A Plug

Here's a plug for a photographer who helped me tonight. I had a young women's activity for the laurel's in my ward and Kate came to teach the girls how to take better pictures. She also took the time to take pictures of each one of them. We had such a great time, and she did a wonderful job. You can check out her work at http://www.katejeppson.com/ .

Highlights

Highlights from our trip to California:

1. Having all six seats to ourselves on the flight from SLC to SDG. Amy was able to sit in her own seat during the flight and Ian could sprawl out and sleep. Amy enjoyed watching cartoons during the flight.

1. 2. Driving to my parent's house from the airport. It's a reminder of how beautiful California is. I love the beautiful San Diego cityscape, the harbor as you leave the airport, the greenery along the 163 freeway.

3. Spending time with friends that I haven't seen in years! On Thursday Amy, Ian, and I spent a couple hours with Denise and her children at a local park. Amy swung, played in the sand, and slid down the slide. On Friday Cheryl, Jennifer, (close friends from high school also) and I went out to eat.

4. Eating out . . . a lot (and not having to pay for it :) - thanks Dad!).

5. Sleeping in bed with Kenny AND Amy. Although I wouldn't want to do this for more than a few days it was really fun having her inbetween Kenny and I. She wanted to hold Kenny's hand as she fell asleep. It was sweet.

6. Spending RELAXING time with my family. Jenessa and I went shopping. We found ourselves some much needed summery clothes. Kenny and my dad took off to the Padres game.

7. Looking for jobs and houses. (No, we aren't moving . . . but it was exciting to see that housing prices have fallen so maybe someday we can move back there).

8. Checking out the seadragons (see picture below . . . those leafy things are part of the creature!!) at the Birch Aquarium. Watching Amy get excited over and over again about all the "Nemos" and "Bruces" she was seeing.

9. Seeing how beautiful JeNae looked at her reception! She was radiant and it was great to see how happy she was. I loved seeing old friends at the reception as well.

10. Being among most of my extended family in my grandmother's beautiful backyard at a family reunion. Ian met his cousin Dane for the first time (they are one month apart), and Amy spent time with her cousin Shea (or at least with the little Stroller Shea brought).

11. Savoring beautiful ocean views at Kenny's parents home and the aquarium.

12. Spending some short-but-sweet time with Kenny's parents. Kenny enjoyed playing the Wii with his dad, and I enjoyed watching the HGTV channel with his mom.

Non-highlights:

1. Leaving the reception a little early due to a migraine.
2. Kenny throwing up Sunday from a migraine.
3. Not playing at the beach because the weather was a little cold and stormy.

May-me!

Eleven things about Amy:

• Amy loves to draw and color. She spends hours with a pen, marker, crayon, or chalk in hand; luckily she hasn't hit too many walls yet. If she isn't coloring she's wanting me or daddy to color (she seems to prefer her dad's drawing to mine). She'll normally tell us what she wants drawn. I'm now really good at drawing stars!
• She calls my dad "ampa (growl growl)" because my dad likes to talk to her in a raspy voice like "donald duck". She calls Kenny's dad "ampa oof oof" because he has a puppy.
• She still sucks on a bottle (of water) in order to fall asleep. I haven't been brave enough to try to break that habit yet.
• She loves nursery. When other kids turned 18 months and entered nursery they would cry when their parents left; Amy was running to the toys and not even looking back to see where we went. She has so much fun she comes home every Sunday exhausted.
• Amy loves animals. She giggles at the dog next door, and chases our cat around. She's intrigued by fish (she used to call them fishy, but now they are all Nemo).
• Amy was a crier until she was about 4 months old. I thought I would go insane. I don't know if a doctor would have considered it colic, but I was nervous to take her anywhere because she'd go into hysterics without a moment's notice.
• Amy is named after her great-grandma on her daddy's side. I never met her, but she was revered by all!
• Amy does not like heights, being held upside down, or being thrown in the air.
• Unfortunately, Amy has my sweet tooth. She loves candy. She can spot it anywhere. Amy will not keep bows in her hair, and she's always disliked hats except for a cowboy hat her grandma Curtis gave her.



• Like most little girls (and big girls), Amy loves shoes. I'm constantly having to pick up shoes scattered all across our house.
• Amy calls herself "May-me" and has such a sweet voice as she says it!

I love this little girl!! I'm so grateful she is my daughter. She was a difficult infant but has become a joyful toddler - busy, but so FUN! It's great to be her mom.

Amy was tagged by her cousin little John. Now, she is tagging her friends Amber, Grant, Paisley, Gage, and her cousin Meckenzie.

Cookies

I LOVE cookies. Unfortunately, Kenny doesn't. So, I don't make them too often, but every once in a while I'll find a good excuse to make a delicious chocolate chip cookie. There has to be some good reason, otherwise I will eat ALL of them (I've learned through experience). Anyway, my sister's in town and I thought that would be a GREAT reason to make cookies. So, I made her my favorite cookie. The recipe is from my friend Emily and I think it's wonderful enough to share with everyone:

Neiman Marcus Chocolate Chip Cookies:
2 c. butter, softened
2 c. brown sugar
2 c. sugar
4 extra large eggs
2 tsp vanilla
5 c oatmeal (process into fine powder)
4 c. flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
24 oz chocolate chips
1/4 c. milk (optional)
3 c. walnuts or pecans (optional)
1 8oz Hershey Bar, shredded

Cream butter and sugars. Mix eggs in batter one at a time, then add vanilla. Measure oatmeal and process into a fine powder - add to batter. Then mix in the remaining ingredients. Blend well, roll into balls and place on a cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes in a preheated 375 degree oven. Place on cooling rack immediately.

This recipe makes 110 cookies so I normally half it. Enjoy!

Happy Mother's Day

We've had a week of celebrating! It began with our anniversary last Monday and ended with Mother's Day (and inbetween the nice little gift from the government). Monday marked seven years for Kenny and I. It's hard to believe it's already been that long. But, we celebrated by going to see Ironman (I quite liked the show). Our friends watched our kids for us while we went to do something fun and I couldn't believe how nice it was to have our own time out. Normally, when our kids aren't with us it's to do things we need to do - not necessarily want to do (i.e. mutual activities, church assignments, work, etc). We've decided we really need to take fun breaks more often.

The celebrating continued, and today Kenny spoiled me. He loves surprises and surprising and he's good at it. He made me breakfast, gave me a mother's day gift, fixed dinner (which isn't unusual for a Sunday evening), taught the young women at church, and took me to temple square so I could see the flowers and take pictures! He was a good sport, even though Amy wasn't (didn't she get the memo that today is Mother's Day and she's supposed to be perfect even when she's overtired?). We didn't get any great pictures, but it was fun anyway. I think we got ONE of Amy smiling (her eyes were so red from crying that she still doesn't look happy). At least the flowers were beautiful. I didn't expect any of it, but it was really nice to have things taken care of today.

The ONE picture of Amy smiling:

Other pictures from today: