Punxsutawney Phil was wrong

So my last post had me thinking about Spring. Which got me thinking about Phil. Who predicted Spring wouldn't come for 6 more weeks. Which reminded me that I was going to post what we did on Groundhog's Day. (It's like my own version of If You Give A Mouse A Cookie... get it?)

Anyways, we made these cupcakes. I found the recipe in my Family Fun magazine. It uses fun-size almond joys for the body and mini m&ms, jellybeans, and white airheads for the face.

We also had hot dogs (ground... hog... get it?). We meant to watch Groundhogs Day... I'm pretty sure it was even on On Demand. But we forgot. Groundhog's day was a success regardless.

It's here

Spring. Can you smell it? It started last Saturday when we spent a beautiful, sunny, warm day at the park with Chase. He looked like such a big boy going down all the slides and running all over the place. I didn't even wear a jacket.

Today I got our patio furniture out of hibernation so Chase and I could sit out and enjoy the sun. I blew bubbles. Tim's made daquiris. I imagined the smell of barbecue and chlorine (noticeably absent from my daydream)

Home depot has all their flowers out. Target has swimsuits. And the huge pile of snow surrounding our mailbox has melted.

Hooray! It's here. Finally! Is it just me or has this winter seemed INCREDIBLY long?

I hate winter. Really really. I hate winter. I'm celebrating the arrival of spring by shopping more than I should. Usually I am really good about money and save up extra 'play money' in a jar.

Currently my jar is empty.

This is why:







I guess spring and summer clothes give me hope that warmth is right around the corner. I cannot WAIT. I won't even post all the things I want to buy for Chase.

On a happy note, Tim and I unwittingly participated in Spring Cleaning on Saturday. I started by putting away all the Valentine's decorations and replacing them with shamrocks and leprechauns. Then I started cleaning out our closet. Let's just say I have clothes that range from size 1 to size 6. The majority of things in my closet don't actually fit me. I find this so incredibly annoying!! Losing weight is great, don't get me wrong. I appreciate the fact that Chase's baby weight melted off in a couple weeks. I know I am lucky and that no one wants to hear me complain about it. But it didn't stop there. I slowly keep changing sizes STILL even though I haven't even been nursing for 5 months. None of my clothes from last summer fit. Definitely none of my clothes from two summers ago when I was 5 months pregnant, and buying a size up, fit. And none of my clothes from three, four, five summers ago fit either. So I have tons of summer clothes, yes. But none that are my size. How ANNOYING. Quite literally, a closet full of clothes and nothing to wear.

So. I got out two huge garbage bags. One for DI, and one for 'clothes that maybe i can wear again someday when i'm a little bit pregnant'. Tim got rid of a bunch of old jackets and shirts he never wears. He actually threw away all his jeans that have been duck-taped together because of numerous holes (he never does that for me). He even got rid of some of his creepy mission ties. We had a mountain of clothes on our bedroom floor. Seriously. a MOUNTAIN. It was amazing. And refreshing. We ended up going through EVERYTHING; and we got rid of a ton of stuff. It felt good.

And now I have an ENTIRE RACK of free closet space. For all the new things I will be buying this Spring of course


Ok, I can't resist. I'll just post one thing for Chase:

Usually it really bothers me if everything doesn't match... For some reason, I love this. Maybe just because the little model looks a lot bit like Chase.

What did YOU did on National Pancake Day?

This is what we did...

We ordered Chase a kids meal for the first time, instead of just feeding him off our plates:
(If that looks like a ton of food, don't worry he ate the eggs, one sausage, and one pancake)
Chase enjoyed Pancake Day... and his kids meal... thoroughly:

He particularly liked the sausages (who knew?):This is what I ate: (Butterscotch Rocks pancakes... mmmm)

Tim was a sell-out and got Country-Fried steak... In his defense they came with pancakes on the side:





Fortunately, friends, if you missed National Pancake Day, you are in luck. This entire week is actually National Pancake Week. So you still have some time to observe the holiday.

Hope you have as much fun celebrating as we did...

Congrats!

Tim got called in to BYU this past week to pick up his comprehensive exams. He's been telling me for the past 3 months that he's sure he failed and he'll have to retake them. Not only did he pass (Yay, he can graduate!!), but he passed without qualifications. Of those in the program who pass, about 90% pass with qualifications, which means they pass, but they have to go back and write some papers and do some extra work to show that they know what they're talking about. 10% pass without qualifications, and are good to graduate. What this means is:

a) Tim is brilliant (I already knew this)
b) Tim doesn't have to find the time to do any extra work. This is really a huge blessing for us because between working full-time, finishing his thesis, doing consulting and freelance, teaching sunday school, and playing with me and Chase... Tim really doesn't have the time to do one more thing.

Also we're really excited that Tim has done so well, because I think he's really felt like the 'slacker' in the program. He's the only one who's been working full-time during grad school, and having a real job means sometimes grad school took a back seat. His exams came back in the top 10% and I think he finally feels like he's shown what he can do and how much he has actually absorbed from grad school. I am so proud of him!

(Sorry for the blog-bragging today, but we are so excited here at our house)

Congrats baby!!

Lava Hot Springs/Valentine's Weekend

Over Valentines weekend Tim and I went up to the hot springs in Idaho. We had such a great time! There is nothing quite like soaking in 115 degree water while it's snowing all around you. Lava is a tiny tiny town in the moutains- 4 restaurants, an ice cream parlor, a library, a gas station, a grocery store, and some houses. It was really quaint and old, and I enjoyed all the culture. It reminded me of Europe actually. (Dad, don't laugh). There were lots of moustaches, hats, and boots. Everyone knew each other and was really friendly.

We stayed at two different inns- both built almost a hundred years ago. Our first inn had private hot tubs you could reserve in the basement. The one they gave us had a little skylight and a waterfall, and all the water came straight in from the springs; we thought it was pretty neat. Our second inn had a bunch of hot spring pools right out their front door and we spent a lot of time soaking there. I spent a lot of time in the jacuzzi tub as well (our first hotel was FREEZING!). Other than that, we explored, eavesdropped on the town gossip, and drove to Pocatello once. I made Tim stop because I saw different kinds of pie flashing on a restaurant sign (Butter Burrs). I didn't end up having pie, but the cinnamon twist was delicious :)

We did our Valentines dinner on Thursday night before we left, and went to the Melting Pot. It took us two hours to eat, but we got the full 4-course meal and it was quite the experience. We had been wanting to try it for a long time now. My favorite course was dessert- we got the a milk chocolate fondue with a marshmallow swirl and cookie crumbs mixed in. Does life get better than that?? Dinner was really delicious, and I also got to wear a nice black dress and come without a diaper bag! (Funny the things that excite you when you are a mom.)


Here is Lava: (What you can see is literally the entire town)

Me in front of a huge old map at the first inn we stayed at. Notice the old furniture:
Tim by the Oregon Trail sign. I wanted to ford the river right here but my team of oxen were ill:
The Lava Hot Springs sign:
Me on the deck of our first inn, which overlooks the Portneuf river:
Tim surprised me by leaving a dozen roses on my seat in the car when we left for Idaho. I don't know where he gets his flowers, but he always buys the best ones.

We didn't take pictures of the springs but here is our second hotel and one of its hot spring pools in the summer:

Happy Valentines Day

Happy Valentines Day, from all of us!

Love,

Tim, Katie, & Chase

Cameras

I officially hate our camera. It was great when it was just me and Tim and we sat still and posed for every picture. Now that we have Chase, ours is driving me nuts. Once I press the button it delays about 3 seconds, or sometimes says "processing" for like 30 seconds. Inevitably, by the time the picture is taken Chase is rarely still in the picture, and if he is, he's usually looking away, lunging at the camera, or has a stoned look on his face. I have to take about 50 shots to get one good one. Anybody with kids have a great recommendation for a camera that actually TAKES the picture when you press the button?? (a lot to ask i know)

I'm thinking about buying this one:
http://www.amazon.com/Canon-PowerShot-SD1100IS-Digital-Stabilized/dp/B0012Y6958/ref=wl_it_dp?ie=UTF8&coliid=I1P6WTE9K6D7RE&colid=2252I829QWASA

or this one:
http://www.amazon.com/Sony-Cybershot-DSCW120-Digital-Optical/dp/B0011EA9FA/ref=wl_it_dp?ie=UTF8&coliid=I6BY181CT4JI3&colid=2252I829QWASA

If you have any experience with either of them, please let me know!