The Great Debate

Since Saylor's birth there has been a debate about who she most resembles. My family swears she is me in miniature while Snow's family says she is him made over. Personally I think she is a good mix.

lately I have realized that she is also a mix of our other characteristics.
Ways she is like Summer:

• She is a smidgen uncoordinated. When she dances it looks painful and she trips over things all of the time--especially when she is tired. Sorry angel bug, you got that from your mom!
• She has a real sweet tooth. Her favorite treat is chocolate, again, just like me. In fact, she does not realize that brown is a color. Instead she says things like look at the chocolate fence or I want the chocolate football. ( I swear I am not making this stuff up!)
• She also wants to read her favorite book over and over and over. I don't know why we read it anymore because she has Moo Baa La La La memorized. I cannot tell you the number of times that I have read Pride and Prejudice. I can, however, tell you that after finishing it (again) last week that all still works out well for Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy.

Ways she is like Snow:

• Saylor is a little OCD. She shuts any cabinet doors and drawers that are left open, and she refuses to mix her toys. If I want to torture her, I will have Dora take a ride on an elephant from Noah's Ark...MELTDOWN! Snow is also a little OCD. I am sure that is why is he has been successful in school (and why his 10-year-old church shoes are still stored in their box, and why he compulsively rubs his hands together)
• Snow is really good with languages, he speaks Portuguese from the mission and used it to "pick up" Spanish while we lived in Tucson. Saylor is a really verbal kid who uses sign language and speaks Spanish (OK she is certainly not fluent, but she is always surprising me with a new word that she "picked up" from Dora)
• Saylor's other favorite food is cheese, any kind, any time. No paternity test needed here--Snows favorite snack growing up was cheese and sugar melted together--mmmm delicioso.

I know I am being a little facetious here, but it really is a pleasure and a little scary to watch our daughter act a little bit more like us each day. Poor kid!

Where do they come up with this stuff?

Saylor's imagination amazes me sometimes. Whether she is pretending the crust of her bread is a snake, or that the lid to her blocks is the steering wheel of a car, nothing is as it seems at our house. She recently told me her name was "baby kitty-cat," and truth be told, she is much more obedient when I call her by that appellation. She cracked me up the other day--She had been way too quiet for way too long so I went to investigate. She managed to open the rubber tote that holds all the baby toys and stacked them inside her old baby swing. I would have to say that her mounding skills rivaled that of my grandma at a salad bar (love you grams!!!). There are probably 15 toys in this picture.She also likes to "help" me clean the house. I usually send her into the living room with a dust mop while I work furiously to finish up the kitchen floor before she gets bored. The other day she was, again, way too quite. I walk in to see her hanging from the dust mop that she had propped up against the couch. When she saw me, she smiled and said"look Mom, I'm a sloth!" What?!
I really wish I had half her energy and half her ingenuity!

Grandma & Naomi Visit

We were lucky enough to have Snow's mom and sister out for a visit this last week. It was so fun. Naomi just got home from serving a mission in Hong Kong so we hadn't seen here for a long time. It took Saylor a little while to warm up to our visitors, but with a bribe of a big stuffed frog and bumble bee toy she was happy to embrace our company.

Saylor was spoiled by all of the attention. She loved having a new audience to show off all of her "tricks." As you can see from her unkempt appearance, she played pretty hard with Grandma!The day before they left we took them on a tour of the Moran Eye Center where Snow is doing his residency (I know how mean are we to make Snow go back on his first weekend off in months?!)

When we got inside Saylor was so impressed. She kept saying "Wow ! it is muy big!"

She was also really excited about the roundabout that is designed like a giant eye outside this window. Who says Ophthalmalogists don't have a sense of humor?I made Snow examine my eyes and let me tell you the results weren't pretty. He told me I am barely legal to drive! He was pretty anxious to get me under the knife (or laser?!), but I told him we would have to save that for another weekend excursion.

A fun new way to waste time

I have never been a big fan of video or computer games, but my sister-in-law sent us this room escape game (vision) and ever since I have been addicted to point-and-click room escape games. Here is a link to a bunch of different ones. The bonus is that they have a walk through cheat to help you out if you get stuck. Don't complain to me though if you start playing the computer during your kid's nap time instead of something productive!

http://jayisgames.com/tag/escape

Easter in Eggs Family Tradition

When Snow and I were first married my mother-in-law sent us this great family tradition and I thought I would share it with you. I love Easter candy as much as the next person (quick confession: I ate a whole family size of cadbury mini eggs myself this week), but I think it is really important to take some time to focus on the what we are really supposed to be celebrating--the resurrection of our Savior. So here is what my family likes to do: get 12 plastic Easter eggs and number them 1-12. Print out the scriptures and explanation and then get the 11 household objects together. Put each numbered slip of paper and corresponding object inside each egg (i.e. in egg number 1 you put in slip of paper number 1 and a sacrament cup). You can have a FHE where you do an actual egg hunt and then open each egg in order, read the scriptures together or, for younger kids, tell the story using the description. You could also use it as Family Scripture Study for the 12 days preceding Easter. Anyway, I hope you like it!

1. Luke 22: 40-44 Jesus went to Gethsemane to pray and atone for the sins of the world. He asked Heavenly Father to bless him. He did not want to suffer. He said to Heavenly Father: “If it be possible, let this cup pass from me.” But Jesus wanted to obey Heavenly Father and he loved each of Heavenly Father’s children. He would suffer for all the people who repented of their sins. (Object: Sacrament cup)

2. Matt 26:14-16, 47-50 One of Jesus’ 12 apostles, Judas Iscariot, made a deal with some wicked Jewish rulers who wanted to hurt Jesus. They said they would give Judas 30 pieces of silver (the cost of a slave) if he would show them where Jesus was. (Object 3 dimes)

3. Matt 27:1-2 The wicked men took Jesus to the Caiaphas the High Priest. They held an illegal trial against him (Matt 26:57-68) and found him guilty of blasphemy. The next morning they tied him up and took him to Pontius Pilate the Roman leader who had the authority to put criminals to death. (Object: piece of rope)

4. Matt 27:22-25 Pilate asked Jesus many questions (John 18:29-38), then told the Jewish rulers that Jesus had done nothing wrong. Pilate sent Jesus to Herod, the vassal ruler of Galilee. Jesus did not speak to Herod and he was sent back to Pilate. Pilate wanted to let Jesus go, but the chief priests and elders hated Jesus. They mingled among the multitude (Matt 27:20) and encouraged them to ask Pilate to “Crucify him!” Pilate didn’t want trouble with the Jews, so he washed his hands in front of the people, saying, “I am free of the blood of this just person.” Pilate let the Roman soldiers take Jesus away and crucify him. (Object: Piece of Soap)

5. Mark 15:15-20 The Roman soldiers took Jesus, removed his outer clothes, and put a purple robe on him. They put a crown of thorns on his head and a reed in his hand. They called him names, spit on him, hit him, and scourged him. (Object: piece purple cloth)

6. John 19:16-19; 3 Nephi 11:4 After doing all of these terrible things to Jesus, they made him carry a wooden cross to Calvary’s hill. They nailed his hands and feet to the cross, and then raised it. (Object cross made out of trimmed matchsticks and hot glue and a nail)


7. John 19:23-24 As Jesus hung on the cross he prayed for Heavenly Father to forgive the people who had hurt him because they didn’t realize that he was the Savior. The soldiers took Jesus’ clothes and played a game called “casting lots” to see who would win them. (Object: Dice)

8. Matt 27: 46, 50-54 Jesus’ mother, friends, and followers were very sad. Jesus suffered on the cross for many hours. Once he had completed his atoning sacrifice, he voluntarily allowed his spirit to leave his body and died. The sky was dark, there were earthquakes in Jerusalem and in the Americas. Rocks broke into pieces and the veil in the temple was torn. Many people were afraid. (Object: Small rocks like gravel)

9. Matt 27:57-59 A follower of Jesus named Joseph asked Pilate for Jesus’ body. He wrapped it in clean cloth. (Object: white cloth)

10. Matt 27:60-66 Joseph then laid Jesus’ body in his own tomb and rolled a great stone in front of the door. At the request of the Jewish rulers, Pilate placed soldiers to watch the tomb to make sure nothing happened to the body. (Object large rock)

11. Luke 23:55-56, 24:1 Jesus’ body was in the tomb for 3 days (Friday afternoon, Saturday, Sunday morning). Mary Magdalene and some other women came to the tomb to finish anointing Jesus’ body with spices (a tradition the Jews had for taking care of their dead before they were buried). (Object: Some kind of spice --I use a piece of a cinnamon stick)

12. Luke 24:2-8; John 20:11-16 When the women got to the tomb the stone was rolled away from the door and the soldiers sent to watch the tomb were gone. They looked inside and Jesus’ body was not there. They saw an angel who told them “Jesus is not here, for he is risen as he said” Jesus was resurrected—his perfected body was reunited with his spirit and he would never die again. Jesus appeared to Mary, to many of his followers, and to the Nephites in America. Jesus promised that we too will be resurrected as a special gift from him. Every Easter we celebrate that Sunday morning when Jesus Christ was resurrected. (Empty egg)

Pretty Princesses

This last week I had the joy of getting to have lunch with two of my best friends from high school: Leah and Kathryn. We were sadly missing the fourth person in our quartet: Tara. We are scattered all over the place and certainly don't get to see each other as often as we would like, but we do try to keep in touch. After a delicious lunch and some girl talk I had a long drive home. I became really nostalgic and so, if you will indulge me, here are some of my favorite memories with my pretty princesses.

1. Listening to jock jams on the way to the football games in order to pump ourselves up. My personal favorite was "no limits" I belive Tara favored 'This is how we do it" .

2. Going to sunshine tournament. I don't want to hurt any feeling, but those present will recall that we were not allowed to eat after 6pm, only one person was allowed to ride shot gun, and this same person was the only one allowed to control the radio.

3. Our guy friends often liked to camp out on the weekends. We liked to go up for the evening to enjoy the s'mores and scary stories but we always came back home to sleep indoors. Once, we got the bright idea to borrow my dad's camo gear and halloween masks and sneak up on the boys. It was amazing, some squealed like little girls, some broke chairs for weapons, and some ran away. There were definately no tough guys present. Although when you take a look at this picture who can blame them? They should get points for not wetting themselves.

4. Going on A Cappella tour with Leah--so fun!!! Please no comments on my big hair!!

5. Trying to wake Kathryn up in the moring after she had slept over at my house--can you say SCARY. I would rather wake a hybernating bear. Happily for Kathryn's future hubby, she is a ray of sunshine in the morning now, thanks to serving a mission.

6. Various trips to the St. George Condo and Lake Powell. We spent a lot of time singing into spoons, shopping, and laying out--I think Tara still has scars from a bad sunburn on one of these trips.

7. Caution--this story is slightly inappropriate. The night before Prom we slept at my house and had a pamerping session. We all had face masks on and cucumbers on our eyes. Don't ask me why but I had a fake arm in my room. I got Leah and Kathryn's attention and while Tara was sitting obliviously beneath her cucumbers we had the fake arm bust a move on Tara--let's just say it got to second base. We waited, trying not to laugh, to see how she would handle thinking one of her friends was a creeper. I can still picture her peeking warily from under the cucumber slices and all of us busting a gut laughing at the relief on her face when she realized it wasn't one of us with our hand on her chest!!!

8. Sleeping out on my trampoline. Sadly we often forgot to turn off the sprinklers. Once we had a covert spying mission where we traversed the neighborhood to the house of some guys we liked. They happened to be sleeping on their tramp too. We crawled army style across the yard until we were under their tramp and spent the evening listening to them talk. That is how we first learned the D------had a crush on S-------.

Really I could go on all day, but Saylor will be waking up from her nap soon. Suffice it to say that I have great friends and great memories. Here are a few pictures of us back in the day.

Leah's mom was the photographer this photo session.I put this picture on as an inside joke--is that bad blogging etiquette?Graduation day--we are doing the "sista salute"--man we were cool. This is us sending Kathryn off to SVU for school.

P.S. Cindy, Niki called and said you have a shoot this weekend together!

Ode to Skookie

My mother gave Snow and I a Christmas gift that has changed our lives. Ok--that was a little hyperbole, but it has revolutionized the way we eat dessert. May I present SKOOKIE:


While living in Tucson, we found this little Italian place that made a "pizzookie". A big cookie baked in a deep dish skillet and topped with icecream. We fell in love. Sadly, the wait for this restaurant on a weekend averaged 2-3 hours, and we were poor medical students, so we never went back. Now, joy of joys, we can make this dessert at home in our skookie skillets. I buy tubes of pilsbury cookie dough and...wait for it...brownie batter; whenever we get the itch for a treat (which is almost every night) we are ready to smoosh it in the skillet. 15 minutes later chocolate is taking all of our problems away. Seriously, you all need to go out and purchase some skookies and then thank me!!!!!