7 Random Things

I got tagged by Katie from HK, and this seems like fun, but it will take me a few days to complete it.(and you'll get lucky if I comment on someone's blog to tell them they are tagged...you see it, you know it!)

Here are the rules:-Link to the person who tagged you.-Leave a comment on their blog so that their readers can visit yours.-Post the rules on your blog.-Share the seven (7) most famous or infamous people you have met. Or go with the original 7 weird things about yourself.-Tag 7 random people at the end of your post.-Include links to their blogs.-Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

We're going random since I've only met Elder Scott, and that is it for famous people, unless you count one of the guys from Jericho Road(BWHAHAHAHA what's worse than I a bad boy band? a bad Church boy band! ...I like the good ones, no worries)


1. I make a wicked good creme brulle. Unfortunately our oven isn't very good for baking ramekins in, and my mini torch is in storage, otherwise I'd be whipping those bad boys out every other month or so. (Mind you if anyone calls me a foodie, I might have to resort to violence. The term just seems so gluttonous to me, and I will only participate in the slothfulness part of the seven deadly sins.)

2. Given the option I'd rather read than do anything else. I LOVE reading. I'll stay up all night to read if I don't have a baby waiting for me in the morning.

3. I can eat a whole flat of strawberries by myself (not that little basket...the whole thing of baskets). In general I am very protective of my food...it is mine, I don't want to share!

4. I HATE mayo. Despise it. Masaki was putting it on his egg NicMuffin(no not MacMuffin, I made it, not McD's so it is a NicMuffin) and I just about hurled. It is gross. I avoid it as much as I can.

5. I love this song, I'll admit it, I bought it on iTunes. The title just rules 'I wanna have your babies'.

6. I want black hair, or red, or purple, or blue. What it really comes down to, I'm chicken, and I don't like the look of color damaged hair. Same reason I don't paint my nails anymore...I love the paint, just not the damage afterwards.

7. You may or may not have noticed but I am a bit of a grammar/spelling nazi. I do over use '...' and tend to write like I speak, but generally my tense and conjugation are correct, as well as word usage. It bugs me to see words used improperly. I am trying to be a better person and keep my friends, so I have stopped pointing it out, but I growl every time.

I shall tag
Pamela
Amy (with her new blog! if she is up for it)
Sarah B.
Hatsuho
The Clarke Family
Mayzaboo
Kim & Co.

In honor...

...of a great life, I choose to live greatly.



I'm not good at being sentimental, but I would feel remiss to say nothing. Thank you President Hinckley for a life greatly lived.

Does this kid look familiar?

Does anyone recognize one of these missionaries? Does one of them belong to their family?

Oh and in case you can't read, their names are ELDER HERSOM and Elder Bronner.

p.s. For those who don't get the joke, this is my good Friend Amy's younger brother
p.p.s. This is also why I believe God has a great sense of Humor, or at least is very good natured

Quick food post

So I was going to go to bed a few minutes ago and got side tracked. I took a quiz...turns out I am chocolate ice cream


Funny thing is, I don't eat chocolate ice cream all that much...and I can usually avoid chocolate all together for 3 weeks out of the month. Weird, eh?

Just 'cause it is fun, I'll share what is for dinner this week. Should I make this a regular post?

Monday
Ton jiru(Japanese pork miso soup)
Strawberry Grunt for Desert

Tuesday
Homemade Pizza

Wednesday
Lentil Soup with brown rice

Thursday
Teriyaki codfish

Friday
Either Chili or BowTie pasta with a chicken, onion, mushroom and zucchini cream sauce.


Oh, and since Clark goes to bed before Masaki gets home, we are making breakfast the family meal, but I am really uninventive. Our options are either oatmeal, pancakes or french toast with fruit of some sort. Any other ideas? We had English muffins with sausage, eggs and strawberries today, but I'd been planning that for two weeks. Help!

Random Granola Stuff I'm up to

So this is less on the environmental side, but still totally granola.

FAM- Fertility Awareness Method, not to be confused with the Rhythm Method. I'm still reading the book, but I'm excited for it, plus I guess it can help infertile couples have greater understanding of their cycles as well so that they can pin point problems pretty quickly. We are going to try to get pregnant really soon, so if something goes awry, no harm no foul. Anyone use FAM?

EC(elimination communication)-Clark loved the potty when we were at Pam's house(he loves saying Pam when he sees pictures of her), so Pam suggested getting an EC book. I'm still reading The Diaper-Free Baby by Christine Gross-Loh, but we got him a potty, and we sit on it least once a day. I have no idea what I am doing, but we'll try to be a bit more hard core once the house warms up enough to go around with fewer than three layers of clothing on. Suggestions/ideas are more than welcome.

Diva Cup - Ok, I am having some issues with the installation of this thing. We are still having some leakage, but I REALLY want this to work. I've dreamed of someone making these since I started, once I discovered it I was so excited. Dang, it has a steep learning curve though. I REALLY want this to work.

Anyone else want to share?

Engrish Muffins

Yep, fresh, home made English Muffins. They are like $1.50 for four, and I am always wary of ingredients, so I gave this recipe(sans eggs) a try, and here is the result!



very yummy, and you can see the steam coming off of them still!

Noh!

As I was saying my prayers this morning, and ignoring Clark starting to wake up, I started thinking wouldn't it be cool if it snowed, so I prayed for snow. Then as we are coming down stairs Masaki tells us that it started to snow while he was running! Oh how wonderful! It eventually started to rain in the afternoon and it is now all gone, but it did snow!

Clark was so excited, he kept asking to open the window to look at the 'noh' all day long. We did go out for a walk in the morning, but that only whet his appetite. Poor kid is going to be so sad when there is no snow tomorrow morning.

Daddy & Mommy

Yep, he's switched from dada to Daddy and mama is slowly becoming Mommy. We are super stoked. Oh and his two word sentences are increasing...woot!

He also learned a cool trick from cousin Tenna...he started to pretend to be a dog this evening. He started crawling around and saying wan wan wan. It was really cute.

Oh and some pictures of our cinnamon roll experience. We saw the post on Pam's blog, and I HAD to make some that same day. Ours were ok, and we don't have a good frosting recipe...so oh well.

More Crafts

I discovered some pictures of a few more things I made for Christmas. All of the girls got smocks so they can play and paint and not get their clothes all messy(or just want to look cute). Clark of course needed a backpack for the plane trip, and since the store ones were too expensive or ugly, so when a friend down the street suggested I make one, I took her up on the idea. He liked it and sometimes didn't want to take it off, but more importantly we could carry extra toys and snacks in there.

Enjoy...btw, smocks were patterns, backpack was free hand.

Andi's smock


Gracie's smock


Tenna's shirt


Clark's Pack

Brownies for the Goddesses

Yep, I got an allrecipes email about brownies and just had to make them. Thankfully Kim & Co. had posted a nice looking brownie recipe a while back and Queen Scarlet had hooked me up with some much needed extract, so I got down to quick business. They are in the oven now. Can I just say the batter itself was DIVINE! I added some chocolate chips to the batter and I'll skip the frosting. I am really excited!


Yes they are good...but a bit more like cake...too much baking powder...doh!

Plus Masaki took a sick day for a painful back. His shoulder is WAY too tight because of the 4 international flights and cold weather. Luckily he was able to find a chiropractor and it seems to be helping a bit.

Oh and some pictures that wouldn't upload last night.

...and Sarah, ditto! I can't wait to hang out more next time we are in town.

Finding Nemo was on...can you tell?


Looking at fish pics on the computer


Oh, and since we were super touristy in LA...the fountain by Grauman's Chinese Theater

Food this week

In an effort to help my friend Katie, I'm going to try to post what I make for dinner every week. My menu may not be all that helpful, but we'll at least give it a shot.

Monday - Buffalo wings, carrot sticks with ranch and baked potatoes with cheese. We had cinnamon rolls for dessert
Tuesday - Curry(Japanese with potato, carrot and chicken...man did I want some eggplant in there too, grr) and rice
Wednesday - Spaghetti (spinach, onion and ground beef added to the sauce)
Thursday - Teriyaki yellow tail tuna, rice and kimchee. Masaki will have curry udon(udon noodles, with curry added to the soup)
Friday - I'll let you know. I'm thinking probably lentil soup, though chili would be good too.

I know there are blogs out there where people post their weekly dinner menus...anyone know where those are?

Breaking the Silence

I've been too exhausted from travel and dealing with jetlag (not so much mine, as Clark's) and cleaning the house to post, but now the house is MOSTLY done, Clark went back to sleep after being up for only an hour last night, and I've eaten some good old fashioned fish again, so we are good to go(except I still need to wash the dishes...dang.

Anyway, fun highlights from the trip
Being asked if Clark was adopted because he looked part asian(WHAT?!?! can I not be the white part??)
Getting stopped in LA
Staying at a fairly nice hotel in LA for the distressed travel discount....sweeeeet
Getting free upgrades on our rental car...TWICE!
Watching Tenna play peeka boo over the couch as we walk in the door

snow

Clark learning the word 'no'
Clark staring at Tenna in the tub and saying 'gone'
Time off with daddy!
Seeing the sheep around the car

Spending time in Lyman


Watching Masaki walk up to the house in Lyman wearing a dark brown corduroy jacket while carrying two guns....dang he looked sexy.
Watching Clark LOVE playing with the toddler kitchen
Getting to take care of Pam when she got sick twice(it made me feel useful)
Our 2 am trip to walmart...since we were up anyway, maybe Clark would fall asleep in the car....hahaha
Girl date to Starbucks for Peppermint Hot Chocolates....paid for by MyPoints!
Joanne's, and all that happened afterwards

Learning wizard swears with Pam from PotterPuppet Pals
Having an INCREDIBLY well behaved child for the flight from SLC to LAX all by myself.
Having an INCREDIBLY well behaved and tired child for the 2 hour drive from LAX to San Diego
Seeing the crew at Romano's Macaroni Grill
Great Grandparents
Thomas the Tank Engine...he already ran out of batteries
A child who no longer nurses for nap time
Being a tourist in LA with Dave as the tour guide

Benihana!
Getting home in one piece with Obaachan and Ojiichan ready to play even at 1am.

In other CRAZY news, Clark has not nursed for the last two nights...yeah, cerazy, and I'm probably jinxing it by posting, but I'm super excited and so are my perpetually sore nipples. He goes straight for his sippy cup...which we are gradually watering down, and he lies down right away.　　WOW!

Ok, I should wash those fishy dishes so that Masaki doesn't complain when he walks in the door. He's had a long day, and had to fly to Sapporo and back in one day(yeah think Ramen, beer and lots of snow...but he doesn't get the beer).

Oh...and lets add some pictures to this whole thing...I'll try to give witty one liners/explanations for them all...but remember, I'm not all that witty.
Our post BYU shopping trip


Here is what bobbing for marshmallows looks like


The boys chillin' in the car on the drive down to Lyman


We got some spiffy new sleepin' duds from Grandma


Recovering from JetLag