Disneyland

We just returned from a trip to Disneyland/California Adventure! We went with my sister and her family, my parents, and uncle Karl. We had such a great time! We seriously lucked out with the weather and it was such a nice break from winter. It was in the 80s the first day and in the 70s and high 60s the rest of the trip. We also scored with short lines-- especially Tuesday. In fact, on Tuesday, there were a few rides with no line at all (one being Sean's favorite-- The Tower of Terror)! Don't worry-- I skipped out on the big stuff.

Day 1: Disneyland

We were so excited to get into the park we could hardly stand it. It was so perfect that right after walking in, who do we come across but the main man himself:

Jackson was so excited to see Mickey Mouse he started running straight for him. There was a short line, so we told him he needed to wait his turn. When his turn came, he ran right up to Mickey and gave him a big hug. No hesitation whatsoever. I don't think Mickey was expecting it! It was one of the sweetest things I have ever seen in my life and nearly brought tears to my eyes! So glad we were able to snap a picture.

Hanging out with Dale:

In line for Peter Pan with some very excited kids:

Dumbo with dad:

Teacups! I forgot how fun these are!

Heinhold family:

Small World:

Meeting Goofy (or "Goosey" as Jackson calls him):

Inside Mickey's house in Toon Town:

Jackson's favorite roller coaster-- Emily and Hayley in second car, Dave and Max in third, Sean and Jackson in fourth:

Close up:

Jackson loved this roller coaster and rode it several times. He kept laughing at the frogs that spit a stream of water over the carts when they rode by.

It was great because Jackson is just tall enough to meet the height requirement for a lot of rides. He even got to ride the Matterhorn with Sean! Besides the roller coasters, his favorite rides were probably Pirates of the Caribbean, Buzz Lightyear, Finding Nemo, and the Toy Story and Monsters Inc. rides.

The classic Mickey Mouse ears! He loves his.

Day 2: Balboa and beach

We spent most of the next day hanging out in Balboa and playing at the beach. We walked up and down main street and hit up a few candy shops and then rode the ferry over to the beach.

Lunch at Ruby's at the end of the pier:

With the breeze it was chilly at first, but thankfully it warmed up later.

The old farts as I lovingly/teasingly called them:

Looks like he fits right in with those blonde, curly locks! ;)

Sean was the only one brave enough to swim!

We spent the rest of the evening at Disneyland and apparently I didn't take any pictures!

Day 3: Disneyland

I think he is growling like a dinosaur in this one-- whatever he's doing, it makes me laugh!

Always a fan of merry-go-rounds :)

Funny boys:

Max developed quite a love for the talking tom cat app on our phones. It was one way I kept the kids entertained while the other adults went on the rides I couldn't!

Matching red sunglasses!

And finally, all tuckered out from all of the excitement:

We are so glad we went on this trip. It was a lot of fun to be there with family. We loved seeing Jackson's reaction to everything and seeing him having so much fun. He may not remember it when he is older, but we will! Until next time Disneyland!

Birthday recap

I am officially 28 years old! I had a really nice birthday this year. Relaxing and low stress :)

Sean and I celebrated Tuesday night because he has late class on Wednesdays. My sweet friend Heidi took Jackson for us so we could go on a date. We went to Magelby's for dinner and it was yummy! It was nice not having to entertain a two-year-old the whole time :) In keeping it low-key, we decided to go out for dessert instead of having a big birthday cake at home. I've wanted to try a place in Orem called "The Chocolate" and try we did:

They even had a gf turtle tart dessert for Sean (half-eaten on the left). My favorite was the chocolate cupcake with the caramel frosting. I have yet to eat the chocolate cupcake with chocolate frosting... even I have my limit!

After dessert Sean and I decided to head to the new Provo Beach Resort at Riverwoods for a little competitive skeeball. I am not sure how it started, but ever since dating in high school we have had a thing for skeeball. It was an even matchup- he won two games, I won two. We scored enough tickets to pick out some sweet prizes for Jackson.... a monkey bag where he keeps his "monies", some finger puppet monsters, and one of those water balloon tube things with plastic fish inside that flip inside out. He was pretty happy we didn't forget him :)

On Wednesday I got to start my day by going to breakfast with my handsome boys. We went to Kneaders and I finally tried the famous french toast. It is as good as everyone says it is!

I got to spend a lot of time during the day talking to friends and family, which I always enjoy. My friend Heidi took me out to lunch and my sister and her kids came over in the afternoon bearing gifts. Finally, I ended the day hanging out with some girlfriends and chatting until nearly midnight. It was a great start to my 28th year!

Valentine's pillows

These winter days get a bit monotonous. Sean has late classes three days a week now, which makes for long days sometimes.

I haven't done a lot of sewing projects after the monster that was the quiet book, but I ran across some cute Valentine's Day pillow tutorials that looked fairly easy and cheap. They were good little projects that gave me something to do during nap time and it was nice to add some color to our house after taking all of the Christmas stuff down.

Conversation heart pillows:

Tutorial and free pattern found HERE.

Gathered heart pillow:

Tutorial found HERE.

For all 6 pillows it cost about $15 in supplies. I can live with that! Also, my mother-in-law sent me a link to this video showing how to do a blind stitch to close the pillows at the end. It was really helpful. Something that probably should have been common sense but for some reason it was above my head!

On another note, I hope when I post this kind of stuff it doesn't come off as me trying to show off my sweet sewing skills (hopefully you catch the sarcasm). I think I still consider myself new to sewing so I just get excited when something turns out. I figure the blog is a good way to remember stuff I've done and pass along info I think others might like too.

6 months

I gained 3 pounds last week alone-- yikes! My cheesecake prediction may not have been too far off!

The infamous girls camp cheesecake

You may recall I was quite smitten with this cheesecake my bishop's wife brought for dessert one night at girls camp last summer. I got the recipe from her and have been meaning to make it for a long time. At the time I remembered thinking it was the best cheesecake I had ever eaten and I couldn't wait to eat it again. I kept putting it off because I was afraid if I made it for just my family, I would end up eating WAY too much of it on my own, gaining 15 pounds in a week, and giving birth to a 20-pound baby. Well last weekend my sister invited my cousin's family and our family over for dinner and I figured it was as good of an opportunity as any to try it.

I was not disappointed. It turned out awesome and tasted just as good as I remembered. I figure a recipe this good must be shared! It may seem like a lot of steps, but it is worth it, I promise. If you are a cheesecake fan, make this!

Vanilla bean cheesecake:

Ingredients

1/2 cups finely crushed graham crackers

11/4 cups sugar, divided

1/2 cup butter, melted

1 cup butter, softened

1 egg yolk, beaten

3/4 teaspoon vanilla, divided

16 ounces cream cheese, softened

1 cup sour cream

2 tablespoons cornstarch (or 3 T flour)

2 vanilla pods, beans removed, divided

2 cups whipping cream

3 tablespoons powdered sugar

4 ounces one-third less fat reduced-fat cream cheese, softened

4 ounces white chocolate baking squares, melted and cooled to room temperature

Directions

1. Line a 9-inch springform pan with foil and spray lightly with cooking spray.

2. Mix the graham crackers with 1/4 C sugar.

3. Add the egg yolk, 1/4 t. vanilla, and melted butter, in that order.

4. Press mixture into the bottom of the pan, and bake for 8 minutes (or until edges are slightly brown). Remove and let cool.

5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

6. Combine cream cheese, sour cream, cornstarch, and 1 C sugar, mixing until sugar dissolves. Add butter, 1/2 t vanilla, and beans from one vanilla pod, blend until smooth. Spread on crust.

7. Bake 30-35 minutes, cool 1 hour. (I baked mine an extra 5-8 minutes because I could tell it was still not firm enough. You do still want it to jiggle when you take it out though because it will set as it cools.)

8. In a cold mixing bowl, beat 1 C cream until soft peaks form. Add 2 T powdered sugar, and continue beating. Place in another bowl in fridge. Without washing first bowl, beat the 1/3 less fat cream cheese in it, until fluffy. Add the white chocolate, and beat until smooth. Fold in the whipped cream from fridge (I ended up having to beat the whipped cream in to make it smooth); place back in fridge.

9. In another cold bowl, beat 1 C whipping cream until soft peaks form. Add 1 T powdered sugar, and beans from one vanilla pod beating until stiff peaks form.

10. Spread mousse evenly on top (cream cheese/white chocolate mixture). Refrigerate for an hour, then spread whipped cream on top. Refrigerate several hours before serving. Optional: shave white chocolate over the top just before serving.

Bountiful Baskets

I have heard a lot of good things about Bountiful Baskets and this week I finally decided to give it a try. If you don't know what I am talking about, it is a food co-op for produce. You sign up online on Monday and pick up your produce Saturday morning at whichever location you chose. I think it is available in several states now. The cost is $15 and you don't know ahead of time what you will be getting in your "basket." I had heard you get quite a bit of stuff and some people like to split it with a friend.

I was pretty excited and didn't really know what to expect. Here is what we got:

I was SO happy with everything! And I thought it was really fun being surprised!

We got: 1 lb. asparagus, 8 pears, 8 Roma tomatoes, 2 crowns broccoli, 1 pineapple, 3 grapefruit, 9 lemons, 10 bananas, green leaf lettuce, purple kale, 6 Fuji apples, and 6 anaheim peppers.

Pretty good for $15! Especially considering the price of asparagus right now. I am happy because the quality is great and we will use all of it! It is a lot of stuff for a family of three, but I think signing up every other week will be about perfect for us.

Anyway, I thought it was pretty cool and thought I'd pass the info along. Here's the Web site if interested: http://www4.bountifulbaskets.org/?page_id=233

Green Smoothies

We had a church activity awhile back where my friend Jessica demonstrated how to make green smoothies. I had never heard of putting things like spinach, kale, collard greens, or swiss chard in a smoothie and I was VERY skeptical. When I tasted it I was completely surprised! It just tasted like a yummy fruit smoothie and I couldn't even taste the greens.

I was really excited because Jackson loves smoothies and I was hoping I could get him to drink this. He is in a phase where he pretty much avoids all vegetables. I crossed my fingers and let him pull up a chair and help me put everything in the blender. Guess what...

He LOVES green smoothies!

I feel so sly and giddy thinking about all of those greens he is sucking down!

There are a lot of different "recipes" out there for green smoothies and we have tried adding several different kinds of fruits to ours with good results. We usually include spinach, kale, banana, frozen peaches, frozen blueberries, agave, and ice. This recipe is a good place to start if you are interested in giving it a go! Oh, and you don't need a $400 blender... I have just a regular blender and it works fine.