Celebrity Costco

Liam and I headed to Costco this morning after we finished exercising (yes, Liam exercises with me—he runs with me around the church and then he lays under me and gets kisses while I do push ups) and getting ourselves ready for the day.  We took our time wandering around the lovely warehouse store.  At one point I noticed Courtney Kendrick (of cjane fame) studying the newborn diapers carefully and on my way back up the aisle I saw that her tall husband and cute baby were with her.  I passed her a couple more times before we  went to check out—she even got a sample right before we did at one point those mozzarella sticks were good!  This is when I wish I was one of those shameless people who can go up to a perfect stranger that you only even recognize because you read her blog and introduce myself.  But I’m not, and I didn’t.  I promise it gets even better though. 

I remembered a coupon I had for jerky so I went searching for it.  While I was checking out all the different flavors and weighing the options of beef vs. turkey jerky I looked up to see none other than Donny Osmond in the aisle with me loading up his cart with all kinds of snacks.  I happened to have my cell out because I was texting my friend to see if she wanted some jerky too.  So, I hurried and tried to snap a picture, but it didn’t work and was just a blurry photo of the back of his and his cute wife’s head.  So, you’ll have to take my word for it that I really saw him since as noted above I’m not the kind of person that goes up and introduces myself to celebrities when I see them.  If my friend Tami had been with me I’m sure she would have talked to him and asked him for his autograph too!  I’m just not that brave. 

Keep your eyes open while you are out running errands…you never know who you’ll see.  ;) 

Dinner Deliciousness

Yesterday I made BBQ Chicken Braid for dinner.  It was REALLY yummy and everyone in my family ate it    including the 2 year old who rarely eats well at dinner. I used the recipe for BBQ sauce found here (both recipes are from the same site).  I am not kidding when I say I have yet to make anything from Mel’s kitchen cafe blog that hasn’t been super delicious.  If you are ever in need of ideas or recipes go there and whatever you make will be awesome! 

The recipe makes two braids.  My first one I made on the counter because I don’t have a silpat like she uses.  The problem with that was it was really hard to transfer it to the baking sheet.  It was also hard because I rolled the dough out a bit too thin (so learn from my mistakes).  The second one I rolled out on a piece of foil so it would be easy to just set the foil on the pan.  It looked much nicer.  In fact, when I pulled it out of the oven and was gloating over how great it looked my kids told me I needed to take a picture.   Something tells me that when your kids TELL you to take pictures of food you know you are a blogger.  Before they always asked me why I was taking pictures of food, but not anymore now they even remind me to take pictures when I forget!  

Tonight I’m making the fajitas recipe from Mel’s kitchen cafe.  They are really good too.  Seriously, you need to check out her recipes! 

41 bags in 41 days

My friend Shanna put this challenge on her blog that she found somewhere else…don’t know where.  To get rid of 41 bags of stuff in 41 days.  It sounded good to me since I’ve been wanting to purge our house of some of the extra “stuff” we have around.  I didn’t really keep track of when exactly I started, but so far I’ve gotten rid of 22! bags of stuff.  Some of it I’ve given to MS, some to the ward clothing swap, some to the garbage can, and some to recycling (I swear papers multiply themselves in my house!)

If you need to get rid of stuff (and who doesn’t!) join me in the challenge and we’ll all be happier in the end!  These first bags weren’t too hard for me to get.  I think the last half will be harder for me.  I’m going to have to quit being so sentimental about things so I can part with them.  I think baby clothes and toys are going to have to be next to go through…those are always hard for me to part with.  Good luck to you and if you have any pointers how to let go of stuff please share!

Music

I just found an itunes gift card while cleaning off my dresser.  I got it for Christmas.  I went to itunes to see what to buy and I have no idea!  I mostly listen to my ipod while running, but am trying to use it more by putting it in the dock in my room to listen.  So, help me out with your favorite songs.  If you love to exercise to them let me know that too.  THANKS!

Grateful Sunday

A friend of mine from High School does a Grateful post on her blog every Sunday.  I’m stealing her idea today mostly because I need to make myself remember my blessings.

 

• A husband that helps me keep things in perspective especially when I am being overly sensitive to things happening in my life
• Energetic kids that keep me moving.
• High hopes that Spring is on it’s way
• Planning fun things to do with my kids for Spring Break
• Knowing that my Heavenly Father loves and cares about me.

Thanks for the idea Laurel!

Racism

Before we were parents to a black child we didn’t really think much about race.  It wasn’t really a topic that was necessary in our rather monochromatic state.  Since having Liam I am MUCH more aware of race simply because I want to understand how to help my child have the best experience he can in life.  We have yet to have any overt racism towards our family, but I know it is pretty likely something will happen at some point in his life.  In an effort to avert this happening to my child I hope you will teach your children about race and color and not pretend it doesn’t exist.  I don’t want anything like THIS to happen to Liam and I agree with the author of that blog that being colorblind isn’t the answer to racism, but education is.  EVERYONE is different somehow.  It might be their hair color, skin color, religion, or any number of things, so lets all teach our kids to be kind to those around them instead of being judgmental when someone isn’t just like them.  It’ll keep someone’s child somewhere from hearing hurtful comments about their differences no matter what they are.

post edit: If, like in the blog linked above, someone informs you of an instance of YOUR child making rude remarks I hope you will NOT get defensive, but will talk to your child and teach them because likely they just don't understand how their comment could be hurtful.  If you choose to get defensive and do nothing then your child will never learn--what a shame that would be.   

Important?

Last weekend I went on a girls night out with a couple friends.  One of the friends that came has never been out with us before.  Not because we don’t love her, but because she has some serious health problems that require her to be very careful what she is exposed to.  (In fact I’m really hoping she isn’t sick right now because she came with us)  Several times while we were out she mentioned how different it was to be out with us at the mall looking at clothes and jewelry and talking about our body image flaws when normally her friends are talking about whether they will be alive for long or not. 

That really got me thinking.  I have been blessed with good health all my life.  Seriously, the worst illness I’ve had is probably bronchitis or maybe strep throat.  I’ve never had to spend a night in the hospital except for when I had the twins.  I’ve never had surgery and the only bone I’ve broken is my toe.  Health has mostly been something I take for granted until I get the flu or something else that makes me feel horrible, but then is gone in a few days.  Somehow this led to me thinking about all the other blessings I have in my life and how easy it is to take those things for granted too.  I mean, who am I REALLY that I deserve to have such an easy life?  My trials—although hard for me at the time, are NOTHING compared to so many  people in this world.  My basic needs are met and then some.  I have the gospel in my life to help me through the “trials” that come my way. (I put trials in quotes because right now I feel like my trials are so trivial) 

There are people all over the world that are dealing with REAL tragedy and trying to figure out how to survive and help their children to survive.  Think Haiti and Chile not to mention all of the countries where the struggle for survival is continual.  It makes me and my body image issues seem completely ridiculous!  It makes my lack of sleep and my shortness of patience and the winter blahs and my petty jealousies and all of the other things that I’ve been having a hard time with lately pale in comparison.  It makes me want to DO something to help someone.  This is about as far as I usually get—I feel the need to help someone and then I get lost not knowing who to help or how to help or where to start. 

Do you ever wonder why you are so blessed?  Do you get caught up in things that aren’t terribly important?   How do you keep things in perspective?  When you feel the need to serve what do you do?  How do I stop worrying about all the things that aren’t important and start taking care of things that are? 

Busy Weekend

Friday the kids had their “maturation program”  so Jason went with Jason and I went with Em.  It was really a repeat from last year plus a couple minutes of talking about being a good friend and being nice to people…don’t know why they have to put that in the maturation program, but they did.  After that we took the kids out of school early so we could take them to the temple to do baptisms.  Here we are in front of the temple before we went in.  It was a good experience for them both and now they will know what’s going on when they go with the ward later this month. 

We got home from that and I got ready and then left for a girls night out.  We went to dinner and then to the mall and we actually got home at a decent hour.  :)  I took my camera, but forgot to take pictures.  It was fun and I think I may have found a new perfume that I like and that doesn’t give me a headache.  Thanks Angela and Felicia!

Saturday was a BUSY day.  In the morning Jason had a karate tournament.  His Dad took him. He took pictures with his iphone—so no flash and when he put them on the computer some got lost somehow so we don’t have many.  This is Jason doing his form. Here he is sparring.  I guess they didn’t have enough kids there so he had to spar a black belt…he was doing great and winning until the other kid kicked him in the face—they stopped the match for a minute, but it threw him off his game and he ended up losing the match.  I almost wish he would have sparred the other kid he could have sparred—he was older, taller, and bigger, but he wasn’t a black belt.   You can see the  cut on his face on the right of this picture.  It actually looked a lot worse by the time he got home and I saw it. 

While that was happening Emily, Liam and I were at BYU where there was an African American children’s fair.  They had lots of booths set up with different games, activities, and information about different things concerning black heritage.  They also had a few performing groups come.  We were only able to see one of them though.  Em had fun jump roping.Liam really wanted to jump rope, but he was too scared…I tried to hold him and jump, but it was just too hard—I got one jump and then missed the second—an extra 30 lbs will do that to you. They had face painting, but Liam didn’t really want his face painted so they painted his hand with a baseball.   This is the group Alikya it’s a dance group for AA kids.  They do a good job. Liam watching their performance this is the first sucker that has beaten Liam—he actually threw away this blow pop before finishing it.  They had some percussion instruments there for the kids to play.  at first Liam didn’t know what to make of everything, but by the end he was more comfortable with all the people and he went to town.    

I wish we wouldn’t have had to leave because everyone told me that the next performing group was awesome.  Maybe next year. 

We headed home and put Liam down for a nap and then I went to a nutrition class and to the store to get the ingredients for the dessert we had to take to the potluck. 

Saturday evening we had a potluck planned for our Transracial adoption group.  It was a nice and laid back time.  There were five families there and we are so glad they came!  We missed everyone who couldn’t make it!

Everyone brought good food and we got to visit while the kids ran around in the gym, played basketball, and had tons of fun.  Liam and Baylie—they are so cute when they play together! Emily and Teegan Baylie, Liam, Tiana, and Gannen they had a blast climbing up and down off the stage using chairs, the stairs and anything else that would work. The big boys spent all their time playing basketball.  They were really good to let the younger kids play too.  None of the kids wanted to leave so I call it a success!

Sunday we had church and Jason passed the sacrament for the first time.  He did a great job!  After church I had a meeting for cub scouts.  After dinner Emily had new beginnings.  It’s so weird that my kids are going to all these youth activities!   It was only three years ago that I was in the YW presidency and helping with all this stuff.  I’m thinking these next few years are going to fly by WAY too quickly. 

There you have it-- our weekend fun.