My gardening woes

I think there's something therapeutic about working in the dirt and making something grow. I've always enjoyed gardening and was kind of missing my little plots of dirt at our old townhouse where I'd do a small vegetable garden with some flowers. Although there's no space for a vegetable garden at our new house I did notice this small bed in the front where I could plant some flowers. The weather was finally nice this past Saturday so I figured while Tyler was napping I'd try to get this bed ready to plant some flowers. A few dead somethings were still in the bed along with this half dead bush. I quickly noticed a large infestation of rolly polly bugs (I don't know the scientific name) - probably the cause of the dead plants. If anyone has any tips on getting rid of these I'm all ears. I also noticed a lot of strange looking spiders as I yanked weeds but was grateful to be wearing gloves and long sleeves. When I finally started to cut back this bush so I could uproot it I was already feeling pretty creeped out by the bugs and spiders when I pulled back another part of the bush to see something slithering through the base of the plant. I squealed as I threw my gardening sheers down and took off across the lawn. I don't really know many of my neighbors yet and hope no one saw me. I'm sure it was just a little garden snake, but I told Andy I'm not going near that bush until he gets rid of it. So the half dead, half cut up bush remains in my front yard....until the snake is gone.

Easter

These pictures were taken at an Easter party my sister-in-law's friend put on for her friend's kids. She had it the Saturday before Easter. The kids got to make crafts, color, decorate cookies, and have an Easter egg hunt. They even had a few real baby bunnies for the kids to pet. Tyler was daring enough to pet it this time.

Unfortunately the weather was rainy and cold so the Easter egg hunt had to be inside. Tyler "got" the egg hunt a lot more this year, especially after I explained there was candy inside the eggs. He did pretty well snatching all the eggs.

Notice my growing belly in this picture. I can't believe I still have 2 more months to go!

Thanksgiving Point

These were taken awhile ago, but I'm just getting around to blogging them. One day a few weeks ago, my sister-in-law Shelly and I took the kids up to the Thanksgiving Point Dinorsaur museum. I don't think Tyler really got what dinosaurs were or was terribly interested in all of the bones, but it was nice that they had a few exibits for kids that they really liked. The first one had wooden dinosaurs they could match up with the holes.

This one was on erosion and the kids got to play in the water and sand.

And the last one was a dinosaur bone site where the kids could use paint brushes to uncover dinosaur bones!

More House pictures

Here's a few pics of the inside. None of the bedrooms were clean enough for pictures today, except Tyler's but he was sleeping. I'll have to post those later. We have 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. Its nice that we can have the boys in separate rooms when the baby is still little, but it means we've moved the office down to the basement which is unfinished and really cold. Andy and I bundle up every time we go down there to use the computer. I told Andy the basement can be his "Man Cave" and he can do whatever he wants with it. We have our treadmill and weights down there too. Probably by next winter we'll move the office upstairs and try the boys sleeping in the same room. Hope our next baby's a better sleeper than Tyler!

Here's our spacious kitchen. I love how much cupboard and counter space it has.

Andy finally got his big screen t.v. He got a killer deal on it though - you gotta love Costco! We also decided to get nice leather couches after selling most of our furniture last May before we left for Samoa. We also got a good deal on them. They're really comfortable and the couch reclines on both sides!

This is looking towards the front door. The first door goes down to the basement. The one in the middle is the front door and the one of the right goes to what will be the baby's room. Down the hall is Tyler's room and our bedroom.

We Moved!

Finally, a blog entry after over a month. I have a lot of catching up to do. We moved over a month ago and sadly I'm just now posting some pictures. I've been waiting until we could hang some pictures on the wall but decided this could take too long. I'll just have to post the finished product later. So here's our cute little house in Spanish Fork. We're starting to get to know our neighbors and really like it here.

We have plenty of storage space with a two car garage and a big unfinished basement.

I love having a yard for Tyler to play in too. I'll have to create some shade this summer, but its nice to have it all fenced in.

We love the view from our back windows. It faces West so we get to watch the beautiful Spanish Fork sunsets every evening. Its just a big open farm field behind us and apparently the farmer doesn't even grow anything in the field.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake

For anyone who wants to try it - Here's the recipe for the cake I made for Tyler's birthday. If you're a chocolate peanut butter fan - you'll love it.


Chocolate Cake (I found this one on the internet):

• 2 cups white sugar
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup boiling water

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour two 9 inch round pans.
2. In a large bowl, combine sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Make a well in the center and add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. Beat for 2 minutes at medium speed. Stir in boiling water.
3. Pour into two 9 inch pans. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then turn out onto a wire rack and continue cooling.

Peanut Butter Frosting

This isn't an exact recipe. You you just have to kind of play with it until it looks like the right consistency.

1. Start with about 2/3 cup of creamy peanut butter
2. Add 1 tsp. vanilla and about 1/3 cup of milk (may need to add more)
3. Beat with an electric mixer until smooth. Then just keep adding powdered sugar until the consistency looks right for frosting (about 2-3 cups).
4. If it gets too thick: just add more milk. If it seems too runny and soft: add more peanut butter or sugar

Frost the cake once cooled. I sometimes add pieces of Reese's cup to the top. Enjoy!

Tyler's 2nd Birthday

We celebrated Tyler's 2nd birthday today. He woke up and asked for his presents right away. We decided to give him one thing in the morning - his Lightning McQueen car. It entertained him the rest of the day. He even took a nap with it. We met some of his cousins at Carl's Jr. for lunch and he got to play on the playground.

I made his birthday cake entirely from scratch this year. Chocolate Peanut Butter cake! Its a family favorite.

I don't have enough pictures of Andy on this blog. I thought this was a cute picture of Tyler with his dad.

We got Tyler this tent from IKEA for his birthday. It was a definite hit. I would highly recommend it. Only $15 and its really easy to set up and take down. Tyler calls it his "house" and had to put all of his new presents inside. He also got new trucks from Grandma and Grandpa and a Tough Trike which he was very excited about.

Recent Funny Tyler Comments:
After telling him he was having peanut butter on his chocolate birthday cake, his eyes lit up and he said "Thats Great!"
While pulling out of the driveway when I accidently put the car in drive instead of reverse and had to slam on the breaks "Easy Mom."
After leaving the doctor's office for my prenatal appointment "Baby brother come out now?"
While looking in the mirror after getting dressed in the morning "I handsome."