My Baking Frenzy!

So I kind of went a little crazy with the baking... but at least a lot of people benefitted from my insanity. (The beneficiaries :) were: Greg, Blake, Haven and I, the families Greg and I home & visit teach, a few of our neighborhood friends, and everyone at Blake and Greg's work.  Yeah, between the cookies and cinnamon rolls we pretty much helped a lot of people increase their caloric intake tastefully.   Here's a sugar cookie "leaf wreath" with some caramel candy corn in the center.  I'd been craving Cheryl & Co. cookies... STAT.  So this was my solution.

WARNING: If you're pregnant, live in Utah (other than St. George), and you LOVE Cinnabon as much as I do... you're stuck.  Left helplessly empty-handed with nothing to quench your cinnamon roll hunger that only Cinnabon can fix.  So I attempted to make my own... fudged an amazing recipe I found, and made both plain and PUMPKIN CINNAMON rolls.  Greg isn't a huge fan of anything pumpkin... so I made both and I was very happy with the results.  I'm not going to lie... that's putting it modestly... they were amazing.   

They were ooey... gooey... and finger licking good.

For some of the families I brought cinnamon rolls to, there were more than would fit on a plate so I went to Michaels and bought some pastry boxes.  I love Autumn-izing things!  (which I'm sure I inherited from my season-loving Momma... and in case you're wondering the note below was smudged for reasons of confidentiality :)

He's gunna be SOOO MAD!  

He'll get over it in 20 years though, when we have this night to look back on.  He was so cute helping me make these.  The last helper I had make these was my cute niece Lexi at the cabin, although her enthusiasm wasn't matched, Greg did get pretty close.  

So here's my cute Baker-Boy!

Drag Race + Chili's = Dream Date Come True... HA!

Once again Greg got us tickets to another Nascar-esque event... and we had so much fun! I'm beginning to feel like we fit in... we're practically regulars at Rocky Mountain Raceways :)  We invited our friends Andrew & Celeste and got a sitter for our kiddies.  Just a simple date night with good company.  We had dinner at Chili's and met up with some of Greg's co-workers.  Andrew was able to fill us in on all the Nascar terms and explained exactly what was happening, (like why the guy who finished first actually lost without being disqualified, yeah... it needed explaining.)  

Who's the guy who thought of making this classic fire truck blow flames off the back?

Needless to say it was a blast :)  It even "popped wheelies" WATCH OUT!

Lame... uncomfortable... and orange.  I EMBRACED THESE THINGS!  The races were deafeningly LOUD!  Especially the Jet Engine cars... whoa.  We were so glad Tyler brought some extras, it wouldn't have been a fun night holding my ears plugged the entire time.

WHAT?  WHAT WAS THAT!?  YOU WANT A PAIR OF THESE SWEET EARPLUGS?

Greg... keep this jacket in mind for me come Christmas time, k?

B-U-N-C-O!

Here's all of us girls at Bunco last night.

Once a month we get together and make an evening of it.

There are always SOOO many yummy appetizers and desserts

not to mention Celeste's infamous sherbet drinks.  SOOO GOOD.

(& I won a $10 gift card to See's Candies, which I'm pretty stoked about.)

Thanks for hosting yet another fun-filled evening of Bunco Celeste!

Our Evening Bike Ride

She was infatuated with the "Hah-sies."

She kept pointing and saying "Neigh Neigh" in a really high voice.

This is on the road behind our house.  We love the view at night time when all the valley lights just twinkle.  It's our favorite.

She just HAD to try on her new beanie and mittens...

and then wouldn't take them off for anything.

Off To The Races

Greg's Commute to Work + Love of Sports/Politics = AM Talk Radio Fan

That's how this story begins.

Greg listens to talk radio on his commute to and from work and actually gets on from time to time to put his two cents in, which I think is adorable.  (You should hear him discuss anything to do with the Phoenix Suns or the upcoming election... watch out. :)  A local station started advertising that they were going to have a race for their listeners to win a Brand New Ford GT Mustang... so naturally Greg's ears perked up and he signed up to receive the text messages with the daily question.  Being the Brainiac he is he naturally knew the question, :) (which was something to do with the Olympics) and was the caller #9... AND got the answer right.  They then told him the details to compete for the Mustang, which I'll fill you in on now.  First Greg had to pick up the tickets for Saturday Sep. 20th and that morning we had the joy of getting up at 5 in the morning.  That's right... FIVE O'CLOCK in the morning WITH HAVEN... (who had already had a rough night) which made for a great start :)  She was a trooper though, she loved the carts that she calls "kigh's" for cars.  (& whenever one would go past she would wave & say "Bye Bye!"  I just love her.)  So here's Greg just before his run on the track.

The races were all the way out in Tooele and we were there in plenty of time to see this gorgeous sun-rise.  

There were 100 guys vying for the car, and here are some of them.  

Fierce bunch... honestly.

Some of the people there were out of control nascar.  Seriously, it was like their lives were on the line, several of them had gone and paid lots of money to go practice on the track, seriously HARD CORE NASCAR.  So needless to say Haven and I hung with the crowd of wives who were there for fun to support their husbands, because believe me, there were a dozen of other nascar wives who looked like they were ready to pounce on anyone who had the thought that their husbands might win it.  Pretty out of control, I'm not gunna' lie.

While waiting for the races to start I snapped this photo, something tells me if there were a pot o'gold at the end of the rainbow... it wouldn't be in Tooele.  Just a thought :)

And he's OFF!  Greg did great in the race.  There were 12 heats with 8 guys in each Greg went in the 3rd heat and got 3rd place (by a hundredth of a second).  Ultimately, he finished in the top 20's but we didn't really stick around for the entire thing figuring there were a lot of guys who were WAAY too into it.  He did so great for not practicing or riding go-carts (since the last time we were home with my dad... classic:) So needless to say he made me proud!

Haven was really into the races... or not.  She had a blast making friends though.  All-in-all that was a very fun and memorable experience :) 

Who needs a Mustang GT anyway? :)

Fun Weekend

Thursday we went to dinner with Sky at Los Hermanos on Main Street in Provo.  Long AWKWARD story short... Sky's been wanting a job there so I asked our server (who she knew, unbenounced to me) if they were hiring... she had an interview a few days ago and now has a job there!   We're exited for her... and even more excited to have an excuse to have the best Mexican food (Utah has to offer) more often. :)

Some people get WAY too into books.

Don't get me wrong... I LOVED the Twilight series...

but honestly.  Who's the girl who puts this on the back of her car?

Hilarious.

Only in Provo.

Haven was dancing to music that was playing outside of a Thai restaurant where we were parked.

Her dancing is unmatched by any I've ever seen.  If you could call it dancing :)

She spins in a circle with one arm bent like a wanna be ballerina and then proceeds to do a head bob with some body bouncing action.  LOVE HER!

We went to dinner on Friday with Maren and Seth at Olive Garden in Sandy.

It was fun seeing them, and especially their 3 week old little Zeke.  

Who is ADORABLE.  It's always so cute to see Wade and Wyatt interact with Haven...

Here's Haven & Daddy having fun while we waited to be sat.

This was too classic of a picture to not take.  This is Haven's favorite thing in the world: to fall asleep with us while we watch a show.  A few of our Summer-time favorites right now are:

-The Closer

-WIPE-OUT 

-America's Got Talent 

(GO NUTTIN' BUT STRINGS!)

OUR (not so ) LITTLE MUSCLE MAN!

The caption in the picture above pretty much sums up the AWKWARD experience.  What made the day for me though was learning that instead of being due at the end of January... we're due JANUARY 16th now!  This totally solidified my suspicions of being further along than I thought... I've heard that you feel the second baby much sooner than the first because you "know what you're feeling the second time around."  (But... when I was getting "sucker-punch kicks" at 11 weeks... I knew something was off.  -There's a little plug for all you Wipe-Out fans.)

Camp Fire Memories

Greg decided to show us all how to recreate the Sobe Bombs he and Logan would make when going to the "dunes" when they were kids... 

1. Sobe Bottle - CHECK

2. Fire - CHECK

3.Gas - CHECK

4. Sand...  um...

(not quite but Greg figured the dirt & ashes would suffice.)

As you can see by the wonderful frame by frame action Mikki created, here's how it went down.  Greg makes bomb... it sounds as if something was happening... nothing appeared to be happening... guys decide to throw rocks to further the explosion along... they miss... continue to miss... and then BOOM they hit it.  Check them out.  It is so funny to see how each one reacted differently... Greg was apparently getting his dose of feeling invincible as well as flashbacks of his youth while Ben seemed to be getting a few flashbacks of his own... from time in Iraq perhaps... while Kolter looks like this was his greatest feat since he shot his last deer.  

I guess you had to be there... but it truly was hilarious... freezing... scary... and hilarious.

That's a tree... or a bush... I'm not sure which exactly but we lit the whole thing on fire.  

Whatever it was though made the biggest hottest fire.  Ever.

Here's the Bosch Family:

Sorry Celeste but this is the only one I had of you guys.  Besides you know you love being photographed after being force-fed a huge bite of graham cracker.  And Andrew who apparently got downwind from the campfire by the look on his face... this is a classic camp fire photo.

So is this one... 

Haven rarely falls asleep on me anymore so we just had to catch this sleeping-action.

We took this just before we left for the campfire outing.  Greg had just gotten back from Costco and brought home some of their yummy pizza which Haven decided she wanted to eat.  In a box.  Funny girl.

Here's Haven wanting to help Kolter out with the Dutch Oven desserts.

with her blankie and bottle in-tow.

We were bummed that this was one of 2 SHORT trips to the "wilderness" this Summer...

and by the weather change is looks as though it was our last.  We never actually "camped" which was a first for Greg and I since we've been married.  All of our free weekends were either at Powell or the cabin this Summer, so we can't complain.  We always have next Summer to catch up...

If She Wasn't So Cute...

If she wasn't so cute... I would have been SO MAD.  She's never allowed herself to eat Oatmeal... and the first time she did she FELL IN LOVE and right into the bowl apparently. Haven has always been a "texture baby" meaning if she didn't like the texture which if course is anything that isn't crunchy... she WON'T EAT IT. It will either be down the front of her clothes 'cause she'll just spit it out or it will have been chucked somewhere lovely just waiting for you to find what she should have eaten.  So after having already cleaned up this display of loving affection toward her Oatmeal... I'm as happy as ever because it now means she'll eat it when I make it... which is pretty often seeing as I've been craving it so much during this pregnancy.  I eat it for breakfast and lunch. :)  Sure beats having to make two meals now!

-Note To Self: Getting Oatmeal out of hair requires a little faith and A LOT OF PATIENCE.

My Wonderful Mama...

Labor Day Vacay!

My cousin Garrett & his wife Vanessa were able to come

last minute.  We're so glad they did.  These two 

are perfect "houseboating material", & are so much

fun to be around.  Love you guys-

Soft.  Orange.  Sand.

We just had to dig our toes in... it's not everyday

you get to step on something those three words describe.

This cop was a serious dummy.  Gotta' love Kanab.

What? What was that?  You like his Charley Chaplin 'stash?

The Loves of My Life

My Awesome Parents

My brother Blake

My brother Tyler

Random.

Here's Haven waving "bye-bye" to Nana & Papa... 

her heart was broken.

(In the picture above... just know that the golf cart driver closest

to the camera was mentally incompetent.  We had him take a picture

 of all of us together... (the only one the whole trip 'cause we didn't think

of it until everyone was about to leave.)  And we made the mistake of

having this bright ray of sunshine take our picture... we even asked him to

take two for safe measure... but as you can see, there isn't a picture of

us all together because Sherlock Holmes here didn't press the button.

And yes... I have asked several dozen randoms to take pictures of us from

time to time, you know... tourists even: asian, russian, french... 

nobody's ever NOT known how to press down on the button 

to actually take a picture.  Sorry... I guess I'm still a little miffed...)

Here's a sweet slide that we saw... I don't know who had the time

to make it... but I would have loved to go down it.  Flippin' sweet.

Pretty much everyone rocked a board behind the boat...

(me & my prego belly excluded.)

Here's Adrienne wakeboarding

All the other guys decided to try wake surfing for their first time.

Here's Tyler

Haven was the self-declared flag girl... she wouldn't put it

down so I guess it was a good thing for when people randomly

biffed it... she was ready to let other boaters know they

went down... 

Kinda like Logan did here.  

(I just had to include this one... it's too classic for words.)

(Not too bad for his first time doing any water sport, might

I add, to redeem his ego from the first photo.  We were all

pretty impressed.  Go Log!)

(There was another redemptive pic of Logan surfing here

however... I made the mistake of pressing the back button

which apparently on this application means NO RETURNING

the photo to the original location without having to delete and start

ALL over with the order of the pictures... lame.  

*Does anyone know a way around this?*  It's SOOO ANNOYING!  

I'll post another after I'm done with this one. Sorry this application's stone-age.)

Here's Blake... 

all 6'6'' of Garrett...

my soon-to-be 49 year-old Dad, who's still got it...

and the man who rocks the board and my world.  Go Greg.

We were on the hunt for ruins (which we didn't find this trip)

but we found the old Miner's Steps... and what do you know?

The guys had to check 'em out.  Shocker.  :)