2015 playlist

Here is our year, as told by the music we loved. (And, as with playlists past, viewer discretion may be advised with some of the videos linked.)

1. We Are Young (featuring Janelle Monae) -- Fun.
2. This Is the Life -- Amy Macdonald
3. Morning -- Beck
4. Leave a Trace -- CHVRCHES
5. Ever Had a Little Faith -- Belle and Sebastian
6. The Beginning and the End -- Fanfarlo
7. Leaving New York -- R.E.M.
8. Rivers and Roads -- The Head and the Heart
9. Helplessness Blues -- Fleet Foxes
10. Helsinki -- The National Parks
11. Bicycle Race -- Queen
12. Starting Over (Bad Habits) -- Typhoon
13. Half the World Away -- AURORA
14. L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N. -- Noah and the Whale
15. Across the Universe -- Rufus Wainwright
16. Nowhere Warm -- Kate Havnevik

provo highlights

Our visit to Provo was just as delightful as we hoped it would be. We packed our days full so that we could come back home with no regrets, and I think we were able to do just that. Here are a few of the highlights.

Cousin Time
My sister, Katie, drove down from Boise with her two little girls. Natalie is an absolute hoot, and Emily is the sweetest little thing with gorgeous eyes to match. They are each just a few months younger than Matthew and Daniel. Matthew for the most part didn't know what to make of Natalie (like, for instance, when she tried to force feed him her imaginary cupcake and he was overwhelmed to tears), and Danny spent a lot of time ogling Emily's ability to walk (but showing little to no interest in trying to replicate the skill himself). But overall they really enjoyed each other's company, and Matthew, for one, was sad to say goodbye.

 Climbing the tree in Grandma's backyard. 

 All the cousins picking pumpkins at Vineyard Nursery.

Happy babies in the red wagon!

 Feeding Grandma's ducks at Wilderness Park.

 Happy babies on swings!

 The contrast of their personalities is pretty evident here.

 Happy babies in high chairs!

 At Bridal Veil Falls.

Build-A-Bear

Grandma treated Matthew and Natalie to an outing at Build-a-Bear Workshop. It just might have been the most amazing thing either of them had ever done. Matthew picked a teddy bear-like doggy which he initially named Biscuit, but ultimately just called Bear Doggy. (He's practical like that.)

 Filling Biscuit/Bear Doggy with fluff.

 The lady helping him went through the whole Build-a-Bear rigamarole, which he played along with fairly well until she asked him to kiss the bear's heart before she stitched it up inside. He thought that was crazy and refused to do it.

 Awww.

 Giving Bear Doggy his first bath. I love Matthew's determined tongue.

Danny and Emily looked on in fascination. Maybe someday it will be their turn.

Apparently it was too much to ask for them to pose with their new dolls for the camera.

Golden Friends
There's almost always more people I want to see when I visit Provo than I typically have time to see, so to help alleviate that problem my parents let me host a little gathering at their house one evening. The turn out was so great (definitely a lot great than the pictures below lead one to believe). Friends from my childhood, friends from college, friends from Brooklyn who had since relocated to Utah, and lots and lots of cousins. It was wonderful! We dipped apples in caramel and all the fixings while we chatted and caught up.

 Ah, Sarah and Daphne (and an exhausted Matthew)! It was so good to reconnect with these two lovely ladies and sweet friends from our Brooklyn ward.

With my dear friend, Naomi and her family. Her husband, Jun, was one of Blake's counselors in our Brooklyn ward. I have missed them all so much since they first went back to Japan and then found themselves at the BYU Marriott School for graduate school, and it was so good to see them.

Grandma's Toys
Grandma Nancy prides herself on the toy collection she's built for her grandchildren, and rightly so. It boasts both new and vintage, and, most importantly, it was beloved by those it was meant for.

 Playing with the vintage Little People Farm that his mother played with when she was a little girl.

 Dobbin the Wonder Horse! On our last morning in Provo, Matthew brought up the fact that he still hadn't seen the horse, which has sometimes been brought upstairs when grandkids were expected. He was worried that it was gone forever, and so was overcome with happy relief when he learned it was just in the basement. It was a happy reuniting.

 Danny thought Dobbin would be a good idea, but quickly changed his mind.

The lighting in the shot is horrible, but it features all the cousins.

Shopping

A sizeable amount of our girl time together was spent shopping. We hit all the favorites -- Orson Gygi, Home Goods, World Market, Traverse Mountain Outlets, Red Balloon Toy Store, and Gardner Village, as well as a trip to Ikea just for the heck of it -- and came away with lots of fun, new treasures.

(No pictures. We were too busy browsing to photograph anything.)

Story Time
In theory, Story Time at the library is a beautiful idea. Educational, entertaining, social. But my boys never seen to be too interested. Luckily there were some fun literary pumpkins on display.

 "...no matter how it's disguised..."

 I'm still surprised (disturbed?) that Matthew knew this was Captain Underpants. I suppose he can thank his older brothers for that tidbit of knowledge.

 The Pigeon, of course, was their favorite.

Trail Walking
Every morning I joined my mom on her walking route along the Provo River Trail. The weather couldn't have been better and the ducks were out in full force. This daily ritual was probably the best part of this trip.

 As soon as the ducks see my mom crossing the bridge into the park, they come running to the spot where she feeds them.

 Ah, sweet breakfast.

 Views of the Provo River from the bridge.

 But not this bridge.

 Oh, mountains!

 Remind me to tell you about the time my siblings and I ran away to the banks of the river along this section of the trail. Ha!

 Seriously, how could I not love this place?!

We had such a good time, and I'm still amazed at how much we were able to pack in to our few days there. And what I mentioned here wasn't even half of what we actually did because I didn't tell you about how we ate all-you-can-eat French toast at Kneader's with Claire (who is awesome, by the way) and how it was so delicious I'm still searching for a do-able copycat recipe so I can eat it again. Or about the 90th birthday celebration we attended for my Great Aunt Ann. Well, maybe it was. 

Sigh. Like I said, it was a good trip home. 

By the way, in case anyone was wondering what distractions I brought along for our airplane rides worked the best, it was hands down the Play-Doh followed closely by the "black phones" (aka the cheap calculators). Maybe next time I'll just pack those along with some snacks and call it good. It'll make my carry-on lighter anyway!

dollar store distractions

 

Next week I'll be boarding a Utah-bound plane with Matthew and Daniel for a long-awaited visit to see my family and the mountains they live surrounded by, both of which I miss dearly. In preparation for the flights (since non-stop flights out of Cincinnati are hard to come by, unfortunately), and because electronic gadgets aren't an option, I've been raiding every dollar store, bin, and sale this side of the Ohio rounding up an arsenal of distractions to hopefully keep them busy and pleasant while we travel. Okay, so my search wasn't actually that extreme, but I did manage to come away with a good stash of stuff that I think they'll enjoy.

Small pad of construction paper. Good for drawing, coloring, folding, and....

Lots and lots of stickers. Stickers are Matthew's favorite thing these days.

Play-Doh with ice cream scoop set. Matthew's other favorite thing is Play-Doh, and his speech therapist this summer had the ice cream scoop set, which she used as an incentive for cooperative behavior at his sessions since he loved it so much. I'm not sure the flight attendants will love it as much as he does, but I'm going with it anyway.

Fruit snacks. In their two favorite characters -- Snoopy and Curious George.

Coloring books. Also Peanuts themed. And they come with stickers. Win win.

Big crayons for little fingers.

Mechanical pencils because, aside from being logistically easier, I'm pretty sure pencil sharpeners are something the TSA would prohibit.

Calculators. Because my children are math geniuses. Or not. But seriously, these are my secret weapon. What toddler/preschooler doesn't love pushing buttons (literally and figuratively)?

Chunky board books. One of them features the alphabet, which Matthew is all about these days ("That letter in my name!"). Another features babies.

Chenille pipe cleaners and pony beads. I'm well aware that this could prove disastrous, both in the security line and in the potential mess. But I'm hoping that if I package everything right, it'll work okay. Because if there's one thing their newly nimble fingers love to do it's string beads into bracelets.

Rubber ducks. For those times when they just want to hold something, and ducks are beloved by these boys.

Not that I'll have room to pack much else, but what would you add?

english muffin breakfast sandwiches

Oh, this poor, increasingly neglected little blog. I haven't meant to ignore it, but, well...life. It's been full of other obligations and interests, leaving little time or energy to dedicate to this little corner of the internet. But in an effort to not abandon it altogether, I thought I'd pop in, say hello, and share a recipe.

But first, a story.

Way back a long, long time ago, a few days after our first date, Blake followed up with an invitation to eat dinner with him at his apartment. He was planning to cook, and even though I knew nothing about his culinary skills, I accepted. What he created with the help of his crock pot was hard to describe. Literally. He just kept throwing ingredients in there willy nilly hoping it would taste good. I can't even tell you (and I don't think he can either) what exactly it was I ate that night, but I can tell you it tasted awful. Once his mom got wind of his embarrassing kitchen mishap, she instructed him to apologize to me and to tell him that she did, in fact, try to teach him how to cook.

Sometime between that second date and the day he proposed he managed to get his culinary act together. For our date that morning he took me on a picnic breakfast up into Provo Canyon and for it he prepared the most delicious breakfast sandwiches. They were seriously amazing, and in the years since, I've requested he make them multiple times. I eventually learned how to make them as well and along the way we've tweaked the recipe and made it even better. Last night, as I prepared them for dinner, I finally decided to write down the recipe, and so today I'm sharing it with you.

English Muffin Breakfast Sandwiches
yields 6 sandwiches

6 English muffins
2-3 tbsp butter
6 slices ham, cut to about 1/8" thick, or bacon
6 eggs
1 tbsp milk
salt & pepper, to taste
finely chopped vegetables (i.e. onions, tomatoes, green pepper), optional
6 small sheets of aluminum foil
6 slices American cheese

Preheat oven to 450. Place uncut English muffins on foil lined baking sheet. Heat until the two halves begin to separate and muffins are toasted, about 10-15 minutes. Remove from oven, and while still hot, slice open, squeeze a slab of butter in between the two halves, and close to let butter melt.

Heat ham on a skillet/cook and drain bacon. Set aside.

Whisk together eggs, milk, salt & pepper, and vegetables. Scramble over medium heat until fluffy.

Place English muffins open faced on individual sheets of foil. Top one side with ham/bacon, followed by eggs, then cheese. Top with second half of the muffin. Wrap in foil and place on a baking sheet. Return to the oven for 5-7 minutes, until cheese is melted.

Serve with tater tots and fruit.

come on in

Our home is not yet completely put together -- a few boxes still remain and a few walls are still bare -- but since our incredibly beautiful, custom Amish made dining table arrived late last week, I guess it's time for the photo house tour I know at least a handful of you have been anxiously waiting for. So come on in!

Living Room
The living room is open and features a fireplace that it "not working" (by which I'm pretty sure our landlord meant "it hasn't been cleaned or maintained in 50+ years, so just don't try to use it). We very rarely use the front door (mostly because our parking spot is just a few steps from the back kitchen door), but if you walk in that way, the play room is to the right, the dining room is straight ahead, and the living room opens up to the left, with the staircase to the second floor just beyond.

 View from the front door.

Play Room
This is a teeny tiny bonus room that I think was once a large screened in porch. It's the perfect size and space for its current purpose.

 View from the living room. 

View from the French doors.

Dining Room
The dining room opens up beyond the living room and gives access to the kitchen. This room also serves as an "office" as it hosts the computer. It has the best natural lighting in the house.

Kitchen
The kitchen is not particularly fluid, and it has really awesome wall paper, but it it's way bigger than our Brooklyn kitchen and it has a dishwasher (the first we've had in 10 years of marriage).

 View from the dining room. We use this door way more often than the front door. 

View from the kitchen door. The door in the photo leads to the basement. I'll spare you creepy basement photos, but two steps down there is a small landing with the side entrance to the house.

Stairs & Hallway
The stairs creak very loudly, and I kind of love it.

The two doors on the left belong to Garrett/Caleb (first one) and Matthew/Daniel (second one). The two doors on the right that are not pictured are for the bathroom (first one) and the master (second one). The door with the full length mirror on it is a linen closet.

Garrett & Caleb's Room
Theirs is the smallest bedroom, but it fits them perfectly (and in theory it will be easier for them to keep clean).

 View from the hallway.

Matthew & Daniel's Room
These two got the bigger room because it needed to house a bunk bed and a crib. Matthew loves sleeping in his own bed (as does Caleb).

 View from the hallway, featuring Danny lounging in his crib.

Bathroom
The bathroom is narrow and awkwardly designed, but again, it's bigger than what we had before and actually has a bit of counter space! You do, though, have to squeeze between the sink and the tub to get to the toilet, which some days I'm just not nimble enough to do gracefully.

 View from the hallway.

Master Bedroom
Our bedroom boasts two huge closets. Between the plentiful and large closets this house has and the unfinished basement, it sometimes feels like we don't own anything superfluous because for the first time ever it's not all staring us square in the face.

 View from the hallway.

And that concludes the house tour. For better views, come visit!