The Best Husband Ever

I just have to brag and say that I have the best husband. He took me out skiing last night on Utah Lake. I love to water ski. I don't do it often but I try to get out a few times each summer. The hardest part about being pregnant in the summer is that I miss out on a whole ski season. Early on in my pregnancy Ryan promised me he would do everything he could to make sure I got to ski this year, and last night he made good on that promise. It was so rejuvinating! Caden wasn't sure how he felt about the fact that mommy got out of the boat then daddy started to drive off and leave her there, but he calmed down once I got up and he could see I was okay. Our little boat still needs some tinkering, but it pulled nicely. Ryan's parents and sister came down to help watch the boys and act as a spotter, so thanks to them as well.

Turning Two

Our cute Caden turned 2 yesterday. We had a fun little party with the family. I was glad the weather was nice enough for us to party outside. Caden got many nice presents, including a new car, some balls, smarties (that lasted abotu 10 minutes), blocks, chalk, and clothes. Ryan and I gave him some folder games to take to church.

I can't believe how fast Caden is growing. At 2 he talks like a parrot, looks like a little man, acts like the perfect big brother (most of the time), and plays like there is no tomorrow. His favorite place to be is outside or anywhere that daddy is. We love our kiddo!

Mommy's little helper

Caden loves to help with anything I do, but he particularly enjoys sweeping and vacuuming. Parts of my floor are very clean as he slowly goes over and over them.

Fruit Filled Cookie Bars

Little Eric appears to have many of the same allergies Caden had. I've been steadily cutting thigns from my diet over the last few weeks adn we see strong reactions. So far we're up to milk, eggs, wheat, soy, and nuts. I wanted to throw myself a little pity party but since my standard pity party fare (brownies) was not an option I started wracking my brain for a yummy treat. In doing so I remembered these Fruit Filled Cookie Bars from Sophie Safe Cooking. Since Caden devloped an allergy to oats I quit making them, but they are tasty and easy.

Ingredients:
1 cup oat flour (simply put 1 cup of oats in a blender)
1 1/4 cup quick oats
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/3 cup margarine or shortening
8 oz jam

Directions:
Comine oat flour, oats, sugar, and baking soda. Cut in margarine or shortening until mixture is evenly combined. Remove 2/3 cup of oat mixture for topping. Press remainder of the mixture into the bottom of a 9x9 pan. Spread jam over oat mixture. Sprinkle the 2/3 cup oat mixture on top of jam. Bake at 350 for 35 minutes. Allow to cool completely (about 2 hours) before cutting into bars.

Review: Yum! Highly recommended. There is something about oats that just reminds me of fall.

Sod!

The sprinklers are finished and the sod is in the lower section! We were lucky enough to have both our parents and a couple of neighbors come over to help us lay it all. Aunt Kara came to watch the boys. It took just under 2 hours to lay the 2000 square feet we ordered. Don't let this picture fool you - we women worked just as hard as the men.


Caden alternated between playing, falling, crying, and helping. We only took pictures of him helping. Eric alternated between his stroller, one of the grandmas, or Aunt Kara.




The before and after picture, from two different angles. We should have taken a before picture when the lower section was a weed garden and dumping ground. We've taken two truckloads full of trash out of there in the last few weeks. Our yard feels twice as big!

We're so... Average

The Salt Lake Tribune sums up the new Census data thusly: "Here's what you look like: Young, white, married, with lots of children, a home worth $236,000 and a household income of $56,633. It takes you 21.3 minutes to get to work and you drive alone." They pretty much nailed it ('lots of kids' is a household size of 3.7). As I read down through the rest of the list there were lots of other categories where we are pretty much your average Utah family. Click here to read the full article.

Woe-kin

Thats 'lotion' for those of you who don't speak Cadenese. He loves to get little dollops on the end of his fingers. He'll rub it into his 'cheek' only after walking around forever gingerly admiring it. I'll usually give him 2-3 rounds before cutting off the lotion supply. On this particular day he shared some with Eric.

Once Bitten, Twice Shy

My Visisting Teachers came over earlier in the week. One of them has young children that she brings with her. I love that it gives Caden some time to play with other kids. This week, however, he spent most of the time on my lap. My visiting teacher's 17 month old greeted Caden with a hug. Caden just sort of stood there and when he didn't reciprocate I thought the little boy gave him a kiss. His mother knew better and ran to the kids. I guess when this little boy doesn't get hugged back he gets mad and bites. Can you see the teeth marks still present hours later? They are next to his eye and the bottom set is about an inch lower on his cheek. Poor kiddo wouldn't play with the kids after that.

Fall Harvest

The first spring we were in the house we took our Christmas money and bought fruit trees. Five got planted in the lower section and I'm sad to say have been a little neglected. But our two peach trees were planted in the garden and have flourished. This year we got our first harvest. We ate fresh everything that came off the first tree and froze what we couldn't eat from the second tree (Ryan bought two diferent varieties so they would ripen a month apart - smart man!). The peaches were large and beautiful, and we froze 9 quarts worth. Yum!

Rice, again

You'd think I'd learn and just childproof the pantry door already. At least Caden is learning and advancing. This time when he dumped out his rice cereal he got a spoon and started shoveling it in.

Blessing Announcement

We're going to bless Eric David on Sunday, September 27. Our ward starts at 11. If you're reading this you can assume you are invited to join us for the festivities. Dessert will be birthday cake since that happens to also be Caden's birthday. Give us a call if you need directions.

Utah State Fair

We took a family outing to the Utah State Fair on Thursday. Caden did the farm chores exhibit again, and was a little more interactive with it than he was last year. Among other things, he milked the cow, planted and harvested a carrot, drove the tractor, and sold his harvest. After the farm chores were done we took a break by watching the rodeo. Caden loves rodeos! He did not, however, love the animal barns. He was quite concerned when we strolled him past the sheep and pigs, and squealed so intently when we entered the cattle barn we just turned around and left. I love going to the fair!

More Cake!

I spent the better part of today telling Caden he had to eat more than just cake. Here he is whining after breakfast beacause I told him he could only have one cupcake. Notice he still has half of his cake on his plate, he just likes to make sure there is always more.

Thank You Betty Crocker!

I am gluten free baking impaired. I'll admit baking has never been my strong suit, but at least the stuff was edible. Yet in a year and a half I haven't had one gluten free baked good - bread, brownies, cake, etc - turn out. Either the flavor is good but it won't rise, or it will rise but the flavor/texture is off. Last year for Caden's birthday I used oat flour to bake cupcakes and those turned out pretty good, if a little crumbly. Then a week later we discovered he was allergic to oats and I had to start all over learning to cook with rice flour. It hasn't gone well and I long to get oats back since I was making some sort of progress with them. A few weeks ago, armed with my new egg replacer, I set out to make sure I could bake a decent cake for his birthday this year. Three failures later I hit the internet for tips and discovered Betty Crocker came out with a new product in June - Gluten Free Mixes! By some lucky fluke, they are also free of all Caden's other allergens (except for the brownies, they have corn in them). My chocolate cupcakes both rose and taste good! I guess until I figure out what it is I'm doing wrong with my scratch cooking I'll cheat and use the mixes. Hooray for Betty Crocker!

Wasps!

We found this beauty in our yard on Saturday. Its larger than a basketball. No wonder we have so many wasps hovering around!

Stylish

Caden put his hat on himself and wouldn't let me fix it. The boy has his own style.

On Blogging and Kids

A few months ago my sister Kellie commented that I blog much more frequently than our other sister Emilee does. I casually told her it was the difference between Emilee having 3 kids and me having only 1. I had no idea how true it was that more kids equals less time to blog. So now that I've joined the ranks of those with multiple children I'm afraid you'll see my posts be more sporadic.

Speaking of sporadic posts, I should have put an update on here when we got back from the doctor on Wednesday. Caden's broken arm did not need surgery. Yay! The cast should only have to be on 4 weeks instead of the 6-8 we were initially told. Double yay! He likes to hold his hard blue cast up and tell people "broke." Sorry there isn't a picture. See above.