Just Call Me Martha Stewart

Lately, I really haven't enjoyed cooking. Probably you moms can relate, but 5 o'clock rolls around and I grumpily lumber over to the cupboard to see what I can throw together. I think it has something to do with being a mom and having to cook everyday. I use to really enjoy cooking. I think college was the first time I really had to cook for myself. I enjoyed leafing through my cookbooks finding delicious healthy dinners I would like to make.

So where has the enjoyment gone?

I realized that I've fallen into a bit of a rut lately. I have my handful of go-to dinners that I always have the supplies on hand and I can throw together in 30 minutes or less. But it's been a while since I tried anything new.

So I decided to push myself and try some recipes I've never tried before. And lately, I've actually been really excited when it comes time to start dinner! It's fun to mix new ingredients, maybe buy something at the grocery store I've never bought before. Like just this week I bought hoisin sauce. Hoisin sauce comes up a lot in Asian recipes, but I tend to skip over those ones because I don't want to buy this new thing. Well, now I have it and I don't have to skip over those recipes anymore. More new things to try.

One recent dinner that I am particularly proud of you can see below:This is Lettuce Wraps with homemade Asian Dipping Sauce and it was awesome! I found this in the appetizer section of one of my cookbooks and thought it would cover the bases for a good meal.

Now understand that I don't take personal credit for these meals. I'm not one of those people who can open up my cupboard and whip up something amazing with whatever I happen to find. I need a recipe.

While I enjoy cooking, I've never been much of a baker. Not only have I tried new dinner recipes, but some new baking recipes as well. They asked a few ladies to bring a homemade pie to a church activity and I thought, well why not? So I signed up. I've never made a pie before. I've seen my mother make pies hundreds of times at Thanksgiving and Christmas, but I've never done it myself. I made an apple pie and I am quite proud of how it turned out:It wasn't perfect, but it was yummy. My biggest problem with it was that as the apples baked down the crust stayed up making a dome shape so that when you cut into it the top was hollow. Does that make sense? If any of you experienced pie makers have any tips to fix that, I would appreciate it.

Also, believe it or not, I've never made sugar cookies. I've frosted sugar cookies hundreds of times, but again my mom always made them and the frosting. So I made sugar cookies for the first time! I made an orange glaze frosting that I used on everything except the cats. For the cats I made a chocolate glaze frosting. It was yummy! Maybe next year Kayla will be big enough to help me frost them.

A Visit from Poppy and Tootsie

In September Grandma and Grandpa came to visit us. Here are some of the highlights:

Kayla playing with Grandpa in Seattle.


Kayla enjoying the talents of a street musician. This guy rocked out "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" for Kayla. He earned his two bucks.
The fabulous architecture of the Seattle City Library.Grandma teaching Kayla how to sew.

Playing at the park.
We loved having Grandma and Grandpa visit. Even after they left Kayla would wake up in the morning asking to play with Poppy and Tootsie. The other day I was on Facebook and Kayla saw a tiny picture of Grandpa. She pointed at it and got really excited saying, "Grandpa! Poppy!"

More Dancing, Neighborhood Fun, and the Evergreen State Fair

Back by popular demand, here is another video of Kayla dancing. While visiting our octogenarian friends, they showed us a toy bear they had recently received from a friend that, when you pushed the button on its paw, sang a Christmas song. It's a little early for Christmas, but Kayla didn't mind at all. (There was some construction going on outside so you hear a bit of banging in the video.)


On any given day with decent weather most of the neighborhood kids are out on their bikes. If any kids are outside Kayla wants to be outside too, right in the middle of the action. Here, one of the kids has let Kayla borrow a skateboard.


Here is Kayla with our next door neighbor's tricycle and helmet (on backwards of course). She has a tricycle and helmet of her own, but your own stuff is never as fun as someone else's stuff. When she rides this tricycle, her legs can't quite reach the pedals so she goes Flintstones style. I wish I had a video of that!

At the beginning of September we had the Evergreen State Fair. A lady at church is the Superintendent of Sewing, which means she is in charge of all the quilts and other sewn projects that people bring in to be judged at the fair. She announced that she was hiring for a few days of part time work if anyone was interested. Amanda signed up and worked three days taking in entries and clerking for one of the judges. While taking in other entries Amanda thought that perhaps she ought to enter the Christmas stockings she had made. Not only did she win a blue ribbon, but also won "Best in Class" for holiday items.Here is Amanda at the fair pointing to her stockings and her HUGE ribbon. Maybe next year she'll enter a goat. Unfortunately our camera battery died right after we took this picture, so we sadly did not get any shots of Kayla petting the baby pigs.
Here is an up-close picture of the stockings and ribbons that we took after we got home and recharged the camera battery. The stocking for Kayla is not quite finished yet, but will be done before Christmas this year.

First Pigtails

Kayla's hair has been a little slow coming in. Even now it is longer in the back and shorter on top, which makes it really hard to do anything with it. Finally it's long enough that I decided to attempt some pigtails. The pigtails didn't last 20 minutes into sacrament meeting, but I think they turned out well for a first attempt.

Our New House and a Visit from Grandma and Grandpa

We moved in about a month ago but I haven't posted anything about our new house!

The house was a "short sale" and for those of you who don't know, the process of buying a short sale is anything but short. The house was a great deal. It's not a "fixer-upper" but it does need a little TLC, all cosmetic stuff. One thing it needed right away was a new paint job and we've been working hard the last few weeks prepping the house for paint. You can see in the picture a few paint samples on the wall. Official before and after pictures coming soon.

We moved into a great neighborhood with wonderful neighbors who are always out playing and willing to share a messy fudgesicle.Right next door we have a family with two little boys, 4 and 5 years old. Whenever Kayla hears them playing outside she asks to play too by pointing and saying "boys? boys?" They ride around on tricycles or play on the playground that is just around the corner. Her worst time of day is when she has to stop playing and come inside.

Right after we moved, Steve and Debbie flew in to help us begin to settle in the new house. They helped us prep for painting and pruned back the jungle of overgrown backyard. In between all the hard work we did have some time for a little fun and sightseeing.
Upon Steve's request we went to the Museum of Glass in Tacoma. As we rode up the elevator from the parking garage a local lady told us that the museum isn't worth the $12 admission because all the best stuff was on display on a foot bridge next to the museum and in the gift shop. So we saved ourselves some cash and enjoyed the hundreds of amazing pieces on display for free! There was a water sculpture that Kayla and Grandpa had a great time playing in and getting all wet.
Our first month in the new house has been quite an adventure. We've learned all kinds of new things about home maintenance and become regular customers at Lowes. We just have to take it one project at a time. We will keep you updated with before and after pictures as we go.