Ollie's Blessing

On sunday we were able to have Ollie blessed at church. It was such a beautiful day and we were so lucky to have friends and family from all over join us to celebrate! Unfortunately, I forgot to take any pictures until the day was almost over, so this is what I have to show for it...

I am going to have Kent take some pictures of Ollie in his blessing outfit so you can see him later. It was fun to celebrate with people that we don't get to see as often as we would like. It is amazing that you can live only 20 minutes away from family or friends and it takes a major event to even get to see them! So thanks for all that made it and we missed those that couldn't come-maybe next time!
The blessing was wonderful. I am always so in awe of the power of the priesthood. What an amazing blessing in our lives! I am grateful for a husband who holds and honors his priesthood and can bless our children (and me) in these times and in other times that we need it. This was the first time we have blessed one of our boys at church, so it was a new experience for us. Those visiting our ward had a treat- we just split our ward 2 weeks ago, and we are in the small, still growing, very young ward. We just left a more established ward and had 240 women in relief society, and almost 200 kids in primary, so we are now considerably smaller. But on sunday, we had 5 baby blessings and 1 confirmation, so the place was packed! it was even more full than the fullest days before the split. So between the blessings, confirmation, and about 10 minutes of new callings, there were only 5 minutes left for testimonies. It seemed to be the shortest sacrament meeting ever.
The highlight to any party, in my opinion, is the food, and we were really feasting this time! Thanks to all that provided food for us! I stole this picture of Amy eating a tart from her mom's blog- thanks! I promised recipes from the food, so here they are...

Kahlua Pork- 7 lbs. Boston Butt Roast (Pork Shoulder- just a different way to cut it, but the regular cut works) 2 T. Hawaiian Salt (Get it at ethnic food stores- one called Many Lands in provo by the hospital) 2 T. Liquid Smoke (By the BBQ sauce at the grocery store) Place pork in crock pot. Cover with salt and pat into skin. Pour liquid smoke over top. Cook on low heat 12-18 hours, unplug 1 hour before serving. Shred with forks and serve.
My note- I made 15 lbs and served 45 people. It is a really cheap and simple thing to make and serve- and is incredibly delicious!

Fruit Salad (made by my mother in law) Any selection of fruit you may like- we had grapes, bananas, strawberries, nectarines, blueberries, and blackberries Sauce: 1 egg, beaten 1/2 c. sugar 1/3 c. lemon juice 1 Tablespoon butter In saucepan, combine egg, sugar, lemon juice, and butter. Bring to a boil, and cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Place in a different bowl to cool (place in the fridge). Just before serving, add 1 Tablespoon of milk and whip until well mixed. Pour over prepared fruit.



Tart Shells 1 c. plus 2 T. butter 1 c. sugar 1 egg 1 Tablespoon milk 1 teaspoon almond flavor 3 c. plus 3 Tablespoons flour Mix all ingredients. Press into any shape tart tins that have been sprayed with cooking spray. Bake at 350 degrees until they are browned.
My note- they have been taking me about 15 minutes to cook. You don't want them white because they will break when you remove them from the tins. They need to be somewhat browned. Also- you can just put canned pie filling in to finish them, or you can try some of my favorite fillings below...


Lemon Tart Filling
1 c. sugar 2 T. flour 3 T. cornstarch
1/4 t. salt 1 1/2 c. water 2 lemons
2 Tablespoons butter 4 egg yolks, beaten

Juice and zest lemons.
In medium saucepan, whisk together sugar, flour, corn starch, and salt. Stir in water, lemon juice, and zest. Cook over med-hi heat, stirring frequently, until mixture comes to a boil. Stir in butter.
Place egg yolks ina small bowl and gradually whisk in 1/2 c. of hot sugar mixture. Whisk egg yolk mixture back into sugar mixture. Bring to a boil and continue to cook while stirring constantly until thick. Remove from heat. Pour into baked shells.

Chocolate Tart Filling
1 c. sugar 2 T. unsweetened cocoa 2 T. flour
1 pinch salt 2 egg yolks 1 c. milk
1 T. butter

IN a large saucepan, combine sugar, cocoa powder, flour, and salt. Mix well, then stir in egg yolks and milk. Whisk until all ingredients are thoroughly combined. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is consistency of pudding. Stir vanilla and butter into custard. Pour into baked shells.

Fresh Strawberry (or Peach) Pie Filling
1 c. sugar 2 T. cornstarch 2 c. water
1- 3oz pkg. coordinating jello 1-2 pints fresh fruit

Stir sugar and cornstarch together. Add water and bring to a rapid boil. Stir in Jello. Cool and pour over fruit in pie shell.

The 2 wheeler

For a couple months now, Tyse has been telling me that he wanted me to take the training wheels off his bike. However, I knew this would entail a long process of me running next to him and holding the seat, neither of which I can do while chasing Emitt or holding Ollie. So I kept putting him off, telling him it had to wait until both babies were asleep. Well, last week he came home from the neighbors looking for a wrench. Why? Well, he said, the neighbor's mom was going to take his training wheels off for him. I felt slightly guilty and slightly sad that he didn't want me to be a part of it- I had put it off too long! Fortunately, it was right when both of the babies were sleeping, so I pulled out the wrench and we got to it. I got the wheels off, and then I let him jump on and start pedaling. By the time we were at the neighbor's house ( a mere 15 feet away) he had pulled away from me and was off- never falling, never hesitating, and rode around the entire block and didn't crash until he didn't know how to get off. So he ran into the tree post in front of our house. He has never looked back- although that same day, about 2 hours later, I was outside and he was riding his bike, and he started whining and crying, saying "I will NEVER learn how to do this! Never!" He hadn't crashed yet on his bike, so I was a little confused. I asked him what it was that he was never going to get and he was very sad to say he hadn't yet learned how to ride one handed. I assured him that it takes longer than 2 hours to learn this task, but he has, in the last 7 days, learned it, as well as how to stand up, how to ride with his feet stuck to the front fork, how to go off the curb, through the bushes and grass, and how to ride as fast as he can down the 35 foot hill at our local park, dodging the bushes and trees that line the slope. I guess the mountain biking traits are kicking in!
Oh- forgot to mention- thanks for reminding me, katie-
Tyse has also gotten good at riding his bike through wet cement-
we have been having our alley fixed because of the cruddy cement they laid the first time. Tyse's friend came over in the morning they had just laid a new piece right outside our driveway, and happened to notice a large flaw in the cement. Here is a picture of the guy trying to fix it- he had already finished fixing half of the original...Anyway, his friend was on his way to our house and forgot that he wasn't supposed to go through the alley, and then didn't realize the cement was wet. Poor kid- when I happened to see it, I looked around to see what happened and he was standing in our driveway staring at it with this look on his face like- "uh, oh. I am in SO much trouble!"
So he came over and we talked a little about it, making sure he didn't think I was mad at him or anything because it was written all over his face that it was an accident. Apparently for my son's sake, I should have sounded a little more angry, because after he was told he couldn't ride home with his friend, he proceeded to ride into the alley, ride through the same wet cement 6 times, get caught by the mexican workers, and brought home with wet cement all over his bike and shoes. Just another thing he did on his 2-wheeler.

Ladybug Release Party

Our neighborhood had a ladybug party at the community garden last night. Our neighbor won a coloring contest so he was one of the ones that got to open the bag and let them out, so we got to hang out right close, and the news cameras were right there with them (tyse and conner made 3 different tv news broadcasts last night). It was so neat- there were ladybugs crawling all over the boys and they were finding them forever! Here are some pics of Conner and Tyse finding bugs all over him- I think they are funny!
Here are a few more pics of that day-

Serious lunch meeting

The other day Tyse and his friends were over playing together and I made them lunch. They had been playing superheroes all morning, and were still in character at the table- I was eating with Popeye, HeMan, and a very intimidating ninja. Well, the table conversation turned very interesting...
Popeye- "I love that movie, Enchanted. It's soooo good!"
He Man- "I haven't seen it yet. We have it, but I haven't watched it. It looks girly!"
Ninja- " No, it's not girly at all. It's about this princess girl that is so pretty!"
Popeye- "Yeah, it's sooo good. She has this bad witch lady and then goes into this big city and gets totally lost"
He Man- " You mean the girl with the huge dress? She gets lost? And she is pretty?"
Ninja- "Yeah, man. You gotta see it. It's so great"

They spent the next 15 minutes or so discussing the princess and her pretty dress and he predicament in the movie- I thought when we were given this movie, I would be the only taker. Surprise- 4 and 5 year old boys like it, too!

Layout

For those that have asked, I got my layout at leeloublogs.blogspot.com ..
Thanks for the site, Kinder!

Emitt's Artistic creation

Tyse has been feeling a little left out these days since I don't get to spend much time with just him. So yesterday, I tried to be a good mom and spend a little time with just him while Emitt was looking at a book. I got out the playdough and Tyse and I were creating. Well, it got too quiet for too long, so I went to find Emitt and here is what I found....
For those of you that can't tell, this is confetti, googly eyes, foam stickers, and thousands of tiny little beads.
My only saving grace in this picture is that at least there was no medicine in the dropper!
He was so proud of himself for his mess! It is now 24 hours later and the mess is only 3/4 cleaned up- it takes so much time to re-separate all the different items that I haven't finished yet. How sweet!

But on a lighter note, Ollie has slept through the night the last 2 nights- one from 10 until 6, and this morning from 11 until 7:30! I hope I didn't just jinx myself!

Hail the Graduate

Tyse had his preschool graduation last friday night! I can't believe we are having our first official graduation of any kind! He has loved his preschool this year and is a little sad that it is over! It was a great program in which they did the days of the week, the months of the year, the ABC's in sign language, sang a couple songs, and had a slideshow. Then was the main event- the handing out of the diplomas. Miss Kristie (seen above) had the kids fill out a sheet about themselves for her to read while they walked up to the podium and Tyse's went something like this-
Favorite color- all the colors
Favorite part of school- the big and little pit (he goes to a preschool where they do gymnastics with the curriculum a couple times a month)
Yada, Yada... and then the biggie- she let them hold the microphone and say "When I grow up I want to be..." There were many of your token answers (firefighter, veterinarian, doctor), there were the sweet answers (a mom, just like my dad, etc), and then there was Tyse.


He stood up and spoke more clearly and loudly into the mic than any other child did all night and came out with "when I grow up I want to be HE-MAN! (in the most manly voice he could conjure)". Of course the families that were there just started laughing and the family sitting in front of us turned around and asked, "Isn't that your son?" Ahhh- our sweet, quiet boy- ready to grow up and fight the bad guys!
Anyway, it was cute and he was very excited that the program went so well and that they got cookies and punch at the end. It was the first time I have gotten to talk to many of the moms, and one of the moms came over and said, "You are Tyse's mom, aren't you?" To which I didn't know whether to be nervous about the upcoming conversation or not. I did honestly reply, and she said, "my daughter talks about Tyse all the time! She always has stories about Tyse!" The only thing I could think of to respond is "OH! Well... I hope that's a good thing..." and she let me off the hook- yes, it was good, and she really liked him. PHEW! Anyway, we are so proud of him and his learning this year! We now have a beginning reader, a great colorer and cutter, he can write all his numbers and letters and is starting to sound out words and spell on his own. WE love you, Tyse!