My sister, the teacher

I just got back from spending time with my little sister, Ruthanne, in her new classroom. I am so proud of this girl that I could burst! She will be teaching 2nd grade starting on Monday, and although she is nervous, she has no need to be. Her classroom looks amazing; just so warm and welcoming. She has done a fantastic job preparing everything for her students. They are really lucky to have her as their teacher!
Just for fun, I thought I would share this photo of us on Ruthanne's first day of 2nd grade and my first day of 5th grade. My friend who lived next door, Emily Jones, is in the green. Of course we are all sporting the famous rolled socks, because it was "the look" back then. :)

This was the first day of school the year before. We took a summer sewing class and made these outfits and the bags ourselves. I think they're pretty rad. Don't laugh too hard at my puffy bangs or my gigantic hair scunchie!

I love you, sis! You're going to do great next week!

Deceptively Delicious

It's a constant challenge for me to encourage my kids to eat healthy. They can be picky little eaters sometimes, because let's be honest, they're kids! However, I am fortunate that they are still so young because they haven't become accustomed to certain tastes, like regular Peanut Butter, so they will happily eat Natural Peanut Butter, which has half the sugar and sodium, but more protein than regular. And as long as I AM EATING the healthful food as well, for the most part, they join me. The tricky thing is to make sure I am eating enough of the good stuff so that they can follow my example. Here's where Deceptively Delicious comes into play. Jerry Seinfield's wife, Jessica, has put together this awesome cookbook where you add pureed fruits and vegetables to foods your family already likes. Our family's favorite recipe is the Banana Bread with pureed cauliflower. Sometimes I add butternut squash instead. Yum! And you can't even taste the vegetable. The best thing about it is that it simply gets you thinking, so that you can start adding pureed fruits and veggies to some of your favorite recipes. You don't even need to tell your husband and kids. Just see if they taste a difference. I took my sister's Spaghetti Pie recipe and tweaked it. So now I use whole wheat spaghetti noodles, pureed squash added to ground turkey and pasta sauce (the red pasta sauce covers up the orange color of the squash, so it appears normal). It's so tasty! I'll take a quick picture and share the recipe soon. Even though there's squash in the main meal, I still serve salad and cooked carrots on the side, so I make sure we get enough of what we need. But if Emily or Jon barely touch their carrots, I can feel confident knowing they got SOME vegetable from the meal.

Several mornings a week, I prepare what I like to call "Fruit Smoothie Treats" for breakfast. Because the word "treats" is in the name, my kids are anxious to have one. I have always loved the taste of Fruit Smoothies, but I would often be hungry again two hours later, so I started adding protein mix (EAS brand from Costco) to the Smoothie, to keep me feeling satisfied all morning long. So here's my recipe...

Fruit Smoothie Treat

2 cups fresh or frozen fruit of any kind

1 cup spinach and/or carrot

1/2 cup milk

3 scoops vanilla protein mix

1/8 cup splenda or 1/4 cup sugar

10-15 ice cubes

If you are using frozen fruit, it helps to thaw it a little first. Blend the fruit, spinach/carrot, and milk together in a blender. Add protein mix and the sweetener. Blend well. Finally, add the ice cubes and blend until smooth. Makes 5-6 cups. Enjoy!

Was that easy or what?

Milestones and Happy Days

We have hit some major milestones in our family, and we are very excited to share the news! Jonathan is walking! Our sixteen-month old is one stubborn little guy. Although he learned to cruise at 8 months and took his first steps on his birthday, he has been so content to just crawl for the longest time. He was pretty steady on his feet, and we knew he COULD walk, he was just choosing not to because he was such a speedy crawler. It was driving us crazy, and we think he knew it, too! We're thrilled that Jon is finally walking. We love you, buddy!
The next big milestone is that Emily is potty-trained. Wahoo! I discovered the magic secret to potty-training success...are you ready for this...wait till they're ready! Genius, I know, but I learned this the hard way. We tried potty-training her when she was about 27 months and guess what? It was a flop! Her desire was there, but her little body was just not ready. Some kids are ready that early, but every kid is different. The first time around, it was the hardest week of my life. Neither of us were happy because she was having so many accidents and didn't understand her body and when she needed to go.

This week has been completely different, now that she's 34 months. She was basically trained in just a few hours, and it was a beautiful thing! I have been so proud of her. She woke up from her nap the first day, took off her dry night-time panties (pull-ups), used the potty that I had left in her room, put on new panties, and then knocked on her door to let me know she was awake and ready to play now. I couldn't believe what a big girl she was doing it all by herself! Way to go Ems!
Even though Emily has been doing awesome with potty-training, we have not left the house all week just in case, besides going outside to play with side-walk chalk and blow bubbles. So you can imagine, I was going crazy and needed a break! Wade suggested I have a GIRLS NIGHT OUT, and he would do the dishes and put the kids to bed. What a sweet husband! So I called Traci, and she was totally up for it. Yea!

We went to see Mama Mia, and it was fabulous! We both LOVED it! Seriously, it was such a good movie, set on a beautiful island with a star cast, a cute story, and awesome music. I could not stop smiling! The popcorn and chocolate milkshake we enjoyed weren't too shabby either. :) Thanks Traci, I really needed a girls night out!

Finally, I just wanted to say that I have rediscovered the Book of Mormon and it makes me so happy! I can tell a big difference in my mood on the days I read as opposed to when I miss my reading. It's amazing. Although I love my church calling and wouldn't trade it for anything, because I serve in the primary, I don't have the opportunity to attend Relief Society or Sunday School. Sometimes I feel like I'm missing out on the spiritual development that I need.

So Wade and I made a goal to read the Book of Mormon this year along with the Sunday School lessons. It's been so rewarding for our family when we read. I say "when" because we aren't perfect, but we're trying our best. There's a quiet peace in our home that comes when we kneel together in prayer and when we read a chapter in the Book of Mormon or even a few verses. I'm so grateful for the Gospel. I can't imagine where I'd be if I didn't know my Savior loves me. But I do know, and that knowledge brings me great joy and peace.

Callister Family Reunion

On our way home from Montana, we stopped in Howe, Idaho at my Grandpa's Dairy Farm for the Callister Family Reunion. Howe is a little town, (population: 50) an hour west of Idaho Falls. But we love it there! We all camped in my Grandpa's yard, played games, rode four-wheelers, and visited the cows over and over again. My kids were in heaven on the farm. It was great! My cousin, Karen, and I were in charge of games for the kids, and this game called "Shark" was definitely the favorite. We found it on this Disney website. One shark would call out "fishie, fishie, cross my ocean" and then try to tag the rest of the kids who were the fish, but if the fish ran to one of the dens (hula hoops), then they would be safe. If they were tagged, then they became a shark too. It was a hit! And no one really felt like a loser because it was cool to be a shark or a fish. They kids loved it! And of course the kids wanted to play Red Rover. In the background, you can see a big yellow school bus. After we played games, we all jumped in the school bus and went for a ride up the mountain for a hike and picnic. It was a crazy, bumpy ride taking a bus on those dirt roads, but Emily was just happy to sing "The Wheels on the Bus" again and again.

Each child adopted their own baby calf for the weekend. Emily named her calf, "moo, moo." I thought it was pretty cute for my two-year old to think of that name! :)
Here are all the cousins playing in the water. When Emily sees this picture, she has to point out Ethan and Hailey every time. Isn't it fun that our kids remember each other?
In the program that night, my sister, Ruthanne had a cute idea that we could spell out my grandpa's name, RULON, with our bodies and that each letter could represent one of his qualities. We even ran up cheering, "Rulon, Rulon, Rulon..." It made my Grandpa smile. :)
Go Emily! Hit that pinata!
The last day of the reunion, we held an open house party to celebrate my Grandpa's 90th birthday. He was quite emotional to have so many of his friends and family come see him. I know he's touched many lives. He's a pretty special person.
I can't help but smile when I see this picture because it brings me so much joy seeing my family and how we have grown. My parents have 6 children, and now there are 28 of us in all. It's not too often we're all together in the same place, so this was a really neat time for all of us.

Reed Family Reunion

We traveled north all the way to Kallispell, Montana for the Reed Family Reunion. Thanks to Tyrell and Rose for letting us stay at their house for a night, so we could divide the 10 hour drive up a bit. When we got to their house, they surprised us with Papa Murphy's pizza for dinner (our favorite)! Thank you so much guys! We arrived in Montana two days before the reunion started so we could spend extra time with Wade's Grandpa. I blogged about him earlier. He's amazing! (see here)

After enjoying church with Wade's aunts, uncles, grandpa, and LOTS of Canadians :) we went for a nature walk as a family. It was a beautiful thing watching my daughter pick daisies.

At the reunion, Emily fell in love with the puppy that belonged to Wade's cousin, Troy. We really made a connection with Troy and his wife, Kim at the reunion. Both of their first spouses passed away quite young, and it's amazing they found each other. What a sweet couple and with 8 kids, they really are an inspiration to me! We were so excited to learn that they only live 20 minutes away from us in Bountiful. We're going to have some awesome game nights together! Just chillin'! Catherine, Wade, Troy, and Kim One happy family at Bitterroot Lake

I couldn't help but laugh when Wade was putting on his wet suit to wake board. He totally looks sexy to me, but I still had to laugh!

I was so proud of my boy flying across the lake on the wake board like he did. Wade's such a dare devil with his jumps and tricks. I love it!

One of the highlights of the reunion for me was my canoe trip across the lake to go catch crawdads. I went with Troy and Kim's son, McKay, and Nancy's kids, Kylie and Seth. I love hanging out with teenagers! Call me crazy, but their enthusiasm is just so contagious. These guys were a blast to be with and much braver than I was at catching crawdads, I might add. ;)

At the horseshoe tournament, I was an embarrassment to the game, so it was lucky for me that Wade saved our family's reputation with his skills!

However when it came to basketball, I'm proud to say I beat Wade for the first time ever playing "horse," and then I lost on purpose when we played "pig" just so I wouldn't hurt his self-esteem. haha

All week long, McKay was the sweetest boy ever playing with little Jonathan. I'm always so grateful when people go out of their way to make my kids happy!

Pioneer Day

On our way to a family party on Pioneer Day, we stopped by Wal-Mart to pick up a few things, and on the way out, we let the kids play on the Bob the Builder riding toy. We never put a quarter in the machine because Emily and Jon are as happy as can be just sitting on it! Sweet, eh? Who said kids are expensive? Not me. Mine are pretty easy to please! :) I love it!

This is a picture my Aunt Grace took at the family party because I was having too much fun and totally forgot to even get my camera out. My cousin, Julie, was smart and brought balloons, and the kids had a blast just filling them up with water and throwing them around. Emily isn't wearing her skirt in this picture because she wanted to jump in the puddle and told me, "I don't want it to get wet." What a funny girl!
Afterwards, we headed to Wade's mom's house and lit some fireworks with his family. Here's Emily with her Uncle Jeff and cousin, Caleb.
Here's Wade, Tyler, and Jeff lighting the fireworks. They were having too much fun, I think, but boys will be boys!

Cute Hair

Before we left for our big family reunion trip, I tried a new hairstyle on Emily because I knew it would work great as a camping hairstyle, out of her face, but still looking cute. What do you think?

Bathroom Remodel

We love our cute little home in Sugarhouse, but since it was built in 1920, there are always projects we're working on to improve it. We're proud to say the bathroom is now remodeled and looking great! This is the before shot.

We have had pink tile that was the same color of Pepto Bismol. I'm serious! Emily's friend, Etta, thought it must be a princess bathroom and called it pretty :) but we called it pretty ugly! We did our best to decorate around the old, cracking tile.

The tub used to be the same color as the tile, but then someone did a poor job trying to resurface it this gray color, so the pink was still showing in parts. And since the hot water faucet broke off last December, we have been using a wrench to get hot water. Crazy, huh? :)

total demolition!

The "after" tub and shower.

The "after" bathroom.

The new tile is awesome. Everything just looks bigger and cleaner. We are really excited!

Girl's Lunch and Ice-Cream

After the Radio Disney Event, I met up with my sisters at Pizza Factory for lunch to celebrate Ruthanne's birthday. It's kind of "our place" and we always look for opportunities to go there together. I love my sisters! I especially love how they make fun of me when I take forever ordering my food. haha ;)
And here's the happy cousins, Hailey and Emily. They're always hugging each other. It's so cute! Margaret and I are just glad that they play so well together because they keep each other entertained, especially when we get together to scrapbook.
The next day, I went to Coldstone Creamery to enjoy some ice-cream with one of my good friends, Becky Bruso. She's the personal assistant to Governor Huntsman, so she's a little busy to say the least. She just had a baby on June 5 (doesn't she look great?), so while she's on a quick maternity leave, we thought it would be a good time to get together. Becky and I first met at a Leadership Conference as sophomores in high school and found an instant connection. She's one of the most amazing individuals I have ever met. She's fun, dynamic, intelligent and just a genius when it comes to politics. She'll likely be the Governor someday (or even the President of the U.S.)! I love ya Becky!

Radio Disney

Before I post about our big family reunion trip, I wanted to post these fun pictures from a few weeks ago. I met up with my friend, Traci, at the Gallivan Center downtown because Radio Disney was sponsoring a fun little carnival with musical performances, games, and activities for kids of all ages.

Here's a very happy Emily posing next to Mickey Mouse.

Emily and Etta could NOT stop giggling as they jumped around in the bounce house. And they really enjoyed participating in the science experiments, too.

Gibson and Jonathan were just happy to be there and watch their cool older sisters.

So this picture makes me laugh because everyone else is doing the Macarena dance, except my daughter. I tried to show her the moves, but she refused to do it. She just kept looking at everyone else thinking they were crazy! Maybe she didn't get the memo that the 90's rocked! Okay, so the 80's may have been cooler, but come on Emily, it's the Macarena, you gotta do it!

Here's a family photo that I didn't expect would happen. Just minutes before, I was quite alarmed when a man came from behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist. I turned around and saw that it was my husband! To say that I was pleasantly surprised is an understatement. I was thrilled to see him! Wade has been doing a summer internship with Commerce CRG, a commercial real estate company. And since he was working so close to the Gallivan Center, he searched us out among the hundreds of people there to surprise us. What a sweet guy!
After Wade returned to work, Traci and I took the kids to a nice grassy area where a fireman was hosing down the kids. It was hilarious to watch Emily and Etta try to run away from the fireman, but really wanting to get wet!
We ended the morning by playing in the water fountains. Happy kids? Yup! They sure were!