Park Days

There is this super awesome brand new park by our house.  We go quiet often.  There is a play group that my ward has and then when my sister comes over we usually head over there to let the kids run around.   The ground is this rubber bouncy stuff and Mason loves it cause when he runs he bounces a little, the only problem is he is still trying to figure out how to walk on it without falling every 15 feet.  It's great for all ages and all of the kids would stay there all day if they could (babies included).

Oakland Zoo

Recently, since Terrill has had work off we have been able to do some fun things.  It was kind of a rainy morning so we weren't sure if we should go, but then the rain cleared and it was sunny skies again so we headed to the Oakland Zoo.  I was able to get free passes through our library and we took Hudson with us because we thought he would love it.  By the end of the day, Mason and him were buddies.  The weather was beautiful and the whole trip was a blast! Needless to say we pooped them out...

Mason - 15 Months Old

Oh Mason.  What a fun, playful and goofy kid.  I love him to pieces and he is growing up every day!! He is now 15 months old and here is a list of some things he is doing at this age.

- Getting into anything and everything he can get his hands on

- Learning and using baby sign language - please, more, all done, milk, nap and eat

- Knows where is hair, feet and mouth are

- Loves giving mommy and daddy hugs and kisses all the time

- Love the park and running around outside

- Sleeps consistently 12 hours every night and is starting to only take one nap...(sad day)

- Loves looking at books having us read to him

- Learning to use a spoon and fork

- Has gone pee and poo on the potty (TMI), I put him on the potty every day to get him used to the idea

- Loves putting things on his head and having them fall off - it is the most hilarious thing to him

I am just so grateful he is in my life.  Just today I had an important doctor visit where I was anxious about some test results.  Just having Mason there lightened the mood and made me happy.  He has such a sweet demeanor and I am lucky to be his mom!!  

Loving Sunny California

Oh how I have been loving the weather here.   Honestly,  I just love where we live.  I feel so blessed every day.  But I don't want to get so comfortable where I live that it would be really hard to adjust to moving again.  I am not saying we are moving any time soon, I just don't want to become so comfortable in one place that I can't be an adaptable person.  I am so used to moving frequently, that is all I have ever known! Anyways, we have been really enjoying the time that Terrill has had off and been spending a lot of time outside.  We found a really fun place to hike only 15 minutes from our house! It has beautiful views and wildlife.  There is something about being outside that just makes me so happy. 

Utah Trip/Moms Surgery

About 2 weeks ago I got back from an 11 day trip to Utah to see my mom and help her recover after her surgery.   A couple of months ago she was having some discomfort in her throat and a cough.  She went to the doctor and she prescribed her some allergy medicine and sent her on her way.  My mom knew that it wasn't allergies so she took herself to an ears, nose and throat specialist.  They did a sonogram and found that she her thyroid was inflamed and they found cancer on it.  They scheduled the surgery right away to get in removed.  When she told me I was really scared but then she continued to explain that they had confirmed that it hadn't spread and that it was one of the best kind of cancers to get because it is easy to removed.   So my sister and I made arrangements to go to Utah to be there for her while she had surgery.  It was pretty stressful making sure she was okay between the both of us with taking care of the babies, but I am so glad that we were there to help her through it, especially since my dad isn't there anymore to help her with things like that.  It was weird to see my mom come out of surgery all hooked up to a bunch of stuff, but I was so happy that she was recovering and getting through it.  She is such a strong and amazing person.  She has so much faith about her life and just doesn't fear things like I do.  I am happy to report that is almost fully recovered.  She has gone back to work almost full time and is trying her best to keep up with all that snow in Utah!

Terrill's New Job

We have been very blessed lately to have Terrill home with us for a few weeks.  He will be starting a new job at Stanford Medical on Monday (2/11).  He is very excited for what the future holds for him there! Recently we went out to Cheesecake Factory to celebrate this new adventure.  

This is a picture taken from a training he went to for his new job in Wisconsin.

Canning Applesauce

Sprouts is my favorite place to get produce because they have the best deals on Produce! Especially on Wednesdays when they honor both last week and this weeks sales.  Recently they were having a sale on all their apples (Braeburn, fuji, granny smith  gala etc) for 49 cents a lb.  I called my sister to tell her and we decided to can some applesauce since the apples were so cheap!! I walked out of Sprouts later that week with 60 lbs of apples! I also wanted to write down the steps we took in Canning so I could use it as a reference for future projects so here it is.

*We didn't add any sugar to our applesauce to make it more healthy but many recipes will have you do that.

What you will need: 

-Jars for Canning
-Apples
-Huge pots to sanitize jars and Can your applesauce (see pictures below)
-Food processor
-Apple peeler or potato peeler

Directions:

1. Sanitize your jars and lids for 10 minutes in boiling water.  They have to be jars that have never been canned before otherwise they won't work.
2. Peel and cut your apples.  We peeled each apple and then cut it into slices like we were going to eat it.
3.  Put cut apples into some boiling water and cook until tender.  About 15 minutes.
4.  Put cooked apples in a food processor with a little bit of the water from the pot.  Blend until pureed. Put the applesauce in sanitized jars.  Fill the jar with applesauce until it is just below the lid line  ***Very important*** Make sure you wipe off any applesauce that may have spilled around the lid area.  This needs to be clean when you can.
5.  Put the lids on the jars full of applesauce and completely submerse in boiling water (standing up) for 20 minutes.
6.  Remove jars and let cool.  Mark on the jar the date so you know how long they will be good for.

DIY Stencil Cabinet

It's been a while since I have blogged.  January was filled with a lot of fun projects, a trip to Utah and the beginning of some warm weather!! Earlier this month I found an idea on http://www.thesassypepper.blogspot.com/2012/10/diy-furniture-stenciling.html to redo a new TV stand.  I found a cabinet on craigslist for $30 and started to get to work.  

Before

After

Here are some of the steps I did.

1. Painted the whole thing white.  1 coat of primer and 2 coats of white paint.

2.  Stenciled the doors.  I used a martha stewart stencil from Amazon.  As you can see the one that I took a picture of didn't work and I ended up using a different color and stencil.

3. Then I did 2 coats of varnish on the whole thing.

3.  The finished product with the TV on it! The color I ended up using is the color of our walls so it worked out well!