Hogle Zoo

Hogle Zoo has greatly changed since I was younger. The newest edition is called Rocky Shores and hosts a variety of eagles, otters, seals, sea lions, polar bears and other bears.

We bought a year pass which also allows 2 visitors in free. So if you're in the area and want to go to the Zoo, call me, I'll get 2 people in free! :)

Polar Bear Awesomeness.

My favorite animal - Snow Leopard.

Life, Universe and Everything

Here's a little bit of what we have been doing.

The kiddos and I made finger puppets out of pipe cleaners and pom-poms. I hot glued a small piece of fabric over a glue stick then wrapped the pipecleaners around and decorated them. The kids love them!

Here's the animals the kiddos requested: Antelope, Mountain Goat, Parrot, Doggie, Giraffe, Tiger, Bunny, Crazy Caterpillar.

I added the aliens. Evil Mr. Pineapple, Green Dude, Ms. Squiggles, Flower Head and Cherry Crab.

James first experience with rice cereal. He is so big (97% percentile) the doctor is having him start now. He was so excited he started trying to eat through his bib.

James is also teething.

I've been making/canning homemade applesauce - delicious!

He rolled over for the first time on July 28th!

Pardon my foot!

Antelope Island- I drove there with my kiddos and two of my best friends Kaitlin and Tiffany. I have known Kait and Tiff since I was in elementary school.

Kaitlin was awesome and requested to carry James.

Sarah wouldn't look at my camera she was too busy running to the salt water.

Looks like she's flying.

Mikey is right behind her-they got sandy and wet but had a blast.

Chub, Chub - I've never had a baby this tiny! Sarah was 2 when we adopted her and Mikey was 1. So, having a baby in the house is a new experience for us.

If the sound doesn't work-sorry. He was giggling.

What cha Doin'?

Still need a camera. But I did finally figure out how to post pictures from my phone. These pictures range from winter 2011 to today.

Short hike up Provo Canyon, the lake is completely frozen, kids were running across it and fishermen are ice fishing in the background. I refused to let my kiddos run across the lake-though Sarie really wanted to. I'm not that brave... I was also 6-7 months pregnant at the time.

James in the NICU. He is in a warming unit with full oxygen. We received his medical bill. Never has $37 K been so worth it! I'm also grateful for good insurance.

The day James came home.

Mikey holding his brother for the first time.

James sporting his amazing oxygen. One morning he woke up, tore the oxygen off and refused to take it back-we monitored him for 10 days off oxygen (oxygen monitor still on his foot though.) And thankfully his oxygen levels never dipped down too badly. A couple of nights we had to put it back on and swaddle his arms down but otherwise he has done great!

Easter egg decorating. It's a huge tradition with my family. Rew not so much. For the first 4 years we were married I dyed all the eggs. But now the kiddos are old enough to join it, it is a blast! Rew helped too.

Rew and I both make an "Earth Egg" without realizing that we both made one, until we turned to each other and said, "Hey, check out my earth egg." Mine is on the left. Rew's on the right.

Sarie loved it!

No oxygen! woot!

The annual Rosenvall Easter egg Hunt. Easter Egg hunts- is a huge Rosenvall Family tradition. Each family brings some plastic eggs with candy and the daddy's go outside and hide them.

Meanwhile inside the house, Grandma and Grandpa have already hidden Easter Egg Baskets. They are hidden in difficulty according to the ages of the grandchildren. The first year I was married the basket for Rew and I was hidden in the attic, behind several boxes and up in the rafters! According to Rew his dad once hid an Easter Basket inside the swamp cooler. This year our family basket was in the closet-easy enough for Sarie and Michael to find.

A few weeks ago the kiddos and I made "treat buckets". I used 2 old ice cream buckets and turned them into treat buckets for the kids. -The kiddos decorated them with stickers.

They are filled with small bowls (maybe 1/2 cup-1 cup each) with goldfish crackers, cherrios, granola bars, popcorn, dried fruit, 1 fruit snack. I also took the Easter candy and I have been putting in 3 pieces of candy a week. I've been letting the kiddos pick one or two 'treats' from the treat bucket during snack time. I only fill the bucket once a week and I love it. It has really cut down time on trying to pull out things from the cupboard then having to put it back. The kiddos love it too.

As a thank you to the families that brought in dinners to us while I was in the hospital I made root beer suckers and chocolate dipped strawberries. (Yes, it sounds like diabetes heaven in my house... Easter treats and now these treats... )

Finished suckers. They really are fun to make.

Chocolate teddy bears (you cannot tell, but they are filled with walnuts)

Chocolate frogs filled with toffee bits (this picture is blurry, but they have cute little smiles and eyes.)

Strawberries. Everything has now been delivered and hopefully enjoyed...

James today. 14.3 pounds. He is a chunk, already his feet extend past the edge of the bouncer. I've had to adjust the straps in his carseat twice.

I will be going back to work for 5 weeks. Get my students through CRT's and then after that I'll be staying at home. My friend Karena will be watching my kiddos while I finish the year.

Rew loves his job at Wencor Aerospace Engineering.

Things I did Today

Today has been a lovely and very interesting. Last night Rew and I didn't go to sleep until 2 am. We went stargazing up Spanish Fork Canyon; I slept in until 10:40am this morning. And since I was still tired at 2pm, I took a very short nap.

At 4:12pm you would have found me in the kitchen howling in laughter!

I have always enjoyed cooking. In fact, when Rew asked my father for my hand in marriage. (You must understand my father always says something to the new son-in-law to be... such as "She's cranky." Little things to torment the man asking to see if he can live with all of his daughter's quirks.) The first thing my dad said was, "She's a really good cook." Rew in all his excitement proclaimed, "YES! I know!"

I was going to make bread.

Two kinds: bread with Parmesan cheese baked into the crust AND cinnamon walnut swirled bread.

Since both start with the same bread recipe I was doubling the ingredients.

Off I went, combining flour, sugar, yeast, milk, water, shortening.

I set the timer for 9 minutes and started kneading the dough. It looked wonderful and was smelling great (like bread dough).

It wasn't until after the kneading that I realized my mistake.

I'd read the ingredients... but not the portions.

Horrified I pulled out the recipe again! I'm used to changing a few portions; adding an extra sprinkle of nutmeg, perhaps an extra tablespoon of vanilla.

but NEVER this bad....

Here's the original recipe (doubled):

1 T Yeast

1/4 cup Water

2 cups scalded milk

2 T Sugar

2 t Salt

1 T Shortening

6-6.5 cups Flour

NOW.... here's what I did... (what I did wrong is bolded)

2 T Yeast

1/4 cup Water

1 cup scalded milk

2 T Sugar

2 T Salt

2 cups Shortening

6 cups Flour

I can understand misreading yeast and salt. But the SHORTENING????

Alright you Home Economic Majors, what happens to the bread when you add THAT much.... Well! I'm curious, so I'm going to cook it and I'll let you know!

Until then.... I'm going back to sleep.

(several hours later: Looks like fluffy pie crust... very rock hard pie crust. Good for throwing away or knocking someone out.) *sigh* Now to try again...

Tagged

Holly tagged me; I'm supposed to share things in groups of 8. Enjoy:

8 TV shows

Hmm.... when Rew and I moved, I begged him to let me throw out the TV. In the end I won and I've LOVED not having a TV. We watch TV shows online (fewer commercials) If a BYU football game is on we go to Rew's parents house. For news we read newspapers and online articles. And It's really helped me to not waste hours on end sitting in front of a box... unless you count the computer. So here's a TV show I liked:

-Pushing Daisies (recently cancelled.... until further notice)

and here's what I do on my computer:

-Check e-mail

-Check Facebook

-Check Job Searches

-Check my blog

-Play Peggle with Rew

-Read webcomics. My favorites are: Schlock Mercenary, Sherman's Lagoon and The Order of the Stick.

8 things I did yesterday

-Made boiled eggs for breakfast

-Finished reading Artemis Fowl

-Went to the Thanksgiving Point Dinosaur Museum with Rew

-Searched for jobs

-Watched the Holy War (BYU vs. Utah)

-Ate lemon pepper chicken and pineapple orange juice for dinner

-Cleaned and scrubbed my house

-Played the piano

8 places I love to eat

-Los Hermanos

-Olive Garden

-Bajio

-Magleby's Fresh

-At the Winchester Bay beach.

-Up in the High Uintas.

-In my Kitchen or while sitting on the couch

-At my Mom's house

8 things I am looking forward to

-Green Olive chip dip for Thanksgiving (you are forbidden to marry into my family if you don't like this. If you're born into the family...you will like it...)

-Snowflakes to hang in the house and snowflakes outside

-The T Family annual White Elephant Party

-Having a job

-The wedding of my tall, dark, dashingly handsome, plays the guitar/piano/sings tenor, airline pilot, BYU graduate, scuba diving, skiing, hiking, shy, loves to tease brother Matt. (fiance unknown at this time....)

-Being able to properly sight read piano music.

-Future children

-Eternity with my husband Andrew

8 things on my wish list

-A job!

-A trip to New Zealand

-Sand from the south western edges of the Indonesia

-Rainbow hued ammonites from east Canada

-Foreign coins from any country

-Crinoids from Europe

-A working car (camry) or truck (Jeep Grand Cherokee) :)

-A garden

8 people I tag

-you

-u

-ewe

-Uncle Sams needs ____.(please send sheep.)

-Only ____ can prevent forest fires.

-Be all that ____ can be.

-Jesus wants ____ for a Sunbeam!

-As I have loved ____, love one another.