Ward Campout and Cute Shoes

We went camping with our ward on Friday night up in Hobble Creek Canyon.  We had a great time!  We made tin foil dinners, which I had never had before.  I have to admit that I was not that impressed.  I'm going to have to figure out a way to get them to have some flavor.  Kim Waddoups brought her little sister Sarah with her and she was roasting Starbursts for us all night.  Kennedy did start freaking out over who knows what, but we finally got her to bed.  I think that she was just over tired from not getting much in the way of naps.  When we had had our s'mores and played our beanbag game (and been beaten badly) we went to bed.  When we walked into the tent, this is what we found.

At least we know she was warm!  She did wake up once in the night, and I was paranoid that she would wake someone up, but no one heard her, thank goodness.  She woke up pretty happy though and we had a great morning.

Kennedy and I watched Brett play volleyball before we left, although Kennedy at first seemed to only be interested in the magic box with the pretty pictures (aka the camera), she did begin giving dad advice like not to be scared of the ball.  Here is Brett watching while Jason gets a great hit.

We left after that and came home to clean Brett's car that we are going to try to sell soon.  Thank goodness gas prices are going down!  Now for the cute shoes.  Grandma Lee bought these for her before she was born, and she finally can fit into them.  They're still a little big on her, but she'll have lots of time to wear them!  She looked so cute at church today.

I will be sure to put pictures of her in the red patent leather ones just like this that Rachel Erickson got her too.  They are just as cute.  Kennedy is discovering her toes at the moment, so she stared at her shoes a lot.  I'm sure she thought they were cute too!

Bloody Mary Dip

When airlines were still giving out free drinks and snacks, Brett would order bloody mary mix to drink and we would dip our pretzels in it. It was so yummy that I have been thinking about how to make a dip with those same flavors for some time.

I was playing in the kitchen the other day and decided to try it out. I looked up the traditional ingredients of a bloody mary online and used them to create a dip. It isn't perfect, but I would really appreciate some feedback if you would like to make it and try it out! I think it needs a little bit more of a tomato flavor (which I think I can get with tomato paste), but I have had comments that it is too strong and that it doesn't have enough kick. I need to know which is the more common opinion. If you could help me out, I would be grateful! Just so you know, it does strengthen over time, so if you leave it over night it will be a little bit more spicy in the morning. Enjoy!

• 1 cup sour cream
• 4 tablespoons tomato sauce
• 2 garlic cloves, minced and crushed
• 1/4 teaspoon celery seed
• 1/2 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon Tobasco
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon dill

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. Serve with celery, chips, crackers, bread, pretzels, and anything else that sounds good!

Kennedy Rolling

After weeks of turning onto her side Kennedy finally figured out how to roll onto her tummy yesterday. Brett and I cheered when she finally did it, and she didn't know what to make of it at first, but then she gave us a huge smile and hasn't stopped rolling since. On a side note, like most people, I have always hated the sound of my voice when it's recorded. But I think that you will have to agree with me when I say that my baby talk sounds just like Snow White. So bear with my voice because Kennedy is awfully cute.

Fun with Facial Hair

I got on my computer just now to upload some pictures that I had taken of Lucy the other day.  I was very surprised when I found these pictures of Brett goofing around that he took this morning while I was still in bed.  He has been sporting a goatee for the last 2 weeks and randomly decided to shave it off this morning, but not without having a little bit of fun first.  He has no idea that I have seen these yet, and I was cracking up when I saw them.  First, here is the goatee fully intact.

I think that this is an attempt at a handlebar mustache.

Here is the plain mustache.

And here he is clean again.

This is not the first time that I have seen pictures of him having fun shaving his goatee off.  I love this goofy side of him so much!  And hopefully he won't be embarrassed that I've shared it with you.

Our Not-So-Mini Miracle

So, as I have mentioned in an earlier post, we have been trying to follow Dave Ramsey's advice for the last couple of months. So far so good. We have a poster in our room that has all of our debts on it and we have been consistently crossing them out as they have been getting paid. I was going through the bills and called to pay one that was for about $50. Not so big. When I called the doctor's office, they told me that I didn't owe anything. I was wondering why I hadn't recieved a bill (I only got a statement from our insurance company), and that was why. I was excited and I hung up the phone. So I started going through our other bills and I realized that there were several other statements that we hadn't received bills for, and I began making calls. All in all, it turns out that we don't owe over $700 dollars that we thought we did. We were ecstatic. Most definitely blessings for paying our tithing. We are so grateful that we will be able to get out of our debt that much faster!

Good Books and a Schedule

I mentioned in my Simple Pleasures post that I have really been enjoying some good books lately. I have seriously been reading so much more than I have been able to in the recent past. I am devouring books again, which feels good. I am currently about halfway through Breaking Dawn, just like everyone else in the world. I have successfully stayed away from any spoilers and am loving it.

I am also really excited for Philippa Gregory's new book, The Other Queen, to come out next month! It's about Mary, Queen of Scots which should be an interesting deviation from her other books about the English queens. I am really looking forward to having another great book on my list. But here is my dilemma. Kennedy sleeps really well at night, but she has no schedule whatsoever. Now that I am home with her more, but I still have to get some school and house work done during the day, how do I get her on a schedule? She sleeps anywhere from 10-12 hours a night (12 is rare, it's usually closer to 10), but I can't seem to get her to take consistent naps or have a consistent bedtime. Any suggestions? I would really love to hear some advice.

On a happier note, we bought Kennedy a little play gym and she is having a blast. She is finally learning how to bat at things and move her hands in a more coordinated manner. She's constantly rolling on her side now, so I bet she will be rolling over any day now. We went to the doctor on Monday and she told me that Kennedy has a little bit of a flat head in the back and that her neck muscles have been tightened on one side. We have to do neck stretches with her several times a day now. Every time we did it on Monday she freaked out, but she is doing great now! We love her so much!

Graduation

Thursday and Friday marked my graduation ceremonies at BYU.  I was thrilled to go through these, because even though I won't officially be graduated until December, I feel like the milestone has been reached.  It is all downhill from here.  My classes are now all online, which is fantastically convenient.  I was so excited when I woke up this morning and realized that I didn't have a class to go to!  I thought that I had some pictures with my parents on Friday, but I guess they were taken on my dad's camera.  So here's what I have.

Elder Richard G. Scott received an honorary doctorate and was the commencement speaker.  He is the first one on the front row to the right of President Samuelson at the podium.  One of my favorite pieces of advice that he gave was "Smile!  Everyone has problems, no one wants to hear about yours."

Here is our little family out on the lawn afterwards.  Kennedy is totally zonked.

Here I am on Friday at the convocation for the College of Humanities.  I am receiving my "diploma" from the dean of the college.

And here is just me after walking across the stage.

I loved the stats that they gave.  Every state but one was represented in the graduating class (of course they didn't say which one wasn't there) as well as 5 US territories and 16 different countries.  Over half of the students were married.  I was sitting in between two girls who were 9 months pregnant (one due in 2 days and one due in 4).  That's BYU for you!

I want to say thank you to Grandpa Emigh who has made college a possibility for me, mom and dad for supporting me and helping me pay for college as well, all of my teachers, Irene and Lori who babysat Kennedy during the summer semester, and Brett for being a great husband and helping me through.  Thanks to everyone!

Simple Pleasures

There are a lot of wonderful things on this world, and I love so many of them. I'm grateful for so many small and simple things that make my life so full and that make me smile every time. I thought that I would share some of them with you. A few of them may seem odd, but I love them just the same.

1. Kennedy's Smile - I know that this one is obvious, but I can't help it. My heart melts every time I see it. She is so sweet and she knows who I am now, which I just love. Even when I get frustrated because she won't sleep or won't let me put her down, all she has to do is smile and coo at me and I'm back to my normal mommy self.

2. When Brett comes home from work - This is one of my favorite times of day. Brett works very hard, and it will be even harder when school starts again. I love spending time with him and am always so glad when daddy comes home.
3. Cherry Limeades - Here's where we start veering from the obvious. I love cherry limeades from Sonic. They make my day. I have tried strawberry limeades and cranberry limeades, but nothing compares with the cherry. It is so tart and sweet and they give me cherries in it. Yum!

4. Grandma Emigh's Coffee Cake - Ever since I was little I looked forward to having coffee cake after opening presents on Christmas morning. Grandma would always make two cakes: one with nuts for everyone else, and one without nuts for me. It is still one of my very favorite comfort foods, and I usually get a craving sometime around June or July to have some. I usually eat 75% of it by myself.

5. Duck Bums - Ok, let me explain. Have you ever been around ducks when they put their heads all the way under water and their bums go in the air? It is so dang cute. I love when they do this! They were even doing it at Lagoon when we went a couple of weeks ago and I couldn't pay attention to the ride we were on because I was trying to see the ducks.

6. Disneyland and DisneyWorld - I hate that I can't go more often. This is where I will always choose to go. This is where we went for my high school graduation, as well as for our honeymoon. I always have a great time and feel so good when I am there.
7. LOST - I get so incredibly excited when LOST comes on. It is the best show ever. It is the only show that I have ever watched where I actually get upset if I miss an episode, that's how bad it is. If you haven't started watching it, you should. But be warned - it is highly addictive.
8. Cooking - I love to try new, different, and intricate recipes. I tried my hand at lasagna the other night and it was a success. I love using new ingredients and going shopping for them. I love cookbooks and kitchen gadgets and am a frequent guest at Williams-Sonoma. I watch cooking shows and go to cooking classes. Basically I am obsessed. I make a huge mess in the kitchen most of the time, but it is so worth it. I'm even starting to experiment with my own recipes in hopes of publishing a cookbook through lulu.com.
9. Good books that I can't put down - I haven't had much time to read until a few months ago, and I have been loving it! I just love books, and I always have. I don't know that Brett is very happy about it because he feels like he has lost his wife, but I am so excited that I've actually been able to enjoy reading again.

10. When Lucy sleeps with me - I love Lucy. She is the best kitty I could have ever asked for. I love it when she cuddles with me, when she meows at me, says please, steals my food, and announces her presence when I walk into a room. She brings so much joy into my life and is a great part of our family.

11. Salami and Brie sandwiches on French bread - I love this sandwich because it reminds me of being in Europe, especially Paris. I used to eat this all the time when I was in the Netherlands, along with grapefruit Fanta and Lion bars (neither of which are available in the US). One of my favorite memories is of buying a very similar sandwich, sitting outside Sainte-Chapelle in the cool weather of October in Paris, seeing Notre Dame in the background, and watching the people go by and the light get scattered by the trees. This picture is of Sainte-Chapelle. Isn't it beautiful?

12. Sunrises in the mountains - We went camping a few weeks ago, and even though I often complain about camping, there is one thing that I love. When I wake up early in the morning, it is so beautiful. The light is gorgeous, the world is quiet and cool, and a great breakfast is on the way. I love just putting on a sweatshirt and taking a walk in the early morning. It is always so much better when camping than near home where the cars often ruin it.

These are only a few of the small things that I love. What are some of your small and simple pleasures?

US Men's Swimming Relay

Brett and I have been watching the Olympics a lot. We have seen quite a few events so far and are having a great time cheering on Team USA. We are particularly interested in basketball (especially since Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer are playing) and in swimming and diving events.

We were watching coverage late last night trying to catch Michael Phelps and the men's relay. We had heard that the French were saying that they would smash the Americans, and obviously we wanted to show them who's boss. We were on the edge of our seats as we watched the race. Watch it on that link. You won't be sorry. It was the most incredible race that I have ever seen. Even Australia, who got the bronze, smashed the world record. We were so excited that Michael Phelps' dream to get 8 gold medals is still alive.

You can bet that we will continue to keep our eye on Michael Phelps. We are also so excited to watch the steeplechase because we know someone who is competing! His name is Josh McAdams (you can see him on Home Depot commercials during the Olympics) and he went to church with us up until a few months ago. He is sponsored by New Balance and we can't wait until he runs to see how he does! We even saw him in the Parade of Nations during the opening ceremonies!

So good luck Josh, Michael, Deron, Carlos and the rest of Team USA! Make us proud!

Super Baby!

Brett, who often fashions himself a cape with his towel, did the same for Kennedy last night.  She had woken up from a late nape and was getting burped when I looked over and saw her flying in the air, cape and all.

She did look awfully cute as a super hero.  I may have to think about that for Halloween.  Except I think the naked baby routine might be a little bit cold for October.  I thought that it fit the Super Baby theme very well though.  They are always wearing underwear outside their clothes.

This picture has nothing to do with being Super Baby, but I did think it was super cute.  I had to put it on here because I realized that I hadn't put any good Kennedy pictures up in a while.

And now for something completely different...I'm almost done with school!  Well, on campus school anyway.  I only have one paper, one class, and one final to go before I am done with campus forever!  Yay!

Lions and Tigers and Dinosaurs, Oh My!

Yesterday we took a trip to the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving point with the whole Waddoups clan, including Boston.  None of us had ever been there before, so we knew we were in for a treat.  Here we are (Brett is being eaten of course) at the entrance.

There were some seriously amazing exhibits there and we would highly recommend it.  (For those of you around here, admission is only $2 on Tuesdays in August.)  I always forget how huge the dinosaur bones are.  One of the cooler things that they had was a room titled "Our Universe Begins".  It is a room full of stars and nothing else.  It feels like you are walking through space.  It was really interesting to feel that way.  One of the more fun aspects of this museum is that it is kid friendly like no other.  There were so many hands on exhibits, including a water area where you could practice erosion and a real dino dig at the end.  Here is the dinosaur that Brett attempted to make.

We had to get a family picture in front of the Triceratops since it was our favorite dinosaur when we were little.  Brett's favorite animal now is a rhino, which is very similar and more in line than mine.  Why do I like giraffes?  Witness the useless things on the tops of their heads.  Plus I got to kiss one.  I'll find the picture and put it on here.  The museum didn't end with dinosaurs either.  They had some other really cool bones, like a mammoth (as well as a bunch of people trying to kill it, looking like they were losing).  We had a great time, even though it kind of messed up Kennedy's awesome schedule that she was putting herself on.  We also broke down and bought her a really cute book called The Ravenous Beast.  It's adorable.

PS - Here is a picture of my uncle Scott and cousin Orion holding the real Olympic torch.  They live in Beijing and have tickets to a couple of the events.

Digging for Gold at Lagoon

Brett's work decided to reward his department by having a party at Lagoon yesterday. (For those of you who don't know, Lagoon is the theme park just north of Salt Lake.) We were really excited, especially since being pregnant severely limited my roller coaster riding, and I had never been to Lagoon. So we drove down to Santaquin and dropped Kennedy off at Grandma Lee's and headed up north for some fun.

I decided that I wanted to warm up to the bigger roller coasters since it had been a while since I had been on a real one. We went on the haunted house ride first, and I am embarrassed to say that as badly done as it was I actually did get startled by one of the little things that popped out at me. I hate when they do that. After that we headed over to the little white wooden roller coaster that was built in 1921. We waited in line for about 5 minutes (no kidding, there was no line) and headed to the front car to wait our turn. As I was looking around, I noticed something funny about one of the ride operators that was standing literally 2 feet from me.
I am not kidding. This kid, who was probably about 17 was sitting there with his finger almost all the way up his nose. He then proceeded to take his finger out, look at it, stick it back in, look at it again, and then eat it! I almost threw up. Especially since I was about to go on a rickety wooden roller coaster. We were cracking up about this until later.

We got in line for The Spider much later that day, and having forgotton about the earlier nose picking incident, we were horrified to see that the ride operator was picking his nose. In broad daylight. In front of hundreds of people. We were laughing so hard about it, and we were beginning to think that it must be a requirement that you pick your nose while working at Lagoon.

I know that you will think that I am making it up when I tell you that as we were leaving the park, the boy working the exit had his finger so far up his nose that we couldn't see it anymore. Needless to say, we discovered that Lagoon = nose picking. Watch out the next time you go.