Happy Birthday, Love.

We manage to really stretch birthdays out around here. (Although, we aren't still celebrating Tom's birthday - I'm just finally posting about it!) Anyway, this year it went like this.

Friday, August 28 - pick up a slice of real birthday cake from The Original Chocolate Bar because Logan can't have eggs and I'm all for birthday cake. Got the Uncle Darryl's. Ohhhh, baby. Share it later that night while watching the latest episode of Wipeout. Such a good end of day, decompression show.

Saturday, August 29 - go out for Tom's birthday to Amazon, on the recommendation of a friend. It was so so so amazing. It's not really Mexican food, but it's just... Well it's different. For example, instead of chips and salsa, they have thinly sliced banana chips - but not the ones that make you feel like you're eating sweetened quarters. They're sliced thinly lengthwise and not sweetened at all. Then, for 'salsa' you've got one of three options - a creamy jalapeno/cilantro dip (think cafe rio dressing and if not better, at least as good. I know, blaspheme.), a roasted corn salsa, or a way-better-than-it-looks-or-even-than-I-thought-possible cilantro pesto that absolutely rocked. And that was just the free stuff before the meal. You actually order like it's a fast food restaurant, so no waiter = no tip to tack on the bill. Nice. Anyway, the whole meal was just so nicely composed. All the flavors were fully supportive and transitional into the next thing and everything was just so. dang. good. Can you tell I've been reliving that one in my head ever since? Mmm. Unfortunately, it's down in Rice Village so it's a bit of a drive from here for eating there too often but that's OK. It keeps it special. After that, we had been planning to go see a light show at Miller Outdoor Theater but summer thunderstorms put a damper on that. (Hah!) So, instead, we stood in the parking lot of Amazon and watched an amazing lightning storm that never got too close and just talked and talked. It was so great.

Sunday, August 30 - Tom's birthday for real. We went to church, came home and had lunch and then broke out the other birthday cake that was safe for Logan. The boys had been so excited about getting ready for Daddy's birthday and we wanted to do a birthday party that they could have fun with. So we did cake and presents, the whole nine yards. The boys had each picked out a giant bouncy ball for Tom - which I loved. The cake was a big hit too.

Logan instructing Tom on how to blow out the 'crystal.'
I'm really loving this whole draw on wax paper with candy melts and flip it over method of cake decorating. Tom's mom pointed out that he'd celebrated his fourth birthday at the cabin and since we had just gotten back from there, I thought I'd do a cabin cake too. The boys helped with the sprinkles.

We then took a week off from celebrating...

Saturday, September 5th: Aggie game! It was really fun to go to the game and even more fun to have the Ags not stink it up. In fact, they played really well! And BYU beat o.u. to boot! There were a lot of tired, happy men in church on Sunday having their own celebrations, I'm sure.

On another note, I finally finished painting the house! Finally! Done! Finished!!! Now I just need to finish all the other little projects I've got going and reclaim my garage. We're getting there, though. Slowly but surely.

Cabin Fever

Hotel Security

We're back! You know, leading up to this week, Tom and I have often said, "There's no such thing as a vacation with kids - they're all just trips." I think we even threw that in there a few times through the course of the week. I am, however, thrilled to report that we had a fantastic vacation!!! We returned home feeling rested and happy and so so blessed. There were so many miracles through the course of the week, both big and small, that helped us to really have a special experience. I'll give you the quick run down, spare you the blow-by-blow, and throw a few little stories in for good measure.

Last Saturday we flew up to Salt Lake to join the rest of Tom's family for the kickoff of the unofficial Bogardus Family Reunion.Tom's mom has been in the Tabernacle Choir for the last seven years - I think it's seven - and is now come to the end of what has been the fulfillment of a lifelong dream. In fact, in Sunday's Music and the Spoken Word program (her final performance), they sang Climb Every Mountain. That's about the point where I started to get choked up. I was glad it was time to bolt for the Conference Center when they started singing God Be With You 'Til We Meet Again.

We were able to be there for her final performance, even though no kids under eight were permitted inside the Conference Center during recording. There's something so moving about seeing someone live out their dream. It was awesome. Logan was a little disappointed that we didn't get to be inside the main concert hall but as soon as we got inside to go congratulate Gammy on a job well done, he bolted for a chair and got to hear the Tabernacle Choir sing Happy Birthday to You to someone.

We'll have to go back for the full deal sometime after he's eight.

After that we took some pictures around Temple Square and then got on the road for what would feel like one of the longest drives of my life. One of my favorites from Temple Square is this one that my sister shot of Logan. It's always so great to see her and there's never ever enough time.

I think we sort of jumped in with both feet on our first road trip with the guys. Considering the circumstances, they both did really well.

Bonneville Salt Flats
Dallin contemplating wide open spaces

What should've been an eleven hour drive stretched out into the neighborhood of sixteen as we travelled from Salt Lake City, across Nevada and into Susanville, California. From there we went up, up, up into the mountains to the totally-worth-the-drive Bogardus family cabin, perched on Silver Lake in the middle of Lassen National forrest. (So, I am giving you the blow-by-blow, aren't I? Hmm.) The cabin/Silver Lake is Tom's special place in this world and I have to say, the love affair is contageous. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.
It was such a beautiful, relaxing week with family and fun and not much else. Each day we tried to do something a little extra special, whether hiking the cliff or sailing around the lake.

Logan caught his first fish and spent pretty much the entire week in a state of euphoria. The funny thing is that the fish only added to the euphoria.

It was good to watch my guys discover the outdoors and pretty reassuring to myself and Tom that it still exists as we remember it. It's just the Texas weather that's less than inspiring for outdoor activities. Don't get me wrong - there are fun and good things to do in Texas - we're just spoiled.

The view out to the lake while falling asleep

Dallin only got lost in the forest and had to be returned to us by some stranger in a pickup truck once. He'd taken off down a trail and was picked up about a half a mile away from our cabin, still running. After that, he didn't get to wear shoes for the remainder of the week - he was slower that way. That boy may be the death of me.

It really was a wonderful week, though. It's the first time I've really been to the cabin since we've been married and definitely the first time I've needed the cabin, if that makes sense. It was so renewing to have life be so simple and in such a breathtakingly beautiful setting. I'm not sure quite how to express it and Heaven knows, my brain is fried. I've been up since 4 a.m. and it's now 1:11 a.m. Today I feel grateful for the tender mercies of the Lord and for quiet places and mountain lakes to enjoy and share with my family where His voice is still undiluted by the world. Everyone should have that kind of place in their life.

Saying goodbye to an old friend

Bomb squad

I'm not going to lie. I haven't loved today. Does anyone have any ideas on how to help your house survive toddler-hood, more specifically Dallin's toddler-hood? In the last week he's broken: the door on the tv armoire (split down the middle as he joyfully slammed it into the mantle), his closet door (ripped out of the track and wheel broken off as he scaled the contents of his closet), and one shelf and a drawer in the fridge (I woke this morning to a loud crash - he'd gone downstairs and had opened the fridge and was climbing it). I cannot leave him for five, nay, two minutes without him getting into something - and I have a pretty baby proof house. Yesterday, within seriously two minutes of leaving my sight, he managed to get into my closet, locate the orange oil furniture polish, and begin basting himself with it amidst all my clothing. As I type, I'm sitting in the stairwell so that when (not if) he comes out of his room, I can intercept him before he goes in and wakes up Logan. We'll do this for the next hour, probably, and he's exhausted. It's a good thing he's cute.

Budding artist

Logan's pictures make me smile. This is him and Dallin.

You're smiling now too, aren't you?

The Big 04!

I love doing birthday cakes for my kids. There's something about that *Gasp!* "That's for me?!?!" face that speaks straight to my soul. Logan had been drawing pictures for me that showed what he wanted his birthday cake to look like - which was essentially a circle with a car on it. "No, Mama. I don't want the cake to be a car, I want a circle cake with a car on it!"

Gotcha, kid.

**Warning: Not for the food coloring intolerant. **

**However, I figure birthdays come but once a year.**

I decided that since we were doing a circle cake and all, I wanted to do something that was still wow. I found the idea for a rainbow cake online, and this is how it went! (I can't figure out why this first picture is loading like this. It's landscape on my computer, landscape on the thumbnail, and portrait after uploading. Sorry for making you turn your neck!)

I discovered after mixing up all the cake batters (two white cake mixes and 32oz 7-up - that's it!) that somehow, my 9" rounds have disappeared so I had to make do with a couple of 9" squares. I'm just glad I had two! The birthday boy didn't seem to notice.

Just by way of information, in case anyone decides to give this a shot in the future, I divided the cake mix by 1.5 cups into 6 bowls. Since I was doing rainbow I started with red in one pan and then went from the opposite end in the other. Whatever your first color is in the pan, use about 2/3 of your color. I then used a 1 c measure to scoop the colors in concentric-ish circles. Swirling won't make it more psychedellic.

How many muppets had to die?!

For the racecar on top, I knew there was no way I'd be able to freehand a decent one in icing. So, I printed off a simple picture of one, laid some wax paper over it and traced it in candy melts. $0.99 condiment bottles work great for this. Start with your outline, let it harden, fill in any details, let those harden, and then do your overall color.

Awesome.

Days in the making

**I'm going to be doing 3 or 4 posts over the next day or two - so check back often!**

You know, sometimes blogging is hard (not that this is an excuse or anything.) I admire those of you who post regularly, even if it's just a couple of adorable pictures of your kids with seriously like, three sentences. You know who you are. I would like to be like this - nay - I'm going to be more like this! Okay, that's it. We're doing this more regularly. Period.

So, since May and last you heard, we had a dog and a flooded car. Fortunately, the car situation got sorted out - thank you full coverage insurance. Our neighbors who have lived in this neighborhood for 15 years assure us that this street has never, ever flooded like that (or anything remotely close to it) but whenever it rains, I still have the compulsive urge to go move my car even if it's already in the garage.

Jack, the dog, has also left us. My brother is deploying to Afghanistan in a month and Jack was able to rejoin his family as they get settled in South Carolina. It's going to be a long six months for everyone.

I've been getting more and more brave in my projects, though. I think it all started with the house, really. There's something about being able to paint a rental (and having your landlord give you free reign) that helps develop bravery. It's really been an interesting process of self discovery that I'll probably get into more in another post. (Remember how we're doing this more regurlarly now?) Don't worry - I've been writing that one in my head for about a month. It's just a matter of getting this one done first. Anyway, in the last couple of months, these:

became these.

And this (a $3 display for a Lord of the Rings sword that I found at Goodwill):

became this (a concrete way for me to feel like I've accomplished something.)

The ugly, but free headboard I got off of craigslist (see the flying/flaming pretzel?):

Became something a lot more awesome:

The formerly bleh living room:

Became something I'm pretty proud of. (I promise my kids do more than watch tv.)

It's all a work in progress, though. Alright, gotta run - but I'll post more later (Logan's birthday, Discovery Green, etc.) In the meantime, I'll leave you with this:

We've been staying busy, though.

Back on the grid

Stay tuned...

A picture is worth a thousand words...

I think I've been avoiding posting because so so so so so much has happened in the last month or so that whenever I start thinking about updating it just feels like it's not a good time. The irony of this is that it's nearly midnight right now and I took something to help me sleep about two and a half hours ago. So, long story short, if I'm not entirely coherent, bear with me. Anyway, it's been a full month.

We have a new addition to the family - albeit a temporary one. We're dog sitting while my brother gets his family situated before he deploys for Afghanistan in September. I'm glad that we can pitch in. The part I was unprepared for, however, was this.

I haven't had a dog since I was about 10 and even then, he was outside all of the time. I try to vacuum daily but I've never seen anything like the way that dog sheds. Jacks a good dog, though.

We've been making progress on our house too.

Our landlord has been kind enough to allow us to do whatever we want to the place and just take it out of our rent. So we paint. And paint. I've been working mostly on ceilings so that I can start doing walls. Walls are way more fun.

But then we had a less fun incident.

That's my car, and that's water. We got 10" of rain over the course of about two hours after having major thunderstorms all day. This picture was taken at 3:30 in the morning when we realized that our street had become a river. We were not thrilled. The car was totalled. It'll all work out though.

At any rate, that's us for the moment. Happy Mother's Day everyone!

Bluebonnet Pictures

My sister's been here in Texas for the last couple of weeks because she had some clients book her for photography sessions that were out here. PS, she's really talented. Let me know if you want her info. Anyway, here are a couple of the shots she took of the boys. More forthcoming, but here's a few for starters.

Our latest adventure...

Ok, so it's been almost two months since you last heard from me - but what a two months it's been! There have been so many little moments when I've thought, "I really ought to blog this," but it kind of got to the point where there was so much going on and I didn't feel like sitting down to type an online epistle about everything. Anyway, long story short, we got a job transfer and moved back to Houston about a week ago. We're just getting settled in to our dirtier-than-we-expected house and I'm trying not to let the cleaning bee in my bonnet get the best of me. Meaning, I'm trying to focus on getting one room really clean each day instead of getting A) so obsessive about it that I stay up all night cleaning or B) so global and overwhelmed about everything that I just ignore it entirely.

On top of yet another move just four months after relocating to Beaumont (was it really only four months?!), and in the same day, Dallin turned two, decided that he was too big for his crib, and decided he hates wearing diapers/pants/clothing. That's been a pretty big adventure in and of itself. We've resorted to cutting all the feet out of his jammies and zipping him in backwards so as to avoid the whole midnight stripping thing and sadly, once he gets his clothes off, there's no keeping a diaper on him. Tom even tried using duct tape to keep him from pulling it off but he still managed to shimmy out somehow. *sigh* That kid. It's a good thing he's cute.

We also got a dog. My brother's going to be deploying to Afghanistan in the fall and his family is going to be living on base in North Carolina while he's gone, so we volunteered to take one of their dogs until they have a place for him in a year or so. He's a 5 year old, 100# white lab and about as sweet and sedate as they come. It's been really fun seeing the boys with him and everyone's getting along great. I think one of the most exciting parts though has been Logan's lack of an allergic reaction. Granted, he's been getting four allergy shots per week for nearly a year but you can't appreciate how allergic he was to dogs. It's just been really exciting to feel like somehow, everything we've been doing is working and that he's got a shot at enjoying a normal life instead of being limited by his allergies. I've got an order for labwork to see how his food allergies are coming along, so I'll keep you posted.

I'm sorry for the lack of pictures on this post. There are some on my now-functioning camera downstairs but it's 7:40 a.m, the boys are waking up, and I've got a hot date with a treadmill at 9. However, I wanted to post this video. It's meant a lot to me through all this.

Betcha'd never guess...

I'm not sure it'd shock anyone too badly to find out that every other journal entry from my mission starts with, "Well, it's been a month," or "Well, it's been several weeks." Really. But between the holidays and a camera that's been in the shop for repairs, I've had a hard time feeling too inspired to sit down and hammer out a blog entry. I'm back now, though. Promise :)

In the name of blooming where we're (trans)planted, we've been trying to find things to do here that we wouldn't necessarily be able to do in Houston. We were able to find a Christmas tree farm about a half hour away, so we drove out there and had fun running around between all the trees to find and cut our own. The weather was perfect and the boys had so much fun playing and being crazy. This is about the time the camera fell out of my pocket and jammed the lens, so that's why we have no pictures from the holidays. I'll fore go the thousand words for each picture missed, though. Suffice to say, we had a great Christmas up in College Station and a fun time just being home with Daddy. Tom had some time off for the holidays, so it was nice to not have too much to do. Honestly, our big feat for the time was getting our closet cleaned out and organized. (You'd be more impressed if you knew what it looked like before, though!)

Then I turned 29.

Aaaand then I joined a gym. I was a little concerned to begin with, as the wellness center here is pretty much the only workout facility around. It's really nice, don't get me wrong, but I don't really need underwater treadmills or a cushioned maple basketball court. Add on exorbitant membership fees AND $20 per week in childcare and it just wasn't working for me. Fortunately, I stumbled on to another gym that's a little more tucked away and a lot more affordable. So, that's what I do every day for two hours. Partially because the boys and I both enjoy it and partially because there's not much else to do around here. It works out well, though. (So to speak.)

I've been taking Logan to get his four allergy shots every week. It's not fun, but he's been a champ. I feel like we're starting to see some progress as far as his appetite goes and just his allergy symptoms in general. Hopefully after a year or so of this, he'll be able to go off of the additional meds that he takes every day. We're still looking at another good four years of weekly shots, though. We'll re-test next July to see if there's been any improvement with his food allergies. As a side note, however, I've found some awesome recipes lately. The whole egg-free baking thing is really a pain. Add the fact that Logan is a dang picky eater on top of that and food is generally a struggle at our house. I've been trying to find ways to add in more fiber/protein to his diet. This recipe is perfect for that. Now, before you get too sicked out by the ingredients list, let me assure you that in spite of a) being made with black beans and pureed prunes baby food, and b) having 18 grams of protein and 21 grams of fiber in the recipe, these are AWESOME. (You're totally grossed out, huh?) Seriously, though. You should try these. My kids loved them and I thought they were really good too.

Black Bean Cupcakes

Sugar 1 and 1/4 cups
Prune puree 1/2 cup (two of those little plastic Gerber tubs)
Water 2 tablespoons
Canola oil 1/3 cup
Black beans, drained, rinsed and pureed one 15.5oz can or 1 and 1/2 cups of cooked beans)
Vanilla Extract 2 teaspoons
All purpose flour 1 cup
Cocoa powder 1/2 cup
Baking powder 2 teaspoons
Baking soda 1/2 teaspoon
Cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon
Mini-Chocolate chips - 1/3 cup
Yield: 12 regular size cupcakes and 12 mini cupcakes. (or 16 regular size)

Procedure

1) Preheat oven to 375F. Grease or line with paper liners 1 regular size muffin tin and 1 mini muffin tin.
2) Drain the black beans from the can, rinse it well under running water and puree it in a food processor/blender using approximately 1/4 cup of water. The puree should be very smooth without any lumps.
3) To this also add the sugar, prune puree, 2 tablespoons of water, canola oil and vanilla extract. Process/blend it again for another 2-3 minutes. Transfer it to a large bowl.
4) In a small bowl whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon.
5) Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients in 3 parts. That is, first add 1/3rd of the flour mixture to the bean and prune puree, mix it well. Then add another 1/3rd and then the last 1/3rd of the flour mixture. Fold in chocolate chips. Having some lumps is fine. I found that using a wire whisk to mix the batter worked well than using a spatula. The batter was in the consistency of pancake batter. Initially I felt that the quantity of the wet ingredients was way too much, but once I started mixing it to the flour I was relieved to find out that the proportions were getting right.
6) Fill the muffin wells 2/3rds full, around 3 tablespoons of the batter. For the mini muffin tin, just use 1 tablespoon. I placed both the muffin tins in the same rack. The mini muffins were done by 9 minutes and the regular size muffins around 14 minutes. Oven temperatures may vary so check for doneness by inserting a toothpick in the center and it should come out clean.
7) Cool in pan for 5 minutes. Slide a knife around the edges of the cupcake and invert the tin slowly. The cupcakes will fall down, cool them on a rack. Frosting is optional.

Notes: Use Baker's Joy or some other non-stick spray if not using paper liners. Unsweetened applesauce can also be used instead of prune puree. Cupcakes are better once they've cooled.

Anyway, there you go. If you're feeling adventurous, I highly recommend this recipe. If you're interested, this and other really great vegetarian/vegan recipes can be found at http://www.egglesscooking.com/.

Let's see... the short list of other things that have been going on:

• We bought a new (to us) car. It's a 2007 Mazda5 touring and I love it. It's a good compromise car. I can totally understand why people love their minivans and all, but I drove one in high school and feel pretty meh about them. I know we've come a long way since the wood panel caravans, but still. I'm opposed to paying that much for something I'm not crazy about. (Imagine the windows tinted.)

• Dallin's been to the ER 3 times for dermabond and steri-strips. (Two chin gashes and an eyebrow.) Finally, we got some of our own. Thanks Nancy!


• Logan is in love with puzzles and can put together a 36 piece puzzle in under a minute. We're pretty sure he's got a photographic memory. Case in point: We have a lot of puzzles. We have about six that are all the same size and dimensions, but have different pictures on them. I was cleaning his room up one evening and found a puzzle piece hiding under his bed. I tossed it on to the train table where it landed, face down. The next day, we were sitting on his bed talking and he asked me to hand him the blue planet piece. I looked around, unsure of what he was talking about. I saw the puzzle piece on the table exactly where it'd landed the night before, pointed and said, "That?" "Yes, please." I picked it up to hand it to him, turned it over and what was on it? A blue planet.


• We got a wii and spend too many evenings playing mario kart. There's something therapeutic about it. Let me know if you want to be wi-fi friends.


• The guy who lived across the street from us OD'ed and died a few weeks ago. Yikes.

That's kind of all I can think of for right now. There are some other things in the works, but I'll get back to you when there's more to report. Right now it's all kind of hypothetical. (Not to be cryptic or anything.) Anyway, that's the latest. I'll try to be better about posting and now that my camera is finally fixed, I'll be able to start taking pictures again too!