Awwwwkward

It's Friday! In honor of this day, let's all share our most awkward sacrament meeting stories. (For my dear not of the Mormon faith friends... sacrament meeting=church meeting=people speaking from the pulpit=sometimes funny/awkward occurences.)

Here goes mine: BYU student ward. You know how it is. Some strange ducks.

One particular fellow stands up to give a talk and says, into the microphone, "Excuse me just a minute I have to call my girlfriend, she really wants to hear this :::dialing on his cell phone::: awkward pause:::whispering into the phone::: "oh, hey babe....yeah....I'm starting now."

Then he proceeds to lay his cell phone down on the pulpit so she can hear his every inspired word. So the worst part--after he closes his talk--he lifts his cell phone to his ear and whispers, "Ok, babe. Love you. Bye."

I might add, in this case, girlfriend is most likely "girlfriend" in quotations. Let's just say I had my suspicions. Like I said, odd duck.

Project city

Lily came home from preschool with this beautiful drawing. Guess who? It's kinda obvious. It's me, of course! I've never looked so bald, blonde, and beautiful!!
It made me laugh. Lily said, "Why are you laughing?"

Lily is in a serious crafting phase right now. All she ever wants to do is paint, color, cut, staple and glue. Our house is overtaken by paper. Every little place you could stuff a piece of paper, there is one. It's a good life when you get a homemade card (or 2 or 3 or 4) every single day.

Yesterday Lily asked me "Mom, what do you do with all the projects I make you?" The real answer is: The really precious ones go in a book, and the remaining 98% are placed strategically at the bottom of the trash can so you don't see them and say "Heyyy, what is this doing in the trash?" And then I have to fake like, "What is that doing in there?? Get it out! I don't know who would have put it in there!!"(I've learned from experience.)

I would love to keep every single one, but I don't want to end up like the hoarders on Oprah. Living in a pile of papers up to the ceiling.

Cute things...

Maddi ::looking at the bottom of her shoes:: That says made in China!
Lily: No, it's made by Jesus. Everything is made by Jesus.

Lils: Me, you, and daddy ate all the cheese.
Me: Yeah, I guess we were hungry hippos!
(Later that day) Lils: I need a drink. I'm a thirsty hippo!

Shameless plug

Good morning...today's my lucky day! I just made eggs and one of them was a twin. Sick. Actually I think that's a bad omen.

I promise my blog isn't going to turn into a "Vote For ME I'm awesome" kinda blog, but I went there on Facebook so I figured might as well go here.

I entered my second recipe contest. Trying to see if my success in the Burger contest was all luck or if I got skillz. In this contest they they pick 20 finalists- 10 by popular vote, and 10 by a panel of judges. At first I wasn't gonna bug anybody for votes cause I figure you probably have to get a bajillion votes to even get close to getting through the popular way. I mean, I'm popular, but not a bajillion strong popular. But then I was thinking the judges probably aren't even going to look at the recipes with like 5 votes (mine). So getting some votes is probably essential.

So, here I am asking you to vote for my little Ham and Swiss Sushi Rolls. (They are good, you guys! And fun for kids.)

Click here

You can vote once a day. And thank you so much! You know I'd do the same for you :)

Open to Suggestions

Any suggestions on keeping a sick little 4 year old entertained?

Keep in mind her mother thinks Chutes & Ladders is the most annoying game ever made and must be kept to a once a day maximum. The more bearable games such as Hi-Ho Cherrio, Go Fish and Candy Land have all been played out. Arts & crafts have been done but have been somewhat disappointing without glue stick (what kind of mom doesn't have glue stick anyway?) The 1 to 2 (maybe 3) hour TV limit has been reached. Also, bear in mind this mother has major trouble keeping her eyes open whenever she reads children's books for more than a 10 minute period of time.

Thanks, my friend will greatly appreciate the suggestions.

Stalkers, sickies, and our little monkey

Enjoying the fall weather by our sad little scarecrow girl.
I had my first fan run-in last weekend. I went out to eat with the fam and our cute little waitress said "You're going to think I'm such a dork, but are you Jana? I love your blog! Your link is on my friend's website." I'm so big time, you guys! I have a stalker! It was totally funny...in a creepy sort of way. :)

So I told Erica I'd give her a shout out. HOLLA!!!!! I don't really think you're a stalker. Erica is super duper cute, by the way. I felt a bond with my first and only fan.

Lily has that sickness that everyone has right now....ya know fever, cough, body aches. Poor little thing. She is so cute when she's sick though. I think she secretly likes it in a way, cause she gets her own little water bottle, gets to watch endless "shows," and can request cinnamon toast and bananas with cinnamon and sugar to her little heart's content, and mom will come running.

It's also really funny when she wakes up at night cause she's super "with it." (one of those funny now, but not so funny last night things.) It's the middle of the night and I'm shuffling around in the dark struggling to find light switches and understand the meaning of life, and this is Lily:

Is that the orange medicine? I like the orange better than the red.

I'm so hot. I'm gonna take off these jammies with the feet and change into my princess jammies with the long sleeves and pants.

Our little sicky in her jammies appropriate for sickness.
Annie is at that stage where she is picking up all these cute little tricks. It's like she's our little monkey and we train her do tricks on command for our friends so they will like us.
She does assisted somersaults, animal noises, and the funniest was a few nights ago before dinner Eric said, "we're gonna have prayer." Annie furrowed her brow and started muttering really quietly. We all busted up laughing! Hopefully we aren't taking away from prayer, cause now every time we pray we have a little performer on our hands.

This picture is as close as I can find to the face Annie makes. (Lils says "I was blinking.")

Check it out

On my way into the gym this morning, I saw this little face peering back at me from the front page of the newspaper. So strange- I totally know how Britney Spears feels now. Why can't the tabloids just leave me alone?
I knew they were going to do a little story, but I had no idea that I would be so ginormous and that there would be a crease running directly through my nose making it appear rather large. If you don't want to spend the 75 cents, here is the story for your enjoyment: http://www.idahostatesman.com/life/story/927607.html

In other cute news: received this in Lily's backpack. Totally made my day. Lils doesn't like apples (or any healthy food pretty much).

Back from the Burger Adventure, none the richer...

Except in friendship, experience, and memories! Awwwwww.

Here is our plentiful collection of pictures from our trip.

We started our trip out eager, excited, and pumped about our sweet ride - a red Kia. Any rental car is super sweet when you get it for free.
A skyline of San Francisco. We're not in Mormon town anymore...
or or we??? (this is when I was really picture-happy, and I was like- OH! Utah! Take a picture!)
This is what Napa Valley looked like, row after row of grapes. It was beautiful.
I still get butterflies when I look at this picture. We pulled up to the Inn and all the tents were set up and I was freaking out.
Obligatory pose by Sutter Home sign.
When we got to our room there were grapes, cheese, nuts and crackers. This cheese was the best cheese I've ever had. In fact I want some right now- oh it was so good! I need to find out what kind it was.
Eric pouring our non-alcoholic wine.
Me drinking the non-alcoholic wine.
This was our room...very quaint, very Victorian.

Next we ventured off to lunch at a place called Market. This was our crab cake- DIVINE!
And our mac n' cheese--they're famous for it there so we had to get it. This is making me so hungry! As you can see our vacation centered around food :) Then after a nap, we went off to a nice dinner at Press(life is hard). We had the best steaks we've ever had in our lives there! Serious, like melt in your mouth. YUM.
And we must feature the chocolate souffle...mmmmm
One of the coolest things about the trip was we were planning on going down to that exact area anyway because one of Eric's best friends, Rob was getting married that weekend. Sweet that we won the trip, and were able to see them get married in the Oakland temple.All the Boise boys...tender.
Oakland temple. So gorgeous. The temple, not us. Actually us too.
That evening we had a beautiful dinner on the winery's back patio. This was the view we saw as we ate.
Ok, down to business. This is the morning of the cook-off. All the contestants were extremely nice. I wish I had cooler stories- like they totally talked trash or something. I really liked all of them, not to mention all of them had all these credentials...kinda outta my league, but at this point I still had hope :)Here I am being hopeful.Eric took some very artistic shots for your enjoyment. This banner was so cool, but it scared me. So official and intimidating.
That's my cooking station, with the gigantic clock in front of it.

Our grills
Waiting my turn to start cooking...
And there I go
My finished product.I'm smiling cause I finished! And my burger and I are still in one piece! Yay for that.
The awards where I got a big fat NOTHING. :) Actually, in all seriousness, I was bummed for about an hour afterwards just because of all the emotional buildup and work that you put into it, and then your emotions take a big plummet. You think you have a sliver of a chance, and then.…. your name is not called. Boo. But then I just realized what a great learning experience!!! Free trip, free food, relaxing time with hubby, win-win! Plus, I am already planning on entering next year and as luck would have it, the prize money DOUBLES next year, $100,000 baby! (If any of you want to enter, I can help you with the format of the recipe. It's an important part.)I got one of these little guys to take home. Isn't it cute? Proudly displayed upon my kitchen counter.This is me with the celebrity of the weekend- James McNair. Eric and I were freaking out cause we've seen him on Food Network.

On our way home we saw a beautiful sight- hot air balloons against the sunrise. The balloons seemed to say- Good job, Jana. Even though you overcooked your burgers and your potato pancakes were soggy, you are still a good person and have beautiful children! Eric had a good point-- he said even if I knew in advance I was going to lose, I would still want to go. It was such a fun, crazy weekend full of great memories!

Winning Burger Clip on Today Show

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Virtual burger support

As we prepare to embark on our burger journey, I thought this might be of interest to some. You may not be able to physically be there on my big cook-off day, but you can be there in spirit.

There is going to be someone blogging live as we cook and while the judges taste our burgers. There will be pictures too! So if you want to check it out on Saturday you are certainly welcome. Maybe even throw in a "Crispy potato pancakes forever!" comment, or "Dill-feta spread rocks my world!" I'm just saying, it couldn't hurt. Just joshing, don't say that.

I realize mostly just family will be interested, but I thought I would throw it out there!

Here's the link: http://sutterhome.com/blog/

See you guys later! :o)

Good news, bad news

The bad news: I'm not going to be famous any more. :) They told us for some reason Food Network isn't coming to tape this year. I swear they've been there every other year, so it's sad they picked the time I'm there to take the year off.

The good news: Now I won't be so famous that I can't be your friend anymore. You were worried about that weren't you? Plus, I still get an awesome trip to California and a chance to win 50 grand...so I'm not really crying myself to sleep at night.

More good news: They also told us that the winner will for sure be on the Today Show on Monday Sept. 28th. So set your Tivo's now....don't worry I am NOT cocky- just trying the power of positive thinking, right? There's a 1 in 5 chance that you will get to see me be a total dork on TV!

Now, here are pictures of my latest burger practice:

There she is. In all her burger wonder and glory:
We had to get an action first bite shot:And then a first reaction shot. Andy looks confused and slightly angry. That's what this burger does to you. At first your confused- what is this vast array of flavors I'm currently tasting- dill? cucumber? cilantro?...Then you just get angry that it's so dang delicious and you didn't think of it yourself.Eric helping me grill the burgers. He won't be able to help me on the actual day::one single tear rolling down my cheek::: (isn't he looking mighty slim and trim these days??)
Me and Teri making the potato pancakes. These I won't be able to cook on a stovetop- I have to cook them on the grill. So yeah- this wasn't exactly a dress rehearsal. (Amy- notice the apron!)
Josh has to sit up and thoroughly engage while eating a burger to get maximum enjoyment.
Landon is so cute, had to post it even with a blind shadow on his face.
What's burgers without some football and BYU cheerleaders!
The consensus on taste overall: Strong to quite strong.

One week away now!!

Computer whiz

Lily was trying to go to nickjr.com to play games...she was so confused why it wasn't working.


P.S. Thank you, THANK you for all the nice comments about my burger adventure!!! You are all so nice, and if I win I will split my winnings equally among you and/or keep being your friend and think you are the awesomest. I will keep you posted. (2 more weeks til the big cook-off! :)

Big News!!! (No I'm not pregnant)

I have some BIG news to share with you all!!!

Biggest thing to happen to me since I got 3rd runner up in the Miss Meridian Pageant. Ok, so this is probably bigger than that. :)

Let's start from the beginning. So you may or may not know I've been known to watch a little Food Network. Rachael Ray and her 30 minute meals have gotten me through the dark times in my life. :)

So Eric and I were watching a show on Food Network one night called Challenge, and they had a Burger competition on it where the winner gets $50,000. So later we started talking that it would be fun to have a night where we experimented with burgers, and if we came up with a good one, we could enter it in the contest. I googled the burger competition (Build a Better Burger) and saw that the deadline is in July. Perfect timing! I think it was June at the time, so we thought- why not!

I began my thought process trying to incorporate potatoes into the burger, cause I thought I'm an Idaho girl, gotta REPRESENT! My first plan was to make kind of a loaded potato burger, with sour cream, cheese, bacon, all the fixings. Then I started thinking that might not be quite sophisticated enough, so I start concocting a burger in my head, still with the potato (a crispy potato pancake on top). I was trying to think what herbs would go well with potatoes, and I thought of dill. Then I just went to the store and picked up a bunch of random ingredients and Eric and I just started experimenting with recipes.

Eric's burger was- Eh. All right. (just kidding, it was good!) Mine ended up being really yummy on the first shot! In fact, a few days later Eric and I were totally craving them.

So I made them one more time and wrote the recipe down this time. I named them "Cool as a Cucumber Slaw Burgers with Dill-Feta spread and Crispy Potato Pancakes" and sent the recipe in to the competition. NBD. Well it ended up being a big deal.

This last Monday I checked my email and there was an email notifying me that I am a potential finalist!! It said I needed to complete some legal papers, and that I must keep the information confidential until the finalists are officially announced. :::CRAZY!!!!:::

So I've been holding this in for a little while and now I can tell you I am a finalist in the Build a Better Burger competition!!! Out of thousands of entries MY little burger was picked in the top 5!

Now for the really exciting stuff: Eric and I get to go on an all-expenses paid trip to Napa Valley, CA!!!! There I will compete in a cook-off on September 26th! (Yep, I'm nervous.) The competition will maybe be aired on the Food Network AND....if I win, I will get 50 grand AKA five-zero thousand AKA fitty Gs and will be flown to New York that night to be on a morning show! Pretty crazy stuff!!!!!

We are so excited, as you can probably guess!!!

So let me just say that if you live in our area, we will most likely be inviting you over so I can practice my burger cook-offing skills on you and you can give me your expert and much-needed opinions on my burgers!!!

If you want to see my recipe go to www.buildabetterburger.com and click on 2009 finalists.

Kyle & Stephanie

Eric's brother Kyle got married last weekend. It was so much fun, and we love Stephanie and are so glad she's in our family now!

A picture of the happy couple:
We kinda look alike, huh? Especially if I were to be absolutely expressionless.
All the girl cousins...except where's Reese?
Annie loves Mati.I think this pic is so cute.
Lily did her duties well...holding Steph's dress.
I thought this was so sweet. Annie looking up at Stephanie.
Every single wedding I think we get a shot of Kade off in the distance pondering the meaning of life.
Love these two.This is Annie's new surprised face.
Just woke up from naps and heading to the reception...
And good news, Lily let me do her hair and she actually liked it this time.
Nerdy boys trying to be cool
Congrats Kyle and Steph!!!

Tina

Wrote this way back in January, and it was in my drafts. But it made me laugh so thought I would post.

Lilzy loves playing school...and the other day Eric and I were the students. She asked Eric what his name is and he said "Joey." Then she asked what my name is and Eric goes, "Tina."

Thanks a lot Eric. Now Lily goes around every day calling me Tina. Could he have picked a less flattering name?

Sorry people reading this named Tina.

No Boys Allowed

Translation: No Boys Allowed


"Dads can come in, but little boys are not allowed. And if a boy comes over that can't read I will just tell them 'No boys allowed' and if Jace comes over we will play in Annie's room."

Science Experiment

If you ever drop a jar of pickles in the middle of your driveway at midnight, just leave it there for 2 or 3 days. The pickles will dry up in the hot sun and turn into little dehydrated chips...it will be a lot easier to clean up. You're welcome.

It's a great house

My mom just moved. We went over for the first time today and this is a portion of Lily's reaction:

"This is a GREAT house!!! Look, it has a sink, and even a mixer!" (my mom's Kitchen Aid)

"I LOVE her new table, it looks just like Grammy's old table!" (...it is Grammy's old table)

"Look! A mirror!" (a full length closet mirror) ::admiring herself with delight:: "I look cute today!"
-Me: Oh! So do I!
-"Actually, no, just me!"

"I love Grammy's new house!"

"This is a GREAT HOUSE!!!"

Some of the things I just love about Lily...more zest and excitement for the simplest things than I've seen in just about anyone. And...gotta love the self confidence.

4th of July

I feel like I should mention the 4th of July, although it is way past due and I have a scarce amount of photos to share...so scarce in fact that I have pirated some photos from other family member's websites. In the morning we went downtown for a free art class for kid's, which is 100% right down Lily's alley. Then we watched a delightful parade whilst we sweated our bums off.Then we went to a Mexican lunch at Café Ole...I know what you're thinking... kind of unpatriotic of us to eat Mexican food on the 4th of July...but we're part Mexican cause Eric's dad teaches high school Spanish, so don't worry about it. Then later that evening we went to the Swallows for a pool party of the century and a BBQ with the whole Westover clan.
(these photos stolen from Krissy...had to show off Annie in her leopard swimsuit!)
(all photos below stolen from Karen without written consent)
Games were played,
children received minor injuries, and babies were found to be eating random candy off the ground.
For the fireworks we went to Meridian and found out that Meridian knows how to celebrate--it was a great show!

Introductions

Hello my name is Mom.
And this here is Bab.

You can put the girl in the woods, but you can't take the girl out of the girl

We went camping last weekend with some friends and had a lot of fun. Unfortunately I didn't take a ton of pictures (I hope you all took more than I did so I can steal them!) but I did manage to take pictures of Lily's bed. Right when we got there, Lily first thing rolled out her sleeping bag and transformed her outdoor sleeping quarters into a nice homey, cozy space.
She lined up her stuffed animalsAnd you can't go camping without three different varieties of both lip gloss and nail polish!I'm not sure if camping is Lily's thing...the first night we were there she refused to go to the bathroom in the port-a-potty because it was too stinky...and she had a meltdown before bed because it was too cold. But it all seems worth it when you get to roast marshmellows! You can tell we're camping from the interesting clothing combinations :)
Two happy campers!!

Catching up

I can't seem to get into blogging lately. I don't know what it is. So here is a random assortment of updates from our family.

Garrett & Rachel some of our best friends :) from BYU came and crashed at our house while passing through. Lily and Rylynn are about the same age and it was fun to get them together again cause they used to play as babies. This is the one and only picture I have to document the entire time they were here:
Nice. Lily's glaring at her and Rylynn seems completely uninterested. Actually that kind of was the case that morning cause of lack of sleep. This is them as babies and they still don't look too thrilled with each other. Maybe we are forcing them to be friends! Actually they had a blast together as did the moms and dads- and I guess without pictures the only thing we have to remember you guys is the sand all over our back patio from the "sand showers" the kids were doing! No really, we loved having you. :)

The other night Heidi and Chase were over, whom Lily LOVES, and so she brought out her "treasures" to show them. The surprising thing is, I didn't even know she owned treasures and I have no idea where she keeps them. She just busted them out.The picture is kind of blurry but there is a button, a broken piece of plastic, a string of garland, and a marble...I guess a lot of them are things she's found outside and kept. So funny! Makes me wonder...what else is she keeping from me???

This is a large head of cauliflower that we grew and consumed the other day. Not too sure why it's yellow, but it was delicious. We are so proud of our garden.
Annie is walking all over the place, trying to keep up with her sister. She loves to climb in or on top of anything. Every time I see her I am just overwhelmed with cuteness. I love when they first learn to walk and they are toddling aimlessly around. It's SO cute!!

And that is our random update!