Little Baker

Kaia is my little baker. Practically ever since she could walk, she has insisted on being in the kitchen with me when I am baking or cooking. I'm not talking about her just wanting to be with me, I mean she has to be doing what I'm doing. Even when I try to start baking without her, as soon as that mixer turns on, she comes running. Of course, she learned early that the beaters are the best part of baking- even if I just make bread dough she has to have the beaters (that's OK 'cause I still get the bowl). If she could read I'm sure I could just send her in the kitchen and tell her to make some cookies and she'd do it. When we were making cut out cookies for Valentine's Day, I had to leave the room for some reason. When I got back, she had finished glazing the previous batch with milk and then rolled and cut out the next batch and was pulling away the excess and putting the cookies on the sheet! The most amazing part was she did a great job rolling it out even- I think only one or two of the cookies were slightly thin on the edge! I was quite humbled and significantly impressed by my three year old. Kaia loves every part of baking: the apron, standing on her stool, the measuring and pouring, the mixing, the licking, watching it cook in the oven, the beeper, the hot pads, and of course, the eating. Mmmmmm, sweet dessert! It looks like our family baking tradition is in good hands.

Washington D.C.

One of the great things about living in Pennsylvania is being so close to so many great places to go see- Philadelphia, NY, DC, Niagara, Hill Cumorah, Boston, etc. are all within 4 1/2 hours of our place. There is still so much I want to see that I'm afraid I'm not going to be able to fit it all in (so if anyone wants to come out and go check these places out with me you'd better hurry). Back in April I was able to take a trip with my Mom, sister and kids (again, sorry Dallin) to DC right when the cherry blossoms were out. We loved it! We were impressed with how clean the main part of the city was and for a major metro area it really wasn't that bad to get around in. There was a lot to see and do and the weather was gorgeous. I personally would have loved to have spent more time in the art museums, but with a three year old and a baby that just wasn't going to happen.

I made sure we made it there for the cherry blossoms because that was one of the things that I absolutely loved about Japan and I didn't want to pass up an opportunity to enjoy them again. We were lucky, the timing was perfect and the blossoms were beautiful. I definitely was reminiscing about Japan.

Of course we tried to get to as many monuments as possible and they were all wonderful. The Jefferson was beautiful for me architecturally, but the Lincoln and the new WWII monument were very special and particularly sacred.

We also took in some of the Smithsonian which, little did I know, is actually a whole bunch of different museums. There was some cool stuff, but again, not quite as interesting to the kids. Kaia much preferred to ride the Merry-Go-Round as many times as I could afford.

We did a lot of walking and all got our souvenir T-shirts. A bunch of kids were playing with the branches of a weeping willow tree, so of course Kaia had to do the same.

The DC temple is actually the temple we are assigned to (even though Manhattan and Palmyra are both closer). I had already been a few times before, but we ended up there "accidentally" because I was following those directions just to get to DC and then forgot I needed to switch to the directions for the hotel. Oh well, it's never a loss when you find yourself at the temple.

Well, it was a great time, and if you don't believe me you can come on out and I will gladly go back and show you around!

4th of July

OK, so I'm a little behind, but we had a great time on the 4th of July. We didn't have any other plans and I have really been missing the Farar Family get-togethers, so I decided to have a bunch of our friends over from our ward. Dallin made fish tacos and I made frog-eye salad (Thanks Cody!) and a red, white, and blue cake that I've always wanted to try. One of our guests brought some adorable cupcakes decorated with Teddy Grahams laying on the beach with a fruit roll up towel and an umbrella with fish crackers jumping in the blue frosting water! The kids had a fun time swinging, playing ball, and eating popsicles while the adults played Spoons. Although I've played many times, I hadn't played with Dallin's rule that those who are "out" can get the other players "out" by getting those players to respond to them. There were several "out"ages and even more laughs because of the sly deception of several of our guests! As it turned out, the battle for winner came down to Dallin and I (our company was suspicious of illegal play, but we kept it honest- Honest!). Of course, I won without a single letter against me (you get a letter each time you fail to get a spoon)! Not that I'm bragging or anything. Then we lit a few sparklers for the kids to twirl around. After that everyone left to put kids in jammies before we headed out to watch the fireworks at the ballpark. We managed to light a few of our own in our driveway and Kaia loved setting them up for Dad to light. She also loved all of the "cracker booms" at the ballpark and around our house for the last month. Her favorites were the "sprinkles" ones and the "rain" ones. Kids come up with the best names for things. Needless to say, the day was filled with plenty of food, friends, and fun!

What we're up to

Since we don't get to talk to everyone much, and since I can already tell I'm letting this blogging thing slip a little bit, I thought I would update everyone on what we're doing.

Dallin finished all his classwork back in May. Now he is working on rotations at Dr's offices. He starts with 6 six-week long rotations with each one in a different field. Then he'll have a chance to decide what he wants to specialize in (he currently has no clue) and do 2 or 3 three-month rotations. That should get us to August '09 when Dallin will graduate and be able to take his certifying exam. Is it too early to start counting the days? His first rotation was in orthopedics, which he seemed to like pretty well. This week he is finishing up 3 weeks of pshych and next week he will head to Norwich, NY to do 3 weeks of OB/GYN (for some reason, the doctors around here won't let male students follow them).

Soooo, while the cat's away, the mice will play. I'll be taking the kids to my Mom's place in California, but since the closest and cheapest airport was Las Vegas, we thought we would stay and play there for a little while. We will see some of The Strip stuff (mostly Circus Circus) for a couple of days and then we get to hang out on the lake with my brother and his boat! Poor Dallin, wish he could come with. I wasn't really excited about taking two kids cross country on an airplane all by myself, but something tells me it's going to be worth it. Anyway, I haven't been up to much else except for the usual hold the fort down stuff: laundry, paying bills, singing to, reading to, hollering at, playing with, and loving two cute little kiddos, reading magazines, reading books, cooking, taking kids to play dates, trying to plan the rest of my life, trying to excercise, trying to make kids take naps and eat more than plain bread, string cheese, and juice, gardening, watching Oprah, and eating bon-bons. (Just kidding on the Oprah and bon-bons things- it's my joke with Dallin- it's usually more like watching four Disney's and eating brownies- hehe). Can I just say that as crazy as it is, I'm really glad I get to stay home with my kids? Thank you Dallin for letting me!

I have several random posts planned, so sorry if they are just totally out of order, but at least they will be done (I hope).

Also, sorry I don't have any pictures of me and only a few with Dallin, but this is what happens when you put the three-year-old behind the camera instead of in front of it: