go on Spring Break, we would bring Spring Break to him. The girls and I booked a hotel in downtown Chicago and spent a few days enjoying the city, where Dave could meet us for lunch, and we would get to see him early in the morning and later in the evening because he didn't have to commute all the way home. The following is a travel log of our trip, Ashley helped me write some parts:

Can you believe how old my girls are?! Here they are "commuting" into the city. We took the train in. Ashley is relaxed and reading, while Paige is jamming with the IPod. I didn't expect them to be so self-entertaining, with no one to talk to I am the one who ended up looking out the window the whole time!



When we got to the city, Dave met us at Union Station and took us to lunch at a restaurant in the Sear's Tower. It was called Augustino's Rock and Roll Cafe. I feel bad I didn't get a picture of the life size Elvis and Beatles figures. The girls shared a juicy cheeseburger and Dave and I shared a huge Cobb salad. This is a cute picture of Ashley and Dave after we finished eating.

After lunch, the girls and I went to the hotel to check-in. Here they are relaxing on the bed. We stayed at the Marriott Downtown-Magnificent Mile. The location was perfect, I couldn't have been happier. The hotel also has a pool, which was a very big plus for the girls. Little surprise, the first thing we did after checking-in was to go swimming. Here is what Ashley had to say about the hotel and swimming:

The revolving doors!

On the days at my hotel and at dads work there is a revolving door. Now your thinking why would Ashley talk about a revolving door? So here’s why. On the way to my dad’s work (a couple of years ago) for the first time they had glass revolving doors. When I thought that it was time to get out I was wrong so that made me bonk my head hard. This is a terrible memory for me on the first day at my dad’s work. So guess what? At my hotel building they had revolving doors! I’m like oh man I don’t want to bonk my head again! But when I got closer I noticed that they were big and automatic!!!! YAY!!!! So now every time that I go to the hotel building I don’t have to worry about bonking my head!

The swimming pool!!

During the spring break in Chicago mom, Paige, and me often went to the pool to play. We always made friends young and old. For example, I once played with a 13 year old! I also once played with a 6 year old. All of the grown ups were very nice to Paige and me. Someone said that I was so good of a swimmer. That was kind. Anyway, I love to swim. The only thing that I hate about swimming is taking a shower! I don’t know why that I don’t like taking showers!! It’s probably because I have to use special shampoo and let it soak in my hair. I sure love to swim!!!

Paige wants to add: "I like swimming with my floaties because I can go in 3 feet, 4 feet, and 5 feet!"

After swimming, we had to get cleaned up and ready to go to the theater to see the musical Mary Poppins. This was our big treat for the trip. The girls had never been to a live show like this. They were very excited. A private car from the hotel took us to the theater and the girls where pretty impressed with the huge crowd, red carpet, TV cameras (no idea what for), and lights outside. This is a horrible picture of me, but it's all I got!

Here are the girls inside the Cadillac Palace Theater. We had balcony seats but the view was great! And the show did not disappoint--lots of exciting lighting, Mary Poppins was flying around, chimney sweeps were walking on the ceiling, and great dance numbers. My favorite number was a tap dance by the chimney sweeps.

We were out pretty late that night, but that didn't stop us from keeping busy the next day. We started out with shopping on Michigan Avenue. As you can see the girls had a great time playing at the Lego Store.

After walking around for a while, we met Dave for lunch at a Brazilian Steakhouse, called Fogo de Chao. It has been at least five years since I have done this and it was another first for the girls. I am going to let Ashley tell about this one:

Fogo De Chao!!!

On March 26,2009 my whole family went to have lunch at Fogo De Chao. Now this isn’t an ordinary restaurant where you sit down and order something. When I sat down somebody pulled a chair for me. Right then I knew that this place is fancy. Then you have a circular little thing that on one side it says yes please! And it’s the color green. On the other side it says no thanks! And it’s red. Now they have this because when you flip it to green people come over with meat and they ask if you want this kind of meat. Don’t worry they tell you what kind of meat it is. Then you tell them if you want it medium rare or something else. Next you use your tongs and pick up the meat that they cut for you. Last you eat and flip it over to the no thanks! Side. Let me tell you it’s very good. My dad told me about a place like this in Utah. It’s just called something else.

We also spent a few hours at Navy Pier. These are a couple of pictures from the Children's Museum there. It was pretty crowded but the girls had a lot fun playing on all the exhibits while mom, immensely enjoyed herself, as the official coat holder.

Okay, now for my confession. Across the street from the hotel was a Bucco de Beppo restaurant to which I had a gift certificate. So one night, instead of dinner, we order the Dolci Platter to-go and took it back to our room. We spread it out on the bed and ate it while watching NCAA Basketball games.

As you can see, Paige is my true partner in crime when it comes to dessert. The Dolci Platter is just a fancy way of saying, "a giant piece of every decadent dessert on our menu, feeds 6." We were adrift in fudge sauce, dark chocolate, hazelnuts, carmel, cheesecake, etc., etc. And since it feeds six, guess what we had for breakfast?

(In my defense, I got up the next morning at 7am and pounded out the guilt on the elliptical!)

The last thing we did before going home was to run up to the Lincoln Park Zoo. We hadn't been here since the summer we lived downtown, six years ago. This meant that Paige had never visited. The weather was pretty brisk, but the animals seemed to love it. They were all out and about, so we were able to see all the animals. I love the picture of the girls with the lions in the background.

Here is Ashley's take on the zoo:

In the zoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
On March 27,2009 on the way back home my mom, Paige, and I decided to go to the zoo. Guess what? I’ll let you in on a secret. My mom couldn’t find the parking lot for the zoo. I totally understand though. I couldn’t see it either! But we had to drive around and around. We got a sweet parking space though. My family saw many animals like monkey’s, apes, gorillas, wolves, bears, geckoes, bats, zebras, spiders, snakes, frogs, leopards, lions, and much more exotic species. Oh did you know that one of the monkeys peed all over the glass!!! That was funny and gross!!! We sure had to walk around a lot. Now I’m tired!

Fluffernutter

I have signed on to a six week eating healthy/exercising thing. My weakness is that whenever I am watching what I eat, I love to torture myself by watching Foodnetwork and then instead of eating bad stuff myself, I vicariously do it through my children. I guess I just have a need for someone to enjoy delicious food.

Case in point, last night I was watching a show called, Sandwich Paradise. This was actually on the Travel Channel (earlier I had watched my favorite Diners, Drive-ins and Dives on FN.) Anyway, after a tour of the best deli's in America, it ended at a peanut butter sandwich shop in California. Right then and there I decided that someone in my family was going to taste-test a fluffernutter sandwich. Since my diet is restricted, it had to be the girls.

If you don't know, a fluffernutter is a peanutbutter and marshmallow fluff sandwich. Supposedly, this is an American classic and some people grew up on them. Personally, I have never had one or really known anyone that has, the very reason I have to try it. Anyway, I put sliced bananas on mine for a little extra flavor and used whole wheat bread. Both Ashley and Paige loved them. In fact, Paige has had two sandwiches already today. She would have more but I won't let her.

I am being strong, I haven't had one yet, but I plan to. (I don't see "marshmallow fluff" on the bad food list!)

Recipe: Oatmeal Rolls

These rolls are so delicious. My friend, Angela, reminded me about this recipe. We got it from Sheri, a mutual friend. When I made soup for dinner and wanted some bread to go with it, I decided to make these rolls. The original recipe is below with my modifications in parentheses.

Ingredients:
2 C water
1/3 C brown sugar
1 C quick oatmeal (I prepared 1/2 C of quick oats then a 1/2 C of steel cut oats and combined for 1 cup.)
1 1/2 t salt
3 T butter
4 C flour (I used 3 1/2 C of whole wheat flour)
1 T yeast
1/3 C warm water
1 T sugar

Directions: Boil water. Add oatmeal and butter. Cook for 1 minute. Let cool. Dissolve yeast in 1/3 C warm water and add 1 T sugar. Add cool oatmeal mixture, brown sugar, salt and flour. Knead 5 minutes. Let rise to double. Punch down. Form into balls on cookie sheet. Let rise again. Bake at 375 degrees for 10 to 13 minutes.

As noted, I used some steel cut oats and whole wheat flour, which probably made the rolls a little denser, but they were not tough. The rolls were very soft and tender. The whole family loved them. Paige especially liked them with honey butter.