Swing Smiles

Ella loves the swing, the higher you pusher the more she laughs. A little daredevil in the making, yikes!

On her own

Well, I am a little morose this weekend. Ella is walking pretty much all the time now and it all goes downhill from there. I tried to not show her the floor, and it worked well for a while, but I can only hold her so much before my arms give out. I have to admit it is wee bit fun to watch her walk, especially to see the huge smile on her face as she gets to her chosen destination. She is growing up too fast.

The Tuesday Ten

So I apologize for neglecting the blog lately. I have been soooo very busy lately and thought I would share 10 things that are going on.

1. I took Brianna, Arick and Ty for eye appointments last week with interesting results. Brianna's eyes have improved and she no longer needs glasses. Arick and Ty on the other hand did not fare as well. Arick's eyes are worse and the doctor thinks that is what is causing his frequent headaches. I only brought Ty in as just a precaution and it turns out the kid has the worst eyesight of the bunch. Poor little bugger. So now my boys need glasses. Pictures will follow soon.

2. My Primary calling at Church is keeping me plenty busy. Lots of meetings to go to lately and I have to plan our yearly program.

3. Organizing and cleaning. I have lost lots and lots of things and it is driving me nuts. So I have been organizing, which means creating a bigger mess first and then organizing. Such a long process. I have definitely thrown out lots of stuff but I have so much still left to do. I still haven't found those lost items yet which makes the process even more painful.

4. Participating in a children's clothing consignment sale. Hopefully I get some money from this to help pay for an external hard drive so I can get my old photos off of my PC and work on them. My PC is not a happy computer and I am scared it is going to crash and take all my stuff with it. I am scared to even turn it on, which it doesn't do well half of the time.

5. Preparing a class on "Frugal gift giving throughout the year". I will teach this to the ladies at Church and I am so excited since it is one of my favorite subjects. I am also helping to put together a class on stamping.

6. 9 doctors appointments in 3 weeks, I really miss our old doctor in CT. Even Ty says he wishes "Dr. Iogas" moved to Tennessee with us.

7. Playdates and story time for Ty.

8. I have listened to 5 Audiobooks in the last 2 weeks but I am missing having a book to read, so I checked out 10 books for the next 6 weeks. I am trying to figure out what book I will suggest for bookclub when my turn comes again. I am reading Plainsong now and have a few others on my list. I will review a few of them when I am finished.

9. Busy planning for the upcoming holidays. I have to start early so I can enjoy December.

10. Driving. I have been doing lots of driving. I am finally reaching that point that I am feeling like a taxi driver. We have signed Brianna up for Piano, Arick for guitar, and Brianna will soon be doing Girl Scouts. Plus there is Activity Days for Brianna.

I haven't even taken 1 picture in 2 weeks which isn't from lack of desire, just haven't had time. But I will tomorrow.

Have a great day!

Andrew's DVR list

Just so you don't think that I, Amy, hog the dvr, Andrew has his recordings as well.

NFL Football
Pimp My Ride
How it's Made
Rugby
College Football

With an occasional Formula One race in the mix.

DVR

Recently we had Dish Satellite service installed so that we could watch BYU football games. Part of that service includes a digital video recording device that records shows, pause live tv, etc. Let me just say wow! I admit I love watching tv but I hate the time it takes. Now I can watch a 1 hour show in 30 minutes and Andrew can watch a 4 hour football game in 1 hour. That is huge! Plus I have been able to record my late night shows and watch them in the morning so I don't have to stay up late. I love love love DVR!

Curious to know some of the shows I am recording? Here are my top five, at least until the new season starts:
Murder, She Wrote
Monk
Psych (can you tell I love mysteries/solving puzzles)
Hannah Montana (I record them for Brianna, at least that is what I tell myself)
Good Eats with Alton Brown on the Food Network (I love how he explains the science of cooking!)

OAMC

OAMC stands for "Once A Month Cooking". The premise is that you cook 30 meals over a 2 day period with shopping and prep on day 1 and cooking on day 2. I have always this was a great idea but I have never had the best freezer space. Well now I have a large freezer and I have been thinking of trying it. As I was talking to my friend, Cristina, about it, she told me that she has done it before, however, she and a friend did it together to cut down on the work. Instantly I knew that doing OAMC with a friend was the better way to go, so we made a plan to do so. Picking out the recipes was the most fun. Some recipes we chose included: beef chimichangas, apricot chicken, pizza rolls, chicken enchilada casserole, shredded barbecue pork, and hawaiian chicken. We decided only to do 22-24 meals the first time to ease into it and I am glad we limited it. OAMC is one of those things that become easier every time you do it. I did manage to do my 22 meals, although one meal was a bust and I had to throw it out. The cooking day was long although not as hard as I thought.

It was all worth it though. When I open my freezer and see all the foil trays lined up with healthy, homemade from scratch dinners, I get a little giddy. I even have each dinner marked on the calendar (I love love love iMac's calendar program!) so I don't have think about it. All I have to do is just look at the calendar, pull out the correct meal the night before, thaw and reheat in the oven. I will use 5 meals each week and the other two nights we will have a meatless dinner such as spaghetti, rice and beans, bean burritos, pizza, etc. 4 weeks of no dinner hassle, that rocks!

Labor Day Swim

Hello! I apologize for being so behind on my blog. Going from PC to Mac is harder than I thought. Old habits really die hard. Add the fact that I using software with icons so different than what I am used to and you can imagine that this is a slow going process. It took me longer than I should to figure out how to save my photos to a web-friendly format with my new software, whew. I love it all though.

Look for a big post from me on Sunday about my first adventure with OAMC. If you don't know what OAMC stands for, you will have to read my blog to find out.

In the meantime, here are some pics from Labor Day. We spend the day at the beach on the lake, it was wonderful. Perfect weather too. Click on the photo to see it bigger.



I love this photo!

Bento catch-up

Teriyaki Rice with Spam
Papaya
Edamame beans
Homemade mochi cakes with red bean in the middle



Spaghetti with parmesan cheese and butter
Fruit salad
Tomoto, black olive, and cucumber salad with dressing
Ham and cheese cubes



Sandwich
Plum
Carrots

As you can see in this last photo, bentos don't have to be made from exotic ingredients. It is totally adaptable to what foods you and your kids will eat.

Moonlight painting

Andrew had a little fun with long shutterspeed and a full moon. The 'A' is made from the moon. Cool.

Bird in hand

As part of Andrew's Father's Day gift we gave him a seed bird feeder and a hummingbird feeder (see below). Bird watching has become a family hobby, even the kids get excited to see the birds and they can identify many varieties. The hummingbirds are a big favorite of ours because they come close to our windows and we can see them better. We actual got a much closer view than we ever dreamed of yesterday. When Brianna went out to the garage to get something for me, she came running back to let me know a hummingbird was trapped in our garage. Andrew was able to rescue the bird and we all got a chance to see her up close. The bird had tired herself out trying to escape and this made her calm in Andrew's hand. Pretty cool!

Oh the anticipation!!!!

Tonight feels a lot like Christmas Eve to me. The kids have been tucked snugly in their beds and I have butterflies in my tummy, so excited for what tomorrow brings. Except tomorrow is about only one present . . . my new iMac. I saved my birthday money and then some for this darling. Now I do love pc, particularly Dells, but my photographry work just screams to be handled on a mac. I do believe that it is a perfect solution to my needs.

You, the reader, should be excited too since it means that I will back to my regulary scheduled blog posting with pictures! Woohoooooo!

440 and other blog happenings

What is so special about 440 you ask? Well that is the number of licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop according to Arick. After church on Sunday he came up to us with a bright orange tongue and so excited to share his discovery!

As for other blog news, well you may have noticed that I haven't blogged as frequently lately. I have a good reason. You see, my computer has run out of memory. I can't download any new photos and I definitely can't edit my photos. So until I get my new computer (a new iMac woohoo!) I won't be able to work on the pictures to put on here. Unfortunately the computer won't be here for 7-14 days so you will have to be patient ... and so will I, ugh.

EDIT: Amazon's shipping estimate was WAY OFF, which is a great thing. It came on the 29th, woohoo!

Ty's first pony ride

Last Saturday we went to the fair near here. Why we ever thought that going to the fair would be fun in 100 degree weather, I will never know. We did try to make the best of it. I loved visiting the competition building and seeing the photo competition entries. My goal is to do this next year. Hopefully that goal will help me take my learning more seriously. As part of our short trip we let the kids each ride one ride. Brianna and Arick rode a Superman-style ride and they had a great time. Ty was too little so he decided to ride a pony. He loved it too! With one ride each and some yummy fair food (gotta have my gyro!) we left the fair. Hopefully next year we can enjoy the fair a lot more. This heat wave/drought is such a bother!

Ham and Cheese Bentos

Here are two bentos, the left one is from last week and the one on the right is from today.

Left: Pepperoni, Provolone and Canadian bacon with crackers, fruit salad and carrots
Right: Ham cubes with cheese cubes on toothpicks, green peas, rice with a nori star, and fruit salad

Assembly time for 2 of each bento was less that 10 minutes both days. All fruits/veggies had been cut earlier in the week and I bought the ham already in cubes. The cheese was actually cheese (the lower fat version to be healther) sticks that I sliced into 1/2 inch pieces. The rice and peas were leftover from dinner the night before. Easy peasy!

So do you like seeing bentos on my blog? I don't want to inundate you with all things bento. I could make a new blog for bentos only, but having just this one blog would be easier. Leave a comment and let me know what you think.

Happy 1st Birthday Ella!

Yesterday Ella 'celebrated' her first birthday. The poor little bugger has a cold and wasn't feeling so great, that is why she isn't smiling in the photo. She did manage to enjoy the cake though as you can see in the picture below.

It is amazing so me how much Ella has changed in the last month. She is saying the words: mum, dada or daddy, hi, ooooh, uh-oh. She is also trying to say the words Nana (for Brianna), Arick, yum, and more. She can mimic the tone correctly but does not enunciate. She can wave hi and blow kisses which is just so cute! She is eating more and more solid food and is not picky about what we give her. She will drink juice from a bottle, but refuses to drink formula or milk. She has 2 teeth with 4 more on top coming through. She is getting more confidant with her walking as well and can stand alone for few minutes before sitting down. She is growing up too fast!

Sumo Nigiri Bento and more

I was taking pics of the bentos and Arick requested I take his picture. Such a cutie patootie!

Arick's bento:
Sumo (kind of looks like a Sumo wrestler) Nigiri Rice
Sliced carrots
Black olives (Arick wants this is every bento from now on)
Homemade fruit salad with peaches, pineapple, cherries and bananas
Boiled egg
Soy sauce in a fish bottle

Brianna's Bento:
Flower shaped carrot slices
Black olives
Nigiri rice with teriyaki sauce in a bottle
Same homemade fruit salad
Imitation crab meat with a mini ice pack to keep it cool

I took pictures of the bentos today the way they looked just before I put them in the lunchboxes. I used saran wrap on the fruit salad so it wouldn't leak and I put saran wrap on the crab so as not to affect the flavors of the other food. The fact that the inner containers are not watertight is the one thing that I don't love about my 'bento' boxes. The box itself is watertight. The mini blue ice comes from an ice blanket from Target that cost $2.xx. You can cut the rectangles of ice off individually which works great for the bento system. Although I didn't picture it, I did put one next to Arick's egg. I learned this trick from http://www.lunchinabox.net/. It has tons of great tips.

I also wanted to mention a tip on how to pack bentos. You should have 4-5 (5 is optimal) colors in your bento. This makes it look pretty (which is key to getting picky eaters to eat) but also it usually means that it is healthy as well. Of course I am not perfect at this, so if I can't get all the foods to be different colors I try to add color with the picks and other bento decorations. Here are some suggestions to help:

Reds: strawberries, red grapes, cherry tomatoes, sliced red peppers, watermelon, cherries (pitted for little ones), red tortillas, salsa
Orange: carrots, dried apricots, sweet potato, cantaloupe, peaches, mandarin orange segments, yellow cheeses.
Green: peas, cucumber, green grapes, broccoli, spinach, green peppers, edamame beans and asparagus, spinach tortillas.
White: rice, Asian dumplings, pasta, bread, potatoes, flour tortillas, boiled egg
Black, dark purple or brown is the fifth color group considered in Bento lunch making. Here are some suggestions for this: Black olives, black sesame seads, seaweeds, eggplant

Fried tofu and onigiri bento

Here is today's lunch for the kids.

Fried tofu with teriyaki sauce in a pig-shaped bottle
Edamame
Onigiri (shaped rice covered with furikake seasoning) and teriyaki sauce
Frozen pineapple chunks

Believe it or not, the fried tofu is yummy with the sauce. Arick has loved tofu for a long time and I wanted to try and incorporate it into his lunch. Arick is my fussiest eater, so getting some variety in his lunches is a special goal of mine. This was my first attempt with frying tofu and he seemed to really like the sample I gave him. We'll know for sure if it is a big hit or not when he comes home from school.

I got my replacement parts for my rice cooker finally, so now I can prepare ahead some other rice based bento meals. Today I will be making more musubi and freezing individual portions of rice.

This news just can't wait until Sunday!

When Ella achieves milestones she likes to bundle them together. For example, in a period of 7 days, she learned to crawl, sit, and she got her first tooth. Well this week has been another week like that. We discovered that Ella is getting her two front teeth on the top, she has learned to say the word "Hi" while waving her hand(so cute!) , last night she said "Daddy", and the biggest news . . . . she took her first steps!! And it wasn't just one or two steps, it was SEVEN! Apparently she has been holding out on us, the little stinker. Andrew held her and she walked to me, she was so proud of herself, delighted in giggles. We did this a few times and then she saw a toy and walked to it. There was no fear, no hesitation, just a 'get up and go' attitude. Yeah Ella!

Sigh . . .

Then there is the part of me that is screaming, "Noooooooo!" I can't let Ella walk yet, she is my baby. I am not ready for this. She turns 1 on Sunday and just thinking about it makes me a little weepy. Ella is becoming a toddler, oh wo is me!

Ooooooh, should she get a haircut?

I just can't decide if I should have Ella'a haircut. It does looks pretty cute in bows, that is if you can find them, but it is uncontrollable without one. What do you think, should I get her hair cut? Please leave a comment and let me know yes or no.

Ella is saying 'oooooh' in this picture isn't she cute? Love it!

Tag, I'm it!

My friend Ashley tagged me to answer these questions. So here I go

Jobs I've held:
1. Ice Cream scooper
2. Service scheduler for Sears
3. Close to My Heart Consultant

Movies I can watch again and again:
1. You've Got Mail
2. Castaway
3. Cars (good thing, since Ty watches this one weekly)
4. Sound of Music
5. Pride and Prejudice, the A&E version

Guilty Pleasures:
1. Staying up late
2. Dove Milk Chocolate
3. Taking a nap

Places I've lived:
1. Connecticut
2. Massachusetts
3. Utah
4. Texas
5. Tennessee

Shows I enjoy:
1. Heroes
2. Criminal Minds
3. 24
4. Grey's Anatomy
5. Survivor

What were likely the first things you thought when you saw best friend for the first time?

1. Best friend--She approached me to introduce herself and possibly schedule a playdate for our daughters. I had absolutely no clue that she would become my best friend until that first playdate. Now she lives far away and I miss her.

Some of the places I've been on vacation:
1. Russia/Ukraine
2. Mexico
3. France
4. Maine
5. Disneyland and Disneyworld

Websites I visit daily:
1. www.cnn.com (I don't have cable so I go here to stay current)
2. reader.google.com to read all of my blogs
3.www.ilovephotography.com

Favorite foods:
1. Sushi (yellowfin tuna, avocado, tobiko, scallion combo is my fave)
2. Anything from L+L's, a hawaiian restuarant
3. French Onion soup with lots of cheese
4. Quiche
5. My mom's marinated shrimp, yum!

Body parts I have injured:
Nothing serious just lots of bad scrapes and bruises, including bone bruises which are no fun.

Nicknames I've had:
In second grade we had a to fill out a form for one of those id kits and one question asked for my nicknames. I had to leave it blank since I didn't really have one. Still don't. I must fit my name pretty well. If I really stretch, a few people called me by my maiden name when I was in high school. Boring, huh?

Your turn. I tag:
1. Jamie
2. Devanie
3. Sandy
4. Shelley


Who tagged me: Ashley

First day of school

Even though I have posted a ton of entries lately, I am quite a bit behind on blogging. One of the topics I have yet to post about is the first day of school. The kids had their first full day of school on Monday (one of my favorite days of the year). One of the things that changed when we moved to Tennessee is that the school calendar is much different than we are used to. School is on a modified year round schedule so the kids start school really early here. Not only is the yearly calendar changed here, but so is the hours that school is held. Elementary school starts before high school, so my kids have to get up before 6 a.m. , with the earliest being at 5:15 a.m. if they are taking the bus. Crazy, huh? Don't get me wrong though, because I love it. My kids are home with plenty of sunshine left in the day to play outside even after doing their homework.

So here are the kids on their first day of school. The pictures are not that great but they still manage to have that first day of school feeling. I am guessing that the geeky lunchboxes and school uniforms have something to do with that.

Happy Birthday Arick

(The picture above is a still from the video we took just after we brought Arick home from the hospital)

It is so hard to believe that Arick is 7 years old today. What a joy it has been to have him as part of our family. Without him we may never have memorized the movie Dumbo, have owned about 20 toy elephants, have had such a large collection of lightsabers and swords, discovered the large number of frogs in our yard, had sugar ants for pets, or received nearly as many hugs. Then there is the dimple that just makes my heart melt every time I see it and a laugh that is so contagious it can defeat a bad case of the grumps every time. Life just wouldn't be as sweet without our Arick. We love you buddy, Happy Birthday!

To help celebrate his special day, please leave a comment or send an email and I will make sure he gets the message. Thanks!

Bento #3

Mini waffles w/rasberry jam
Twizzlers (the sausage I planned on using was too spicy, so the kids got a little treat)
Edamame
Pineapple

This one went over well with the kids, Arick just left a few edamame uneaten. It took about 10 minutes today, but that includes the sausage fiasco and trying to find a subsitute for it.

I won't post all of our bentos, just the cute ones!

What do you do when you are waiting in an empty parking lot . . .

What do you do when you are waiting in an empty parking lot in the rain with very bored children in the car? You let the kids drive the car, of course! Each kid got a turn but Ty, who loves anything with wheels, had the best time, just in case you couldn't tell by the pics. He got to control the wheel while Daddy operated the brakes and the gas pedal. Ty loved driving the car in a circle, then letting go of the wheel and watching the car go straight. It surprised him every time. And just to confirm that he is a Smith, he is concentrating so hard in the bottom left picture that he sticks out his tongue. Hehe!

Buttermilk Syrup (the kind you get at Magelby's Fresh)

I am posting this recipe on my blog so that I don't lose it, plus I think more people need to know about this syrup. It is a trillion times better than any pancake/waffle syrup you have ever tried. I first had this syrup at Magelby's Fresh in Provo, Ut. It is a tradition for us to go there for there all-you-can-eat french toast in the morning for $4.95. Incredibly yummy! With their french toast they serve this buttermilk syrup that is fantastic. You must try it and let me know what you think!

Buttermilk Syrup
1/2 cup real butter
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 tsp. light corn syrup
3/4 cup buttermilk
Cook these ingredients in a saucepan until boiling, then add:
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. vanilla

Bounce-a-Rounce 2007

One of the last things we did in Utah was to let the kids run wild in a racquetball court at BYU. Uncle Steven (a.k.a. Uncle Buckethead as he is dearly known to Ty and the kids) decided that it would be fun to unleash all the kids (and adults) with MANY super bouncy balls. What ensued was pure pandemonium with the kids having a great time and the adults having an even greater time laughing at the kids. One black eye (Arick was the victim, poor little bugger) and one hour later we left with exhausted kids and bellyaches from all the laughing. Enjoy the slideshow!

P.S. Ty is not wearing pants because we had packed them all, oops! We were able to find a pair of Arick's shorts that he could wear for the rest of the day.

Jamie and Andy

Such a cute couple, totally made for each other. These two are going on a trip to Italy in September as part of the curriculum for Andy's MBA. How nice would that be?

Bento update

Included in the bento:
Musubi
Butterscotch cookies (homemade from scratch by Andrew)
Grape tomatoes
Teriyaki sauce in a teeny tiny bottle
Flower shaped carrots
Cucumber slices,
Edamame beans
Time to put together was approximately 3 minutes because everything was done before, just had to make it look cute and reheat the musubi (I cut all the veggies for the week on Sunday night).

Included in the bento:
Noodles with Parmesan and butter
Pepperoni slice
Fresh Mango
Edamame beans
Carrots
Grape Tomatoes

Time to put together was approximately 7 minutes. I had to cut the mango, reheat the noodles and thaw the edamame.

The containers are made by Lock&Lock and can be purchased at Target for about $3. The lids are watertight and easy for kids to open. As you can see, the little inside containers are removable. Each cup can hold about 3/4 cup of rice.

Leeds, Utah

This past trip to Utah required us to fly into the Las Vegas airport and drive to Provo, a six hour drive. On the day we had to drive back to Las Vegas, we decided to make a day of it and make some stops along the way. In particular, we wanted to try our hand at rockhounding. We stopped in two places Summit, Utah and Leeds, Utah. I will post more about our awesome adventure in Summit later. This post is about Leeds. This town is barely a dot on the map. We were coming here to hunt for petrified wood. To do so, we had do a little offroading in a minivan which scared me a bit. At first the area didn't seem very special, but then you pass a few hills and it opens up to just a gorgeous view of the red canyons Utah is famous for. The picture above it one of my favorites from the trip. We didn't stay long because of the 104 degree temps so we only found one small pieceof petrified wood but it was worth it.

Auntie Jamie

Auntie Jamie with Paula's daughter, Sofia.

Auntie Shelley

If any of you read the comments on my blog, you can see that Shelley is a regular blog reader and 'commentator.' (You shouldn't be afraid to leave comments either as this shows me who is reading the blog every once and a while.) She is my sister-in-law, Andrew's youngest sister. She is a real sweetie, loves my kids and my kids love her. She lives far away in Canada so we don't see her often, so it was extra special when we got to see her in Utah for the wedding.

Ella Bella

Here is Ella Bella (this is my favorite nickname for her) on the morning we left to come home. She was finally feeling better, which of course would be the day that we left, after her bout with roseola. This was my biggest disappointment about our trip. I really wanted everyone to meet the happy Ella but instead they got a clingy, sick, miserable Ella. Oh well. I am sure the next time will be much better, unless she takes after her Dad and gets sick on almost every family vacation. Let's hope not.

Courtney Rose

Here is Courtney Rose, sister to Sofia in the post below. What a beautiful baby!

"A mighty fine girl and cute too!"

This is Sofia, Paula's daughter. She is 3 and a sweetheart.

My sister-in-law and her cute family

I had a wonderful time on my trip practicing my photography. My sister-in-law, Paula, and her family were wonderful models and they were up for photos anytime I could get my hands on my camera. You will see lots of pictures of this family over the next few weeks. The photo above was taken this past Friday with a few minutes that we had available before the wedding started. Besides letting me photograph them at will, they were also a lot of fun to hang around and chat with, and all of our kids had a blast together.

Ella and Ella

One of the most important things on my to-do list while here in Utah was to visit my Grandma Ella D. Our baby Ella is named after her and with good reason. Grandma is an incredible lady full of love for everyone and a zest for life. Grandma has been there for me during some of the most special moments of my life. I love her dearly. It was wonderful to see her holding my daughter Ella. Of course, Ella was still cranky from her illness which is not how I pictured it. Grandma ignored the crankiness and adored her anyway. I am so grateful to have such a wonderful grandmother.

Eating and sleeping

This is my first time posting video and I hope it works for everyone. The videos you are about to see were taken tonight in the restaurant Los Hermanos. This restaurant is a tradition for us, we visit it every time we are here in Utah. We had a great time tonight and Ty provided us with some great entertainment. The videos are not the best quality, but you should be able to see it clearly enough. I don't think the sound works, so don't be surprised if you can't hear anything. Enjoy the show!