WE LOVE VISITORS

Well, we just waved goodbye to some very special visitors.

We spent the last 6 days running around with these party animals and couldn't have had more fun! The pictures really do the good story-telling here.  So I'll let them do the talking!

Thanks grandma and grandpa for coming to see us.

We love you!

Ok, this one does need explaining.  For the last few days we have been looking around for Brinlee's other sandle and hadn't been able to find it anywhere.
I got this photo in a text message that said "Look what we found in Grandpa's tool bag!"
Looks like the left foot Elsa and Anna will be making a new home in Boise, while the right foot partner gets to stay here and hang with us!

Unbeknownst to me, Tim the sneak made some ahead-of-time plans and secretly arranged with my dad for us to go out and have a late anniversary celebration while they were here!  Wicked came through Columbus and my sweetheart took me to see it, while grandma and grandpa treated the girls to Chic-Fil-A and a movie night.  Everyone wins!
And the show was amazing! Couldn't have planned a better surprise myself.
Love this man!

IN OTHER NEWS

The opening ceremonies of the Olympics were Friday night...

and, as we all know, I'm a bit of a weird, over-excited, almost embarrassing Olympic FANATIC!

So... it was a big deal

When I mentioned to Brinlee that the olympics were starting, she said "Fun! What's the olympics?"

Sheesh.  I can't have questions like that in my house!!!  So, I decided we'd better get into the spirit a little.  

Starting with food, of course.  

How do you like our olympic ring lunch plate?  

And our decorations? 

For dinner we decided to go Rio style and try our hand at some Brazilian cuisine.  And it turned out really yummy!  We had mocqueca de camaroes, feijao e arroz, sumo de manga, and bolinhos de chuva. Translation (thank you translate.google.com): We had Brazilian shrimp stew, beans and rice, mango juice, and Brazilian raindrop donuts.
Delicious.
I was more proud of it than I should have been...

McKenna was in bed before anything started, and Brinlee didn't even sit still long enough for me to take a picture.  Once the ceremonies started and she saw what they were, and then realized we weren't actually going to Brazil, well then she had had enough. But she did wear her "America flag" shorts. And it did seem to put her in a go-get-em spirit.  She volunteered to finish up the dinner mess, and then did an awesome job! The gold medal for dishwashing definitely goes to this darling little champion.

We're pretty pumped for the next two weeks!
Ok, well at least I am...
Woo!
Go Team USA!

And as long as we're traveling the world from home, why not hit Ireland next?  

Dublin Ohio does an Irish Festival every year that we figured we should probably go check out.

Now this is rare footage here.

A sight not seen very often these days.

Proof that Tim and I do actually get out of the house together once in a while without kids,

and still do occasionally do fun things!

Irish things, in this case.

This moment was brought to you by our fabulous friends/neighbors/babysitters extraordinaire!

Thank goodness for date night!

BOWLING CHAMPION

We did a double family date with some friends of ours the other night. They have a darling little one that's 4 months old, and they get a big kick out of our kids.  Well, and our kids kind of get a kick out of them too. So it works out well all around!

We went bowling, which is a pretty classic good time anyway.  But it turned out this was Brinlee's first time!  So it was really a good time.  And she loved it!

She did eventually get a strike or two, and actually came out with a pretty decent score.  And now she's a bowling enthusiast.  She keeps asking me when our family can go bowling again, and whenever she gets her hands on my phone, she hollers "Hey Siri, can you show me bowling videos?" :)

McKenna loves balls (or anything that even kind of looks like a ball), so she was in heaven!  She didn't actually bowl, but she had a good time watching the game and stuffing her mouth with fruit snacks.

At the start of the game, we estimated what scores we would all get.  And I came the closest!

Which means Tim owes me a back rub...

That he hasn't yet paid up on.

Stinker.

A Whopping 6 Years

Yesterday we celebrated 6 fabulous years together!

That's 2,190 days, 

and I'm just as happy to kiss him at the end of the day as I was on day 1. 

Happy Anniversary to us!

Fort Night

Well, we had to brush a bit of dust off the dating jar already.  

We went a few weeks relying on our own creativity... 

and after counting grocery shopping as a date, we decided to just stick to the pre-printed papers plan.  

Last week our date jar activity pick was build a fort, a personal favorite.

We started construction early so Brin could play for a bit before bedtime.  We thought she would love it....

That was not the case.  We couldn't get one smile out of her!  Inside the fort she was all confused and strictly business and wanted out of there as soon as she could find an opening.

We had a good time though.  Tim considers himself a professional fort builder, and he really does make some pretty awesome ones.  It was super cozy and pretty roomy - perfect for dinner, a movie, and desert! (and falling asleep, which is what Tim did...)

Pizza and Fondue and Smores, Oh My!

As promised, photo proof that we are dating and love it!

Week One: Home Made Pizza
Even down to the crust and sauce, yes sir this was a true blue homemade pizza!



Week Two: Theme Night
Tim did all the planning on this one and I was treated to a Night in Italy, complete with fondue (which may actually be French...), Pavarotti, and the movie Letters To Juliet.  So fun! 

Week Three: Smores
How convenient that for Christmas we got marshmallow roasting sticks.  Tonight we pulled those bad boys out, fired up the stove, and enjoyed a huge sticky mess.

Huge coincidence that so far, all of our dates have been food related...
We haven't picked yet for week four, but I'm finding myself a little giddy about it!  This new year's resolution may actually go all the way.

And now the how-to's, so you can date too.

Pizza Crust:
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast

1/2 teaspoon brown sugar

1 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons olive oil

3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

1. In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast and brown sugar in the water, and let sit for 10 minutes

2. Stir the salt and oil into the yeast solution. Mix in 2 1/2 cups of the flour.

3. Turn dough out onto a clean, well floured surface, and knead in more flour until the dough is no longer sticky. Place the dough into a well oiled bowl, and cover with a cloth. Let the dough rise until double; this should take about 1 hour. Punch down the dough, and form a tight ball. Allow the dough to relax for a minute before rolling out. Use for your favorite pizza recipe.

4. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). If you are baking the dough on a pizza stone, you may place your toppings on the dough, and bake immediately. If you are baking your pizza in a pan, lightly oil the pan, and let the dough rise for 15 or 20 minutes before topping and baking it.

5. Bake pizza in preheated oven, until the cheese and crust are golden brown, about 15 to 20 minutes.

Pizza Sauce:

1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste

6 fluid ounces warm water

3 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese

1 teaspoon minced garlic

2 tablespoons honey
3/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon dried marjoram
1/4 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/8 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes
salt to taste

1. In a small bowl, combine tomato paste, water, Parmesan cheese, garlic, honey, anchovy paste, onion powder, oregano, marjoram, basil, ground black pepper, cayenne pepper, red pepper flakes and salt; mix together, breaking up any clumps of cheese.

2. Sauce should sit for 30 minutes to blend flavors; spread over pizza dough and prepare pizza as desired.

Fondue:
1/2 pound shredded swiss cheese

1/2 pound shredded Gruyere cheese

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 cup milk and a splash of lemon juice as needed for texture

Simmer milk and lemon juice in fondue pot. Add Swiss cheese, Gruyere cheese, 1/4 pound at a time. Stir after each addition of cheese until melted. Stir in flour. When all the cheese has melted, stir in salt and nutmeg. Serve with cut-up French bread.

Let's Date

Our 2013 tree of resolutions is starting to show life and a few of our leaves have begun to bud! (because that's what leaves do, they bud...right?) 

One of the new leaves we had decided to turn over this year was to be more creative daters.  When we got married a fairly common bit of advice was to keep up with dating each other.  Yes!  But with work/school/baby/budget/etc, it can get tough.  And ice cream and a movie every Friday night was getting a little old.  So, we made a jar.

It has 52 pieces of paper (one for each week of the year) each with a simple date idea.  Every week we pull one out and, if it is weather/season appropriate, we have to figure out how to do it with minimal planning and minimal cost. 

We are nearing week 3 and so far, it's a success! 
Pictures to come.



Family Outings

Saturday evening we decided to venture out for a much needed family date.  Tim did all the planning... that's my favorite kind of outing  :)

We traveled up the old highway to Idaho Falls and enjoyed a nice evening of Olive Garden take-out and river-side strolling.  We were right in the middle of a bunch of ducks and geese, which Brinlee was excited/curious/confused/nervous about.  But she was an angel and the weather was awesome!

On the way home we devoured a super delicious cinnamon roll from Mrs. Powells... never mind the calorie count.  Tim should plan more often, it was the perfect evening!  

ODUS vol. 3: Sisters

In preparation for this post, please enjoy this classic little tidbit:

Perhaps the dancing men aren't the most feminine... but they are entertaining, and the song about sums it up anyway...

Oh how fun to have my wonderful sisters come and visit!  They are marvelous aunts!  And, little known fact, they happen to be quite marvelous dates as well.  While they were here we went up on campus and enjoyed a little bit of Bill Cosby LIVE, aka: dream come true!

And then we went and enjoyed 2 pounds of hamburger and 1 pound of bacon slapped between two massively large buns, aka: heaven!

None of us really look alike do we?  But we do look like we are having a dazzling time.  Two thumbs way up for sister dates!  :)

...two thumbs down though for the extra pounds that big old burger put on....

see you at the gym

ODUS vol. 1: Out and About-ings

On June 1st little Brin was a whole 4 weeks old, which meant we had reached the recommended "1-month-of-keeping-her-home" mark, which meant we ventured out!

Wednesday of that week we did a trial run to the grocery store, and that little angel did awesome!

First family outing, huge success!

So the next night, we ventured out for round two and enjoyed our first post-baby date night. 

Destination: Drive-In Movie

And again, Brinlee did Awesome!!!  What a wonderful baby!

We are now officially out-and-abouters!  SO nice to not be tied to home anymore.  Besides, she looks so cute and tiny in her car seat  :)