Utah Trip June 2010---Chapter 1

ABOVE: This is a picture representation of how each post will slowly unveil our adventures ;-) hee hee.

Alrighty! Let the story begin. In June it was vacation time for the Barlows. We were going up for one of my best friends weddings!!! We were also going to go up to Brigham City and spend a little of Thursday, Mom Barlow's birthday, & all of Saturday with the Barlows. At that time we were planning on coming back in July for the Barlow reunion, because John's older brother had a month leave from the army in July. The original plan was to head home Sunday and try to be back for Father's Day dinner. We headed up to Utah on a Wednesday after John got off work. It took us a total of 16 hours on the road (not including our over night stay) just to get to American Fork, UT. YIKES!!!! Traveling with a baby is so much different, longer, and a whole lot more work. But my baby is worth every bit of effort. We missed a turn in Kingman on the way to Vegas. We ended up going to Needles, CA and adding about an extra hour to our already lengthy trip. Oops! We stopped in Vegas and stayed the night with my cousin Heather and her family. It was wonderful! John slept. Not  Heather and I, we stayed up until like 4 or 5 in the morning. I'm not even sure how late it was. It was crazy late, well actually early. But we had the best time talking and analyzing life =D That was the first of our "weekly visits" that lasted for the next 4 weeks.

So, the next morning, Thursday, we got back on the road again about 9:30AM. We thought that we would have plenty of time to go up to Brigham City and spend some time with mom on her birthday. Then go back down to Pleasant Grove area and go out to dinner with Jenn and spend the rest of the evening with her.
Well, plans changed. Our stops took longer than planned. We got stuck in traffic approaching Spanish Fork, UT and it lasted through Provo. So, in the end we didn't go to Brigham on Thursday. We met Jenn and her parents @ Chili's for dinner. Went back to Jenn's apt. and talked and talked and enjoyed the nervousness and the anticipation on her wedding eve. The wedding was Beautiful! It was in the Mt. Timpanogos Temple. The Sealer was hilarious and gave great advice. One that really stuck with me is that he compared the trials in our marriage relationships to a wound on our hand. In a nutshell he said, if you keep "scratching" at it, meaning nagging, or fault-finding etc. it'll only gets worse and can lead to more pain. If you give it the love and attention it needs then it will heal and you can be happy. That was a rough summary, but I hope you get the point. The luncheon and reception were lovely. It was just so wonderful to see my sweet Jenn so HAPPY!!!! Jared you are one amazingly lucky guy, you got Barbie!(The Barbie thing is from an experience we had on our cruise a couple years ago) You know how many guys I've seen try to win her heart?
Anyway, the only sad part was that her wedding cake fell! It slid off the back of the table and onto the grass. It was tragic! We tried to salvage some of it. But it was still heartbreaking for the bride especially.
All in all it was a beautiful wedding, beautiful reception, beautiful couple and I'm so thrilled that I could be there.

BELOW: The happy couple and his family getting ready for a pic.

BELOW: Bryce and John in front of the Mt. Timp Temple

BELOW: Bryce and I waiting outside the temple to greet the new "Ainge" family.

BELOW:  Another happy couple and there sweet boy trying to capture a family picture.

Attempt 1

BELOW:  Attempt 2

BELOW:  Attempt 3

We never did achieve a successful family photo that day. Or since come to think of it. Sad. 

Let's Eat Together!

When dinner time rolls around or is just wrapping up, do you feel like you've got the downy-frowny-dinner-dog-blues? Are you sometimes sick and tired of the same old things? On the other hand, isn't it just the worst feeling to make a new dish for the family and have it turn out bad!?! I mean all those wasted ingredients, time, energy, and the pain it puts your taste buds through! Ugh, you leave the meal feeling like it would have been better to dine with Fido.

(note: this is not our dog. But we thank him for being our model)

Just wanted to draw your attention to the 

"Tried and Tasty Recipes"

  page (above) that I started. I always appreciate tested and approved recipes from others whom I trust. My purpose in this page, is to give that same service to others. I'm not a chef or even an expert. I'm just a young wife and mother trying to learn and develop skills in the kitchen. The recipes are simple enough that I can do them, so nothing too gourmet will be happening anytime soon =D. I hope the 

"Tried and Tasty Recipes"page

  proves to be helpful in expanding your recipe collection AND in putting a smile on yours and your families faces at dinner time.

(Above photo borrowed from FOTOSEARCH, Thanks!)
After all, let's face it. It's time to  

BE together and EAT together!

But we want it to be a positive experience, moms included;-)

Elder L. Tom Perry said, "I think one of the most important things that has been lost is family mealtime together. ...Convenience foods, fast foods, eating on the run have replaced the nurturing setting of a family circle which feeds both body and soul."
Now, don't get me wrong. Buying a pizza some nights is a life saver! And going out to eat is often such a welcome treat! I'm not anti-"living life" and doing what needs to be done. But, I am PRO-Family!! And if family mealtime is going to enhance my family then sign me up!! I'm making my best effort to make family mealtime doable and enjoyable. Both in eating it and the creative process of making something from nothing! I hope you enjoy witnessing my quest to eat well and eat together =D And please share your tips, tricks and success stories!

Summary of My Culinary Story

I'm new. I'm learning. I'm inexperienced. This picture represents me in the kitchen until, well... quite recently. Ha Ha Ha =) Growing up I was surrounded by amazing cooks! My mother is one of them. She tried to teach me and involve me many times, but man did I hate cooking. I loved eating, but I hated how much work went into something that was gone in less than an hour. After I graduated from high school I started picking up a little here and there. I eventually had enough to be able to live on my own and keep myself alive ;-) I even got married without really knowing how to cook. About 6 months after I was married in 2008 I got into cooking from scratch. I LOVED it!!!! And I was getting pretty good at it, I felt. Although, I've got to be honest. Every meal I cooked I was on the phone with my mom as she would help to walk me through it, even when I was using a recipe. I still have to call her sometimes. Anyway, then the holidays came which slowed things down for some reason. Then we got pregnant (yes, "we" did. Its an event that effects the whole family you know ;-) shortly thereafter. At that point, I couldn't even step in the kitchen!!! (Literally I had to hold my breath and run past) I was so sensitive to the sight and smell of my kitchen. It just makes me sick even thinking about how sick it would make me! =( So, for the majority of my pregnancy the kitchen was off limits for me. Because of that, John made it all.

Below- A wonderful love-filled breakfast masterpiece made by my sweet husband during the first trimester.

I eventually got back in the kitchen later in my pregnancy.
Below- Making breadsticks for Sunday night dinner (if I remember correctly).

 Sometime in the middle of the pregnancy my mother and family gave me a late wedding gift. It was a machine called a BlendTec Mix'nBlend. This machine is amazing!! More about that in another post. Anyway, it really got me wanting to learn more about how to make bread and other, more advanced (atleast to me), cooking.
Below- Learning to make bread at my Aunt and Uncle's home.

Below- Making HOMEMADE WHOLE WHEAT Cinnamon rolls! WOW!!! Now this is a LABOR of Love. I mean LABOR!!!! It took us practically the whole day. We had a recipe and we even had watched it done. But it's just different when your new at baking, and grinding your own wheat etc. But WOWZA were they DELICIOUS!!

Below- These pictures are for no other reason then to make your mouth water and just to make you go...yummmmm.

After Bryce was born it took a few months to recover from the trauma and complications. I couldn't be alone so my mom stayed with us all that time. Anyhow, we watched Food Network channel all day. Really I'm not joking, quite literally ALL day. In fact, it got to the point that when a certain show would come on I knew John would be home from work soon. Ha Ha Ha! That is kinda pathetic, but you know what? Looking back now it makes me smile =) During that time I learned SOOOOO much! Not just from watching Food Network (which by the way I think they do an amazing job at inspiring you!), but talking to my mom about what I saw and questions I had. This was an awesome opportunity. However, this is really all the stuff I should have learned when I was growing up. I would have too if I wasn't such a stubborn (and sometimes rotten) anti-cooking teenager. Anyway, my desire to cook grew and grew and just over took me. As soon as I was able I got in the kitchen and made meals. I read recipe books. Sometimes I plan it out and sometimes I don't. I look for pretty simple ideas, but with a lot of good taste and generally healthy. I just LOVE to make food! I love it when dinner time comes around and I get to perform a magic show in my kitchen! I feel like a kid sometimes, I just want to go out in the street and yell, 

"Hey! Look what I did!! Look what I just made! Me, not a Chef. Not a cooking superstar. Not a box. Not a restuarant. Just ME!" 

I hope you feel more inspired. I realize that my culinary credentials are lacking, but that is all the more reason that I feel I can say that

"If I can find bliss in cooking, ANYONE can and learn to love it too!".

Cake Decorating 101

Yay for creating!! Yes Yes, I love to create. I've wanted to learn to decorate cakes for years! I never new that there were classes available until last year when my co-worker had said that she and her daughter were taking one at Michael's. So, I thought about my niece Amanda whom I thought would love to take this class also! So, this was her gift for her birthday in May of 2009. Now, do not be confused. This is NOT an old post or old pictures. We did not take the class until June 2010! It's true that I often unintentionally procrastinate, but this was not the case this time. Between my schedule, Amanda's schedule and the baby being born (followed by all the complications and the hospital stays) the first open month we both had was June of 2010, over a year later! Or so we thought. So, the first day of class we showed up to the store early to sign-up. After we paid they handed us a list of items we needed for the first class including an entire list of "things to bring from home" which included 6 cookies each! WHAT?!? Now let me tell you, I've been calling 4 different Michael's locations every month for over a year and not one of them mentioned that you would need anything for your first class. They always told me that we just needed to come into the store to sign-up. I even specifically asked, both in times past and on this occasion if I could just come early to sign-up on the day class started. And they said YES! So, WARNING you will need to bring things to your first class. Anyway, Amanda and I were frantically running around Michael's trying to buy what we needed for class. Then we were going to sprint to Wal-Mart and by the "Stuff from home" items, like scissors, tape, glue stick, wax paper, towel etc. Luckily, just as we had purchased the Michael's stuff and were headed out the door, the teacher/instructor was coming in the door. We could tell it was her by all of her cake decorating stuff and her apron. So, I stopped her and explained the situation and asked her, for time and money purposes, what were the most crucial things we needed from Wal-Mart. She looked at the list and said we could borrow all of her stuff and just use our practice board instead of cookies. PHEW! That was a great blessing for me! YES! Anyway, week 2 we had to bring our own cake. Week 3 I ended up in Utah instead of at class. The plan was to come back from Utah on Sunday ( and thus I'd be at class on Tuesday), but then things changed and we stayed in Utah through Wednesday. I'll explain all that in another post. Point here is that my mom and Amanda went that week and decorated cupcakes and learned TONS of stuff! That was a really bad week to miss. Thankfully, they both practiced the new things with me when I got home. Then week 4 we had to bring our own cakes again. Week 4 we wanted to have more time to decorate during class, rather than work on tinting icing and what not. So, we tried to get it all done at home AND be on time to class. We also wanted to improve the taste of the icing used to ice the cake so we tried a new recipe. It was tastier. However, as you can tell from our pictures, we didn't accomplish both. In fact, our efforts to be prepared backfired on us. In the end, we decided being on time was more important and thus because of the time crunch the list of problems begins...

1- our icing didn't quite get to the shades of colors we were shooting for. In fact, Amanda was actually tinting the icing in the car on our way there. And we talked about the crazy things I've done in the car on the way to something that I couldn't be late for. Like school and performances. Now, those stories are just a little scary.

2- for some reason our "stiff" icing was too stiff! So, the stiff stuff we were supposed to do didn't turn out as well as they should have because it was just too darn stiff! And it started giving us a hand ache because it was so stiff. They didn't really ever mention, that I can remember, that "stiff" could be too stiff.

3- the pudding we used to fill our cakes wasn't set-up enough so our top half kept sliding off

4- the icing we iced our cakes with was first too stiff and then ended up too thin so our icing jobs were, well...junk. Thank heavens my mom stepped in and saved them both the best she could.

5- our "thin" icing ended up too thin!

6- On our way driving there my top layer slid off and messed up the side of my cake =(

7- We tried to thin the "stiff" icing out while it was still in the bag and it just became a runny mess when we tried to use it. Then our decorations started "melting"/sliding down our cakes.

There were more, but oh well. Now, I can just look back and laugh!!!! Ha Ha HA HA HA!!! The good part is that the cake was delicious! I actually was trying out a new idea, experimenting. I used a spice cake mix with coconut pudding and some air dried coconut shavings and some other stuff to pump up the taste of a boxed cake. Inside was a vanilla pudding filling. I was so so so worried that it wouldn't end up tasting good, but it did! It was SO good! It is definitely a repeat. So enjoy the pictures of our "practice" cakes from week 2 and week 4!

below- Amanda week 2 w/ her cake

below- Sara week 2 w/ her cake

below- Amanda's cake, week 4

below- Sara's cake, week 4 ( I was also practicing all the things I had missed on week 3. Thus the total decoration overload ;-D ) 

Motherhood: An Eternal Partnership with God

Motherhood: An Eternal Partnership with God

Click on the link above.

I watched this today and thought that every mother needs to be reminded of how great they are. We all need a pick me up, someone to give us a pat on the back to keep us going in the right direction. Hope you enjoy this video =)

FOOD FIGHT! Well, not really.

Isn't it so thrilling when your child starts to notice food! I mean real food, your food, their food, his food, ANYONE'S food!! I anxiously awaited his 6 month birthday so that we could give it a try. Well, that day didn't exactly go as planned. We ran out of time. But we did let him lick a bit of mango, which he wasn't keen on. About a week prior to his 6 month birthday he had sucked on my apple core and a piece of cucumber which he loved. So, this post is our journey of 

"Firsts with Food".

Feeding your first child solids for the first time is just so exciting to first time parents!

However, with all of these "firsts" comes inexperience as well. Especially for the parents! As you can see in this first video...well, we just didn't know what we were doing. Poor baby boy, being force fed cold food. It was tasty though, I tested it myself. I prepared it with precision too, I did exactly what the box told me to do. I measured out 2 tsp. of rice cereal and everything.

**Bryce's first time with his first food--Rice cereal with mothers milk**

May 15, 2010

ABOVE VIDEO: Bryce's first time eating 

The next set of pictures is actually after the road trip we made to Las Vegas for my cousins temple wedding. Bryce is not a long term car seat baby. After awhile he starts to scream and scream. I wasn't sure what to do because we had already made two long stops and nursed him both times. Our 6 hour trip turned into 7.5 hours! WHAAA =( So, I had brought a few fresh apricots from the tree in the back yard for John and I, but they quickly turned into baby food. He LOVED them!!! Anyway, the pictures below are just so sweet. We weren't planning on feeding Bryce at this point in the day, the peaches were actually part of my meal. But, I just can't say no to that face. So, he tried a few. They were fairly tart, not exactly sweet like normal. He endured it well though and kept coming back for more.

**Bryce's first time tasting fresh peaches from the tree in the backyard**

May 29, 2010

So, they tell you to wait about a week in between each new food introduction. That way you can watch for food allergies and respond correctly because you know what caused it. So, we waited a bit and gave it a go with some organic bananas! I  pureed them in the Blendtec blender and it was delicious! I would have had it for lunch, yummers! I thought it was appropriate for him to wear his banana and monkey bib, which is by far the best bib I've seen. It is awesome!! Ok, so the funny thing about this one is that mom and I were upstairs when we decided to feed Bryce. My mom has deteriorating knee caps so it is very difficult for her to walk, and even more difficult to do stairs. Since she was already upstairs and the highchair is downstairs we decided to put him in his entertainment saucer to feed him! Were we NUTS? All I can say is it was a good thing the extremely experienced Grandma wanted to feed him. I would have had it everywhere! I mean he can jump and spin while he eats. Needless to say, we have never fed him in the saucer again. Ha Ha Ha!

**Bryce's first time eating BANANAS!! (in the entertainments saucer--don't try this at home;-)**

June 4, 2010

ABOVE VIDEO: Bryce's first (and last) time eating in the entertainment saucer --pureed bananas=D

So, you can see from the pictures below that we thought ahead, stayed downstairs and elected for the highchair. Hee Hee! 

**Bryce's first time eating SWEET POTATOES**

June 16, 2010

ABOVE VIDEO: Bryce's first time eating sweet potatoes