Redemption-

Well, I remade the jam on Friday. It turned out delicious! We've been having lots of toast and jam for the past few days. I didn't ever make the homemade bread that I was going to- maybe this week. After I dumped the salty jam, I figured I should have saved a couple jars for April Fools next year or for a church object lesson. Oh well!

It's the final countdown! We have less than 3 weeks until birth day! We are all getting really excited and I've finally started getting ready. My nesting instinct didn't kick in until this past week. I've got blankets washed and a couple of my neighbors have given me some little boy hand-me-downs so I've sorted and gotten those ready to go. I also bought the little newborn diapers and this week I'm going to make some baby wipes. I used to make them when Kali was a baby but haven't made them for several years. I'll post the instructions & recipe once I get it done. I love how well they work, how cheap they are and this time I am doing it with natural ingredients. (better for little baby's bum bum)

Last Sunday, my sister & bro-in-law, Camile & Aaron, blessed their baby, Aubree. She made the most yummy teriyaki chicken salad sandwiches for the luncheon after. Yesterday, I made it for us. (Jimmy and I both loved it so much when she made it) Here's where you can find the recipe. http://www.ourbestbites.com/2008/08/teriyaki-chicken-salad-sandwiches.html We went to a cooking class last summer at Macey's where these two girls from the website did a mango cooking class. It was fun- especially since I was there with two of my sisters and sister-in-law.

You've got to be kidding me!!

Today I went to Walmart and got a big crate of strawberries to make jam with. I haven't made it for a few years and Jimmy especially LOVES it. I got 4 boxes of the pectin so I just got finished making a huge batch! After doing the last step of stirring it for 3 minutes, I went to lick the spoon. I was expecting a sweet treat and instead I got a salty jolt! I added salt instead of sugar!! Maybe I could make some kind of strawberry vinegar dressing with it. Only problem it would probably make about 100 gallons with how salty this is. I was going to make some fresh whole wheat bread to spread the jam on. I've been craving it all day! But now I'll just clean up my mess and move on. Maybe I'll go to the store and get more pectin and try again tomorrow but for now I'm just going to sulk for a minute. If anyone has any ideas of what I can do with these salty strawberries, let me know!!

Kali's Kreative Korner

Today Kali and I started a blog for her. She is always doing cute little projects and taking pictures of things she does. I thought it would be a great way for her to keep track of the things she's done (they end up in the garbage usually) and I'm hoping she'll also do some journaling in it also. I'm thinking I'll make a book out of it yearly or something on her birthday or Christmas. Does anyone know a good place to get your blog bound in a book? I will probably make it private here soon so if you'd like to be invited to read it leave a comment on her blog and I'll invite you. She'd love some comments- she is really excited about it.

www.kalister21.blogspot.com

Bahama Mama

After being gone for 5 days, I find myself doing a lot of catch up. I would like to spend some time recording all the happenings while we were in the Bahamas but since I know my time is limited, I'll just give a quick run down and check it off my to do list.

Last year, Jimmy had a great year with Office Depot and so he made it to the Champions Circle where they arrange a reward trip for all those who made it. This year the trip was to the Bahamas at the Atlantis Resort. Even though I am very pregnant (34 weeks) my Dr. gave me the OK to go. Yeah!

The resort was amazing! The water was beautiful. The weather was excellent! The rest and relaxation was needed and the company was great. The resort was huge so we did a lot of walking! I didn't take the best shoes for that- no heels but the flip flops just weren't very good for all the walking. There was a fun lazy river that wasn't very lazy. It had rapids throughout. But not too crazy that I couldn't enjoy it. Jimmy had fun on the slides- some of his friends from work were there so they ran around hitting the slides. We also went snorkeling one day and Jimmy went deep sea fishing with some of the guys. I sighed a breath of relief when our airplane touched down back in the US. I saw what the hospital/clinic looked like on the Bahamas Island we were at and I was so glad we didn't need to go there.

As great as it to get away, it is always so nice to come back home to our sweet kids. It's wonderful to get a break from all the parental duties and makes me more excited to be around them. I'm so glad I got to have this experience with Jimmy and so glad he has a job right now!

Bright and Early

(I started this on Monday and I'm just getting around to posting it- that's the kind of week I've had so far. Conner is sick with the stomach flu. So I've a couple of sleep deprived nights and non-productive days. Taking care of sick kids throws everything off.)

Yesterday I woke up at 7 to get ready for church that starts at 9. The kids and I had all taken showers and baths the night before and Jimmy didn't have early morning meetings so I figured it would be an easy morning to make it to church on time. In fact, Jimmy had some Stake Announcements to make so he likes to be there 10 minutes early on those days.

We were all ready with the church bag loaded with plenty of time to spare. We pulled into the parking lot and it was fuller than usual. Jimmy said to me, "Are we late?" I laughed and said no. (we saw some neighbors cars there that usually don't get there so early) Then we walked in the building and the meeting was already going!! It was daylight savings and we had completely forgotten! So much for making it there 10 minutes early!! Instead we got to watch other people come in and realize they forgot about daylight savings too.


Sophie gave the Article of Faith in primary. It was her first time talking into the microphone. She sat up front so cute and when the little boy who was saying the prayer paused for a long time she started saying her own prayer. She put her finger in her nose a couple times for just a second but most of the time she sat quietly and folded her arms. When it was her turn, she stepped right up to the stand and grabbed the mic with both hands. I whispered the words in her ear one at a time. (sometimes she only repeats the last word I say so we had to do it that way- and sometimes when I whisper, she whispers too but she didn't do that)

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(Wed. morning)


Yesterday when Sophie woke up from her nap she was covering her eyes and talking about the boat. She must have had a nightmare that the boat sank. She kept on repeating herself over and over again. Then she started saying, "lift the boat up, boat back on top, heavy boat." She is still talking about it today. I told Jimmy we need to go by the lot where our boat is parked and let her see that it's OK. It must have been very real to her.

Kali gets to go to the Draper Temple for Activity Days today. She is so excited about it. She took a shower last night to get ready for it and told me she is going to wear her white baptism dress. We got to go to the Rexburg Temple open house last Feb. and I am so excited that we'll get to do it again. We are going as a family on Fri. Last time we didn't take Sophie but this time we are going to. She's heard Kali talking about it and so she keeps on asking when we are going to the temple. On Sunday, we got our special recommends to go to our Stake Center for the Draper Temple Dedication. Conner and Kali are excited about that too. Jimmy and I got to actually go to the temple for the Albuquerque Temple Dedication. It was very special to Jimmy since he served his mission there. What neat activities we have to look forward to this month!

We finally made it to Disneyland!!

We've been wanting to take Conner and Kali to Disneyland since they were preschoolers and it never worked out. But this past week we finally got to take them! What a great trip! We flew there, which was great! We didn't have to hear, "are we there yet?" one time! Conner and Sophie haven't been on a plane since they were babies so it was like a first for them both.

We stayed at the Portofina Inn & Suites which was a quick 15 minute walk to Disneyland. The room had a king bed, bunk beds and then Sophie slept on the couch. Jimmy took Conner and Kali around on the bigger rides, Sophie and I hit the little ones and then we met up to do some that we could all do. Since I had the camera, Sophie is in the pictures the most.

We stayed in Disneyland for 1 1/2 days and then California Adventure the other half of the time. I loved seeing how excited the kids were to go on the rides. Sophie was adorable and would yell out words over and over again while we were on the rides. I had a stroller that I took around but sometime we would just park it and she would walk with me. She learned this new thing while we were there because I tell her I'm not going to hold you most of the time when she wants to be carried. So now she shuffles in front of me, turns around and says "hug you mommy". (that really means, pick me up and carry me but I can't say no to a hug when she uses her cute little voice)

Jimmy was a trooper. He took Conner and Kali on California Screaming about 10 times. The line was short so they just kept going. They went on Tower of Terror and Kali said she thought she was going to die. I wish I could have gone on some of the big rides. I did get to go on Indianna Jones with Kali and Soaring over California with Conner. Hopefully, we can go again in about 3 years when the baby is about 3. Sophie seemed like the perfect age for her first time.

Here are some pics from the trip-


Sophie kept on seeing the cotton candy and wanted it every time we past it. Finally on our last day there we broke down and got her some. She licked it a few times like a sucker and didn't like it much. None of the rest of us like it so I guess all we got was a cute picture for $5 and the knowledge that Sophie doesn't really like cotton candy.
Kali got her face painted on the last day too. By the end of the trip, we were giving in more to little demands. We spent a fortune on popcorn, corndogs, water, icecream sandwiches, hotdogs- all the junk we never usually eat! Good thing we were walking around so much to help minimize the damage.

Next to our hotel there was a little shirt shop that sold shirts for cheap so we all got matching shirts. They say, "I'm the Boss". We decided we were all pretty bossy so we got 'em.

After Disneyland, we went to Sea World for the day. That was fun to see the killer whales, dolphins, the sharks, fish, and Jimmy, Conner and Kali hit the tube ride. We were all beat from the long days at Disneyland so we only stayed there for a few hours.

Then we went to Corona, CA and stayed with our friends Deb & Stu from back in college. It's always fun to visit with them. I always end up laughing so hard at some point when we are all together. It's so great to get in those really hard, uncontrollable laughs- they don't come often enough. Our kids played great together and we got in a game of Canasta after they all went to bed. We got beat so we'll have to have a rematch next time we see them.

Getting home was bitter sweet. We had such a great time. None of us wanted it to end. We were all exhausted though and ready to sleep in our own beds with Sophie tucked away in her crib. The day we left, I had a cleaning lady come and deep clean so we came home to a sparkling clean house. (usually we leave the house a wreck because I just concentrate on getting us packed and laundry done. I have good intentions but they usually just don't work out) I was so excited to come home to a clean house- I hate coming home to a mess, it makes me just want to leave and I feel overwhelmed.

Ho, ho, ho!

Yesterday we had someone come from our alarm company to fix a sensor connection. When I answered the door, it wasn't one of the young guys that I am used to seeing work for them. It was an older man, I would guess he was in his 60's. I didn't think much of it and he came in and got to work. A few minutes later Sophie came and found me and she said, "Santa at our house, Mommy." The next time I saw him, I looked a little closer. He had a white beard that came down to his collar bone, a red shirt, tucked into black pants, and a round belly. Yep, he looked like Santa. Sophie was so excited she kept on repeating, over and over again that Santa was at her house. The man over heard her and let out a little, "ho, ho, ho!" What a good sport! Then she asked me where the presents were. So now I don't feel as bad for not taking Sophie to the mall this Christmas and letting her sit on Santa's lap- she got a home visit instead. How cool would that be? (this was great for our true or false story game at the dinner table last night)