My Birthday

This is the best picture I could find to represent the richest, most delicious dessert I have ever had: Banana Caramel Spring Rolls at Thaifoon.

Imagine these crispy little cinnamon/sugar coated rolls stuffed not only with banana, but cheesecake filling and cream, then mushed into a spoonful of thick creamy custard and drizzled with caramel and served, as seen below, with icecream and strawberries.

It is so good!!!

I'm going to have to find a recipe and try to make them myself so I can skip the trip to Salt Lake and the $8 and have them at home.

Anyway, this is what crowned my birthday dinner - and stretched my poor stomach to it's limits.

(because before dinner I pre-mealed on sour cream and cheddar chips at home and then pounded a lg. popcorn with Dave at a movie, then had my favorite soup as an appetizer and then ate rice and salad, and then had the spring rolls.........this sounds a little unhealthy, doesn't it? Eek.)

Well, anyway, my birthday was great. Dave gave me pink tulips and the most perfect thoughtful card, and chocolate (oh yeah, which was also eaten before dinner). My sister in law offered to watch Lauren for the night and we even had a gift card for the movie tickets. :)

I lay in bed that night feeling so peaceful, blessed and grateful. It was a good day.

Reunion

Over the holidays I happened across the contact information for my best friend from elementary school who I have not seen or talked to in like......a decade, when I went to her wedding reception. Before that, I don't think we talked for 8 years! But we grew up in the same neighborhood, had sleep-overs, went to the same birthday parties, camped together, even went to her Grandma's for Easter one year! So we were pretty tight! Then she moved after 7th grade and I moved after 9th, and we lost touch.
I was so excited to have her email address, so I went out on a limb and wrote to her.
The response was great! We set a day to have lunch and catch up and it was awesome!
I admit I was a little nervous - it felt kind of like a blind date :) We were little kids last time we spent any time together and now we were two adults with years of separate life shaping experiences behind us. Would we "click?" Would it be awkward?
No! It wasn't awkward at all. We had a great time reminiscing and reminding each other experiences we shared. There were a lot, and it was so much fun to remember really how much we were involved in eachother's lives!
The best thing about it was to find that she is happy and confident, living a fulfilling life! It was uplifting to be with her! And as we filled eachother in about our families, we learned that everyone was happy and doing really well. I just felt great when I left! :)
*(one more amazing thing - the day we had lunch happened to be my birthday, which I didn't mention. But she remembered! She even brought me a little present! After all this time, she remembered my birthday!!! Some things just never leave your brain. Amazing)*

A renewed friendship, a little ray of sunshine in this bleak January weather!

A Teaching Moment

Last night, Lauren learned (not for the first time) that Daddy will do exactly what he says he'll do.
We attempted, too early, to put her to bed (she didn't have a nap yesterday! We thought we could get away with it!) and she was not winding down at all. When Dave tried to get her to kneel for family prayer, she said, "I don't want to pray to Heavenly Father, I want to watch TV with mommy!" and ran out of the room.

So we gave up and went downstairs, and yes, had the TV on. I was trying to watch "The Work and The Glory", which though a wholesome movie, is not appropriate for a two-year-old.
After screening the intense parts, changing channels, muting, and watching Lauren crawl around and play - not really interested anyway - we were relieved when at a the end of the movie, during the loving Steed family reunion, Lauren laid down and started rubbing her binky on her face.
Dave suggested again that we have family prayer.

After much coersion, confiscation of blanket, kitty, and then both binky's, Lauren Kate would not kneel still for prayer. She was playing and rolling around, so Dave said, "Lauren, that is not reverent. That is not how we pray. If you don't kneel down right now and say prayer with us, you will go to bed without your binky and your blanket -and no story." Then he counted, and she stood there, staring at him, with no intention to obey - testing him.
When he left her in her bed, she cried and cried. Meanwhile, downstairs, we as new parents discussed how to best deal with this situation in a loving way. We know it's important to live up to our words so our children will always trust us. And we want Lauren to understand that her choices have consequenses. But we don't like seeing her sad! So she was offered a second chance.

When Dave went up to get her, she immediately said, "I'm sorry Daddy, I don't mean to." Then he explained why she was in bed, and that if she came downstairs, she would have one more chance to obey by reverently praying with us. -Which she did.
Dave briefly mentioned that because of Jesus, we can repent and have a second chance, and that we love her and want her to be happy.
It was a great teaching moment, and a great reminder of the love Heavenly Father and Jesus have for each of us, even when we make mistakes.
I love the perspective gained while parenting.

Miraculous Microfiber

"Yook Mommy, Yook Mommy, Yook Mommy!"

"Yook Mommy!" "Yook Mommy!"

"Yook Mommy!"
By the time I turned my head and realized what was going on, my little cutie had left 6 long marks on our couch with a black ball point pen. As I dropped what I was doing and rushed over to grab that pen, she defiantly added two more. Hmmmm. What do you do? Is she proud of her work and expecting praise? I have to say that in this case, I'm pretty sure that Lauren knew full well that she was going to be in trouble. Two weeks ago, it was a red scrapbooking marker on the loveseat. She has been fully advised (many, many times) that she is not allowed to draw on anything but paper!

So I took the pen away and she went to bed without a story.

Then I spent the next 1/2 hour (at least) carefully scrubbing each pen line with alcohol.

This is what the rag looked like when I was done.

And THANKFULLY!!!!!!!!!!!! because microfiber is soooooooooo AWESOME, after the spotting and scrubbing and washing the cushion covers, (even though it says right on them not to take them off and wash them)the couch looked like this:

Good as new. (To anyone who doesn't know about the art)
And here's the little culprit the next day. Happy as a clam. But absolutely BANNED from ink of any kind.

AMERICAN IDOL

I don't watch much TV.
But, when American Idol comes around during the most boring month of the year, it is a bright spot in my life and I become an addict.
I have been a faithful fan and viewer since Season 1 when Kelly Clarkson won, only missing 2 seasons while on my mission. We even took my mom (she's a faithful fan too) to the American Idol concert for her birthday the year Carrie Underwood won. It was Awesome!!

I'm so excited! :)

"Gingerbread" Houses

Each year, we anticipate the occasion of my mom's "Welcome Christmas" party. A standard tradition is to gather around the bar with barely enough room to work (given the bowls and bowls of candy)to construct our gingerbread houses. It's always fun to watch the creations come to form.
Some care more about how much candy they can cram on/in/around the house, and others care about esthetics - me. When Dave filled the center of our house with candy, causing the walls to fall outward, I was pretty bugged, and what became embarassingly clear, is that my perfectionism sometimes ruins the fun for Dave. After I relaxed a little and realized that he is actually really good at making things look good, we ended up with a cool house filled with candy :)