12 Months = 1 Year

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Even Nomie can't believe she's a one year-old!

Friday, February 7th, 2014

She got to have a fun party too!!

Of course I was too focused on the moment to take lots of pictures, but I got a priceless few with Minnie Nome and her angel food cake.  

What's that candle? 

 I must touch this cake.

 It's a Minnie Candle!

 This cake is pretty good.

The Strawberry Whipped Cream was PERFECT!

Some of our family members came to celebrate with us.

There was a soft Minnie Mouse theme.

I've realized that having Naomi's birthday one week before Valentine's Day couldn't be more ideal!  There will never be a shortage of pink m&ms, pink polka dotted cupcake liners, and various other pink/red party supplies!  We didn't have to spend a ton of extra money exclusively getting only Minnie Mouse stuff, because it all matched.

Anyway, we ate crock pot chicken fajitas with all the fixings and angel food cake (and cupcakes) with that aforementioned divine strawberry whipped cream.  The meal seemed to be quite popular even with the kids. Success!!

Nomie loved the attention and her present, a plush Minnie Mouse that we bought way back in November! My Mom sent a Winnie the Pooh birthday card with some cash for her Piggy Bank (and a whole mess of new clothes for next year).  And Hylan's Mom gave her a cute puppy card with piggy bank money as well as a cool red watch to play with (which she loves), and some sweet sweater leggings for the future. 

It was a great birthday!  Fun had by all.  I even sent this picture to be featured on GTU, a local talk show here in Utah, and she got lots of birthday love from the hosts.  It made my day!  And Nome's.  She stared at herself for a long time.  :)

I can't stop staring either!  Something about your own child, ya know?!  Wow, just wow.

Some milestones this past month:

• She cut her top two teeth!  (Four months after getting her bottom two teeth)  
• She has had a great sleeping month!  My favorite were the two days in a row last week that she slept 13.5 hours.  I snapped this picture because I couldn't believe it.

• Nomie is still dependent on her walker to walk.  She doesn't much like it when I make her try to walk on her own, but she'll figure out how much more fun it is to walk around the house instead of crawl.
• We finally baby-proofed our kitchen cabinets, so now my bathroom is her favorite place...but we keep bathroom doors shut, so hopefully she doesn't learn how to open doors anytime soon.
• She has finally started asserting some independence when it comes to food.  She still eats almost everything I give her, but here and there, she may spit something out that she doesn't like. 
• I think mandarin oranges are her absolute favorite thing to eat.  That, and those Gerber cheesy puffs.  She will down those in no time.  
• And on the food note, she is a COW MILK drinker now!  Yippee! The transition couldn't have been smoother.  About a week ago, we ran out of formula and kept putting off a Costco trip.  We gave her a bottle of milk and she took it.  And we haven't looked back.
• But she's still on a bottle.  She thinks sippy cups are funny and will take a sip here and there, but she hasn't mastered the holding, tipping, and drinking technique quite yet.  She does like drinking from an open cup though, so I have hope to transition her off a bottle soon.

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And just to finish off this Nomie post...

Super Bowl XVIII was awesome if you're a Harper who grew up just outside of Seattle, Washington.

We had a super party here with a perfect outcome.  Skittles all around!

  

 

Our basement has been getting lots of use!

Oh, and of course, I had to pull out all the stops...

Super Lemon Cake (with a Happy Birthday message for our nephew).

Daddy and Nomie dressed appropriately for the game!  

I even got into the spirit wearing a dark blue dress to church and carried Naomi as my accessory in her pretty green smock dress with bright green stockings.  I wish I had a picture of that.     

I really enjoyed being a Seahawks fan for a few weeks, but...

Next year, Eagles!

Next year, it's the Eagles tutu for Naomi!  :)  Next year we will make it further than one game in the playoffs!

What a great past month.  What a great life!  I feel a thousand times better than I did last year at this time. Too much happiness to go around.  

St. Patty's Day Family Fun

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Because I do follow through with my plans.  Here is how our St. Patty's Day Feast went down.





Rainbow Crudite, check!  I decided to go with the veggies because I already had a rainbow of colors in my fridge, but I'm still saving the fruit rainbow idea for the summertime--fruit pizza anyone?  And yes, I had to fudge a little on the blue, indigo, violent part of the rainbow.  There is also a "cloud" of ranch and a "pot of gold" of lemon jello gems.

Rainbow party favors, check!  I did some with rolos, some with gold coins, and one with marshmallows.  These are all packed up and ready for transport.

Pistachio Mallow Salad Leprechaun Pudding, check.  Simple and kid-friendly.

Chocolate Mint Cookies, packed and ready to go, check.  These were good, but a tad dry and not quite sweet enough.  They would have been better if I would have used semi-sweet chocolate instead of unsweetened.  Lesson learned in following recipes.

Corned Beef & Cabbage (and Potatoes and Onions), check.  I could really benefit from a crockpot with a snap and seal lid for transportation without spillage (but then I would have four crockpots and that just seems silly!) 

And a note about corned beef and cabbage.  I seem to think that I will like it more with each year that goes by, but then I eat it and remember that I find it too fatty and salty.  So, next year I'm reminding myself that I want to brine and season a leaner roast instead of buying the pre-brined meat.

However, Hylan was very excited to eat it and devoured it with delight.  

Irish Soda Bread (flavored with orange zest and currants), check!  I must say this was definitely my favorite part of the whole meal!  It was exceptionally delicious.  I definitely recommend trying out this recipe any time of the year!  It is equally good with butter/jam or for sopping up gravy.

Lucky Leprechaun Scavenger Hunt, ready-to-go, check. 

First clue discovered!  Ages 11, 10, 6, 5, and 3.  I was very proud of how the kids were patient with each other and allowed everyone a turn.

Another clue found!

Hmm, where could the next clue possibly be?

They eventually found the rainbow party favors under various beds upstairs, to their delight.  Admittedly, to mine as well!

You know how sometimes things don't go as well as you think it will in your head...well, I'd say this one was a success!  And I think the kiddos had a good time, which made it all worth it.  Not too mention, the rest of the adults got to just show up too, so I think they made out alright.   

Now, on to planning the next party.  I think it just might have a Mickey Mouse theme--I have a cookie cutter from Disney World that I could put to good use, but we shall see.

Super Bowl Food Menu

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Yes, the Super Bowl is an excuse to eat lots of unhealthy foods. No, I will not feel guilty about it. Not one iota!

Here's our menu:

1. Bacon Wrapped Lit'l Smokies*

2. Homemade Soft Pretzels* with Cheese Dipping Sauce


3. Double Chocolate Oreo Football Truffles


4. Guacamole*, Tortilla Chips, and Pico de Gallo

5. Vegetable Crudites


6. Garlic Pepper Wings from Rocky Mountain Wing Shak

7. Home Fried Fresh French Fries


8. Fruit Kebabs and Dips

The recipes with an asterisk are ones that I've tried multiple times and LOVE! The last three menu items will be brought by the great Lynntelligent.

Sigh. Too bad this marks the end of football. Not too worry though, MARCH MADNESS is just a month away! Besides, this was kind of a terrible season for Eagles fans anyway. May the best team win (since it's not possible that both can lose). Represent NFC East, Giants.

Thanks to various websites for letting me steal pictures.

And yes, admittedly, I will probably still fill up on tons of vegetables and then eat a little bit of everything else. Either way, no guilt!

Birthday Weekend Review

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You know how sometimes you feel like no one in the world cares much about you and your life is dull and blah blah blah...

But then you have a birthday and between facebook comments, text messages, phone calls, emails, and snail mail cards over 70 people acknowledge your existence! It sure gives you a boost! (By the way, those were real people, actual friends as varied from lifelong friends, elementary/junior high/high school/college mates, former teammates, old neighbors, new neighbors, roommates, church friends, coworkers, and family members, to name a few. Additionally, I also got at least a dozen token birthday cards and coupons from various businesses. So far, I've only managed to use Noodles & Company and Rodizio, but I'll have to use at least one of the Maggie Moo's/Cold Stone/Dairy Queen/Basin Robbins coupons before they expire. Don't know if I'll get around to Texas Roadhouse, Winger's, Red Robin, Tucanos, The Happy Sumo, or Mimi's Cafe in time, but we shall see!)

Wow, I mean for the sheer acknowledgement alone, I think facebook is awesome and someday I will convince Hylan to join too! But, he's "an old man" and doesn't "have time for it." Perhaps he just pretends not to care, or maybe he really doesn't. I think he just doesn't know what he's missing.

So, that's why birthdays are neat. And by the way, it's July (my favorite month!) so I wasn't really feeling like nobody cared about me, but someday when I am feeling down, I'll remember weekends like this past one!

No pictures of it, but we sure enjoyed our dinner at The Tree Room on Saturday night. SO GOOD! Everyone remotely close to Sundance should save their pennies and eat there several times in their lifetime.

My coworkers threw me a fun work party with an exercise/MyPlate theme on Friday.

For my present, Hylan bought me a new set of dumbbells. He gave them to me on Friday because I asked him if it was a gift I would want to use on Saturday. And I did use them, only I made the mistake of trying each and every exercise, maximum reps, doing cario intervals on the treadmill in between each set. Needless to say, two hours later, I was worked out! And it felt great. :o)

Sunday, my actual birthday, was a normal church kind of a day with phone calls from my Mom and two of my brothers, as well as checking facebook and text messages. I took a picture of the delicious and creative breakfast I made in the morning but I forgot to save it on my phone, so just imagine beautiful sweet potato pancake/latkes with maplehoneybrownsugarcinnamonbuttersyrup, bell pepper/onion scrambled eggs with cheese, and a honeydew yogurt smoothie. It was good. Even Hylan who disdains sweet potatoes, ate it up! It's always rewarding for me to cook from my brain instead of a recipe.

Anyway, I hope I have sufficiently thanked everyone who has wished me well on my birthday. Now it's time to live it up for the last year of another decade.

Party Party!

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I can't complain too much about this week. On Thursday, I got to meet Cosmo the Cougar during our grad celebration at work. We're number 1!

We were being such gawkers, so I decided we needed to take some pictures. I graduated 7 years ago and never took a picture with Cosmo, so dagnabit, I wanted a picture with Kitty!

Tight squeeze! My awesome, beautiful coworkers, Allison above and Emma below.


On Friday, we had some friends and family over for our "Take it to the Bowl" Mac & Cheese party. I didn't take the best pictures, but it was fun to have everyone over.


Thanks Noodles and Company! You should patronize their establishment because they have the best Asian dishes. I love all of them, especially the Thai Curry Soup that a former coworker of mine got me hooked on! (Thanks Cristina!) The American and Mediterranean dishes are good too (try the Pesto Cavatappi). No, I was not paid to say that; I said it because I genuinely love their food and because they provided the food for my party!

I love it when Hylan wears his BYU Sports and Dance Camps shirt. He graduated from the U and never looked back...because he married me! And I bleed blue! HA.

So does Allison, she and her husband, Eric went to the BYU baseball game after joining us.

Sorry I didn't get a picture of Lynn and Nick (and Nick's awesome beard). I still love you guys too!

Oh, and I was craving some of those Easter Egg Krispy Treats with M&M's inside. So I made them...with strawberry marshmallows, though I couldn't really taste much difference, but they were pink and pretty.

And Hylan just told me he hates Rice Krispy treats, "because they taste like Styrofoam." Well, I think he's crazy, so please leave the treats for me, Hylan, thanks.


C'mon, adorable, right?

We celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary on April 13th. Hylan turned the big three uh-oh on February 26th and my parents were in town the first week of April, but alas, I have no pictures of any of those things. Just thought I'd mention them.

That's all.