How fun. Your kids look cute! I love your new background!
Allie Wrote:
Dec 28th, 2011
Kairi looks so cute with you, I love when you spend time together.
Jared Wrote:
Dec 28th, 2011
Kairi actually enjoyed it this time and had lots of fun. Last time we tried to have her get in, she just cried and wanted to get out. I turned the heat down so it was just warm for the kids.
Christmas
Posted By: Allie Dec 27th, 2011
Christmas this year was fantasic! Kaden and Kairi were so excited for everything. Kaden got a bike and spiderman helmet and Santa surprised Kairi(and me) with a HUGE doll house. We had talked about getting her one for her birthday, but Jared bought it sometime before christmas and just kept it a secret, even from me. He also had a few other surprises for me that i've been wanting for some time now. This man is THE BEST!
We spent most of the morning assembling their new toys. Kaden's favorite gift is his bike and remote control car, and Kairi loves her Tinkerbell and doll house.
On Christmas Eve we visited family and celebrated Gram's birthday. We decorated cookies for santa, attempted making homemade snowglobes with a lot of trial and error, and then the kids had a gift exchange. Kaden got an airplance and Kairi got a mickey mouse coloring book, which they both loved. Until Kairi found out that Kaden got the airplane and then she got sad because she wanted one too. She LOVES airplanes and helicopters, but she also loves mickey mouse clubhouse...she just wanted both.
So last week I went over to my parents house to try and replace the starter in my Jeep with the new one and as I opened the shop door, there was lots of noise. I turned the light on and saw a huge mess from a pipe that burst in the ceiling. The insulation was sopping wet and was tough to dig through because there were bolts and car parts everywhere underneath it all that I tried to find so it didnt get thrown away.
50 Rules for Dads of Daughters {by Michael Mitchel
Posted By: Allie Dec 2nd, 2011
I came across this "list of rules" one day and just had to repost it on here. It really made me think about growing up with my dad and the special memories I have spending time with him.
1. Love her mom. Treat her mother with respect, honor, and a big heaping spoonful of public displays of affection. When she grows up, the odds are good she’ll fall in love with and marry someone who treats her much like you treated her mother. Good or bad, that’s just the way it is. I’d prefer good.
2. Always be there. Quality time doesn’t happen without quantity time. Hang out together for no other reason than just to be in each other’s presence. Be genuinely interested in the things that interest her. She needs her dad to be involved in her life at every stage. Don’t just sit idly by while she add years to her… add life to her years.
3. Save the day. She’ll grow up looking for a hero. It might as well be you. She’ll need you to come through for her over and over again throughout her life. Rise to the occasion. Red cape and blue tights optional.
4. Savor every moment you have together. Today she’s crawling around the house in diapers, tomorrow you’re handing her the keys to the car, and before you know it, you’re walking her down the aisle. Some day soon, hanging out with her old man won’t be the bees knees anymore. Life happens pretty fast. You better cherish it while you can.
5. Pray for her. Regularly. Passionately. Continually.
6. Buy her a glove and teach her to throw a baseball. Make her proud to throw like a girl… a girl with a wicked slider.
7. She will fight with her mother. Choose sides wisely.
8. Go ahead. Buy her those pearls.
9. Of course you look silly playing peek-a-boo. You should play anyway.
10. Enjoy the wonder of bath time.
11. There will come a day when she asks for a puppy. Don’t over think it. At least one time in her life, just say, “Yes.”
12. It’s never too early to start teaching her about money. She will still probably suck you dry as a teenager… and on her wedding day.
13. Make pancakes in the shape of her age for breakfast on her birthday. In a pinch, donuts with pink sprinkles and a candle will suffice.
14. Buy her a pair of Chucks as soon as she starts walking. She won’t always want to wear matching shoes with her old man.
Photo Credit :: Danielle Rocke Toews
15. Dance with her. Start when she’s a little girl or even when she’s a baby. Don’t wait ‘til her wedding day.
16. Take her fishing. She will probably squirm more than the worm on your hook. That’s OK.
17. Learn to say no. She may pitch a fit today, but someday you’ll both be glad you stuck to your guns.
18. Tell her she’s beautiful. Say it over and over again. Someday an animated movie or “beauty” magazine will try to convince her otherwise.
19. Teach her to change a flat. A tire without air need not be a major panic inducing event in her life. She’ll still call you crying the first time it happens.
20. Take her camping. Immerse her in the great outdoors. Watch her eyes fill with wonder the first time she sees the beauty of wide open spaces. Leave the iPod at home.
21. Let her hold the wheel. She will always remember when daddy let her drive.
22. She’s as smart as any boy. Make sure she knows that.
23. When she learns to give kisses, she will want to plant them all over your face. Encourage this practice.
24. Knowing how to eat sunflower seeds correctly will not help her get into a good college. Teach her anyway.
25. Letting her ride on your shoulders is pure magic. Do it now while you have a strong back and she’s still tiny.
26. It is in her nature to make music. It’s up to you to introduce her to the joy of socks on a wooden floor.
27. If there’s a splash park near your home, take her there often. She will be drawn to the water like a duck to a puddle.
28. She will eagerly await your return home from work in the evenings. Don’t be late.
29. If her mom enrolls her in swim lessons, make sure you get in the pool too. Don’t be intimidated if there are no other dads there. It’s their loss.
30. Never miss her birthday. In ten years she won’t remember the present you gave her. She will remember if you weren’t there.
31. Teach her to roller skate. Watch her confidence soar.
32. Let her roll around in the grass. It’s good for her soul. It’s not bad for yours either.
33. Take her swimsuit shopping. Don’t be afraid to veto some of her choices, but resist the urge to buy her full-body beach pajamas.
34. Somewhere between the time she turns three and her sixth birthday, the odds are good that she will ask you to marry her. Let her down gently.
35. She’ll probably want to crawl in bed with you after a nightmare. This is a good thing.
36. Few things in life are more comforting to a crying little girl than her father’s hand. Never forget this.
37. Introduce her to the swings at your local park. She’ll squeal for you to push her higher and faster. Her definition of “higher and faster” is probably not the same as yours. Keep that in mind.
38. When she’s a bit older, your definition of higher and faster will be a lot closer to hers. When that day comes, go ahead… give it all you’ve got.
39. Holding her upside down by the legs while she giggles and screams uncontrollably is great for your biceps. WARNING: She has no concept of muscle fatigue.
40. She might ask you to buy her a pony on her birthday. Unless you live on a farm, do not buy her a pony on her birthday. It’s OK to rent one though.
41. Take it easy on the presents for her birthday and Christmas. Instead, give her the gift of experiences you can share together.
42. Let her know she can always come home. No matter what.
43. Remember, just like a butterfly, she too will spread her wings and fly some day. Enjoy her caterpillar years.
44. Write her a handwritten letter every year on her birthday. Give them to her when she goes off to college, becomes a mother herself, or when you think she needs them most.
45. Learn to trust her. Gradually give her more freedom as she gets older. She will rise to the expectations you set for her.
46. When in doubt, trust your heart. She already does.
47. When your teenage daughter is upset, learning when to engage and when to back off will add years to YOUR life. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how.
48. Ice cream covers over a multitude of sins. Know her favorite flavor.
49. This day is coming soon. There’s nothing you can do to be ready for it. The sooner you accept this fact, the easier it will be.
50. Today she’s walking down the driveway to get on the school bus. Tomorrow she’s going off to college. Don’t blink.
BLONDIE LAYER:
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) salted butter, cubed
1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup dried cranberries
6 ounces white baking chocolate, coarsely chopped (I used vanilla almond bark)
FROSTING:
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
6 ounces white baking chocolate, melted
1/2 cup dried cranberries, chopped
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 13x9-inch baking dish with nonstick spray.
2. Prepare the blondie layer: In a medium bowl, melt butter for one minute in the microwave; stir in brown sugar. Scrape the butter & sugar into a large bowl and let cool to room temperature. Use an electric mixer to beat in the eggs and vanilla. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon; gradually add the dry mixture to the butter mixture. Stir in the cranberries and chopped chocolate (the batter will be thick).
3. Spread the blondie batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 18-21 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean (do not overbake). Cool completely on a wire rack.
4. Prepare the frosting: In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to beat the cream cheese and powdered sugar until well-blended. Gradually add half of the melted white chocolate; beat until blended. Frost brownies. Sprinkle with cranberries. Drizzle with remaining melted white chocolate. Cut into bars- square or triangle-shaped. Store in the refrigerator until ready to serve.
This was at the adventure learning park near lone peak high school.
Heather Wrote:
Nov 28th, 2011
Sooo cute! where is it at?
Caramel Stuffed Apple Cider Cookies
Posted By: Allie Nov 9th, 2011
1 cup softened butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 box (7.4 oz) Alpine Spiced Apple Cider Instant Original Drink mix -not sugar free- all 10 packets (I found this in my grocery store near the hot chocolate mixes.)
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 cups all purpose flour
1 bag Kraft Caramels (14 oz)
Preheat oven to 350° F. Line cookie sheets with parchment. (You really need the parchment!)
In a small bowl whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder and cinnamon.
With your mixer (or an energetic spoon) cream together butter, sugar, salt and all 10 packages of apple cider drink mix powder, until light and fluffy.
Beat in eggs, one at a time. Add vanilla and mix well.
Gradually add flour mixture to butter/egg mixture. Mix until just combined.
Refrigerate for about an hour. (If you're really impatient you don't have to do this, but it makes it so much easier to work with.)
When you are ready to bake, unwrap your caramels.
Scoop out cookie dough ball about the size of a walnut. (I used a rounded cookie scoop-full. My scoop holds about a Tablespoon.)
Flatten the ball of dough slightly in the palm of your hand. Press the unwrapped caramel into the center of your dough and seal the dough around it, covering it completely. Place on parchment covered cookie sheets 2 inches apart.
Bake 12-14 minutes, or until very lightly browned around the edges. Please don't over-bake! Once the cookies are done, slide the parchment off of the baking sheet right out onto the counter. Allow cookies to partially cool on the parchment. When cookies are cool enough to be firm but still slightly warm, carefully twist off of parchment and allow to finish cooling upside down (either on the parchment or on a rack.) If you forget about them and they cool too much and stick to your parchment, put them into the freezer for a few minutes and they'll pop right off.
Yield: about 4 dozen, depending on how large you make your cookies (or how many caramels have been snitched out of your bag before you begin.) Store in an airtight container.
I know this was a while ago, but I had uploaded it on youtube and thought I would share a better quality version of it. Feel free to visit the youtube page and like it, comment or whatever
We had a Monster Truck party for Kaden's 4th birthday. I forgot to take pictures until it was time to open gifts. We did a pin the wheels on the monster truck game and had a pinata and I made chocolate cupcakes with green and purple frosting for the Grave Digger colors.
This is a reminder to keep your important files backed up such as pictures, music, documents etc. Hard drives are fairly cheap for a good size and will be worth the investment to get one. Over time hard drives will fail, so you need a plan in place to keep from losing very important data. One of our drives started having issues in our server and I did not think too much about it until yesterday. It stopped showing up in windows and I could no longer gain access to the drive. This drive had our music, pictures, programs, personal files and phone apps / games. I had luckily made a backup of our personal files and pictures back in March, so any pictures since then are now gone forever. I am very happy that I at least made the backup back in March, but should have kept up to date on the backup so we didnt have to lose as much. None of my music was backed up so it is now all gone.
I do not want this same thing to happen to anyone else especially if you do not have ANY backups at all. If you can pull together an extra $100 or so to get a backup drive and possibly some blank dvd's then please do so ASAP and ask me if you need help backing up your information. Its a good idea to backup your information on a seperate drive, but also make some dvd backups.
I used to upload my camera on my laptop. It was having issues so Ty transfered everything over to his computer. Not long after, the pictures all disappeared from my lap top. Now I put all my pictures on his computer and a hard drive.
Lately I have been adding new features on Allies crochet site such as a coupon system and party registration and trying to finish Swarm Inform. The Swarm Inform website is the one in my eye to bring in some money because i'm working on it with some guy at my work that does SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and he is going to help market and promote the site. It will be a social tool to help handle and maintain your social networks like twitter and facebook. I am sure lots of companies will be interested in it and we have a nice layout and theme going with it.
Anyway, with our recent car purchase, our budget has been tight and I always think to myself what it would be like to get a million dollars from my websites. This is what I would do.... Pay off all our bills and house mortage and pay back anyone that we owe money to, then I'd go out and buy $1,000 in groceries for each of my sisters and my brother and maybe $2,000 for my parents :), after that I would take my family out somewhere fun to eat like Chuck E Cheeses and go on a trip to Disney Land or Disney World. I would then take all my friends out to eat somewhere nice, go bowling and then to a movie. Whatever was left after that would go in our bank account.
I am interested to see what others would do, so if you happen to read this and it gets you thinking, please post in the comments what you would do with 1 million dollars.
That's funny I think about it ALMOST every night...I would Buy Jed a new Truck and Me a nice SUV. Then pay off the house. (All without anyone knowing, even Jed) I would put a big bow on Jed's truck and put it in the garage, Then I would take mom, dad, you, Jamie, and Jason to a very expensive steak house. I would then give everyone an envelop with a large sum of cash ($1000-$2000) I would go to Hawaii and pay for mom and dad to come. I would get a fence and invest in some forms and other items for Jed's concrete business, I would also finish my basement, put money in my kids account, and some in our savings. Maybe even build Jed a shop!!! Haha like I said I think about it A LOT!!!
Jamie Wrote:
Oct 5th, 2011
Wow wouldn't that be great!! I would pay off my house. Put money in each of my kids savings accounts, give my siblings money and my parents and have all of us go to Disneyland for a week!! Then put the rest in savings.
Allie Wrote:
Oct 1st, 2011
If we had that much money I'd also pay off all of our bills and do some home repair, set some aside for our kids for college and whatever else. Then give other family members a share to do whatever they wanted with it. I don't know how much would be left after that, but I'd like to have a fun family vacation and whatever's left would go into saving.
New car
Posted By: Jared Sep 27th, 2011
With time flying by and Kaden needing to go to preschool soon, we decided that we needed to get a car so allie has something to drive while I am at work. My friend, Shawn, has a Nissan 300zx and a bunch of parts for it and knows about the car so I figured this would be a good car to get. We looked everywhere and even drove up to Ogden looking around for a good one. Finally we found one listed in the wrong section of ksl and it was local too! After work, me and Shawn went to go look at it and see if it was worth buying. We gave him an offer and then left to think about it and if it was worth what he was asking. A few days had passed and I sent him an email asking if he had sold it yet and gave him another offer which he decided to go for.
The car is a blast to drive and it has 4 seats which is great since we have 2 kids. There were a few small issues like a blinker bulb that was out, the driver side mirror was taped on and the driver seat was all torn up. These were easily fixed, but we do need new front tires for it which will be a bit more expensive so we are looking around for some cheap ones. They are 15's and have 4 lug nuts in case anyone finds any around :)
16 ounces, weight Frozen Whole Kernel Corn (sweet If Possible)
1 Tablespoon Butter
1 Tablespoon All-purpose Flour
⅛ teaspoons Black Pepper
In a large pan on medium high heat, add heavy cream, milk, salt and sugar. Stir to combine. Bring to a boil and add frozen corn. Bring to a boil again.
In a separate small sauce pan, melt butter and add flour. Stir to combine.
Add flour and butter to the corn and stir to combine. Reduce heat to medium and cook until it begins to thicken. Turn off heat, add black pepper and season to taste.
Note: this recipe can be doubled.
I can't remember ever having creamed corn until I met Jared. He would have me buy the canned "creamed corn" and I never really cared for it. I came across this recipe and thought I'd give it a try. Let me tell you...it is THE BEST. If you do buy the canned creamed corn, you will NEVER want to buy it again. ...though it may be cheaper. Some things though, you just can't subsitute, and I will never settle for the canned stuff again now that I have this recipe. Kairi has never liked corn so she didn't want to try it, but Kaden would have eaten the entire batch if i'd let him.
There is a spider outside my window at work that comes out in the morning until about noon, then it crawls off to the side until the next day. I have been trying to figure out what kind of a spider it is and today I determined it is a cobweb spider. At first it creeped me out and still kind of does, but I am starting to get used to it and look forward to seeing it the next day. I want to see a big bug get caught in the web, but there doesn't seem to be many big ones around here. I recorded some video of it with my phone when it was crawling down to eat a bug.
That sends chills up my spine!!! My kids liked it though.
Heather Wrote:
Aug 23rd, 2011
Sick! just watching it made me feel like something was crawling on me!
Ferrari Ride
Posted By: Jared Aug 16th, 2011
My cousin has a Ferrari and I have been dying to go for a ride, so today we all went over to his house. This is an F430 that is yellow but has a wrap around it with some cool black / yellow designs on it. The hood has the logo with a yellow glow behind it and the sides say Ferrari. Allie went for a ride first, then the kids sat in it for pictures, then he took me for a ride up to my parents house.
That was the best! I'd love to see how it does around a race track like on Top Gear.
New Phone
Posted By: Jared Aug 16th, 2011
I got a new phone "HTC Sensation" and it is fantastic. Allie took over my old phone so she has the old number and if you don't have my number then let me or allie know so we can get it to you. While Allie was gone to Portland with Kaden, I played around with my new phone taking pictures and making things look funny. Here are some that I took.
So we got back from our little trip last night and Kaden has been doing great. We flew out there Wednesday morning and was a little early so we had lunch in the cafeteria. And then went to our check-in appointment where we had to wait around for 3 hours to see various people. That was soo boring, but Kaden was very good through-out the whole wait. He found ways to stay entertained.
They then took us to our room, which was just like a hotel room. Kaden put his sunglasses on and started doing a silly dance. We had a nice view from our room.
They had a game room full of toys and things to do, so we played in there for a few hours. And they brought in some free pizza for everyone staying there and had an activity. There was a little boy Kaden's age that was there for a surgery and they became good friends for the evening.
After a restless night we woke up at 5 the next morning and Kaden watched some tv for a little bit before we went to get checked in for surgery. They brought us into the room he'd be in while waiting to fully recover. Once Kaden got a look at the bed and all the things around it I think it hit him and he started getting nervous. He grabbed me tight and told me he didn't want to have his surgery.
He stayed pretty calm while they checked his vitals, and then told him he could pick out a toy from their toy room. They gave him some medicine to calm him down and make him drowsy.
When it came time to change into his gown, that's when things got hard. They tried giving him a nebulizer treatment before going in, he put up a good fight and gave me a good kick in the throat, he just wasn't going to have it. It made it really hard for me seeing how bad he didn't want to go through with it.
We walked up to the surgery area and the medicine started kicking in and he became a lot more accepting. I told him how much I loved him and everything was going to be ok. He wobbily lifted up his head to look at me and told me he loved me too. Then I handed him off to the nurses and went back to his room to wait.
After a couple of hours they called me up to the recovery room so I could be there when he awoke. He would barely open his eyes when I talked to him and then fall back asleep. We took him back to his room and he started waking up more and then started touching around his lip. He didn't cry at all, he just said he didn't want it.
He drank some juice and watched some tv while we waited. After looking him over one last time, they said we could leave by noon. So only a few hours after the surgery we were ready to go.
We got a ride back to the airport where we had to wait till 6:45 for our plane home. He was pretty good most of the time, though he did throw big fit once, we just watched movies on our dvd player and played games on the DS. One of the store clerks gave him a free doughnut to cheer him up when we were buying a drink. He was pretty excited about that, so we watched Tangled and he ate his doughnut. He fell asleep on the plane before we left the ground.
And today he woke up just like every other morning and is being his usual happy self. He doesn't even act like anything happened.
Kaden is so tough and brave. I'm sorry, it must be so hard for you to see him go through all this. Glad he's back to himself so quick
Museum of Ancient Life
Posted By: Allie Aug 3rd, 2011
Myndi invited us to go to Thanksgiving Point with her for their $2 Tuesdays this month. Who could pass up that deal? Kaden wanted to see the dinosaurs so we went to the museum. I think a lot of other parents had to same idea because it was super crowded.
We went to the science area first, they had a lot of fun playing with the different things. When we went to see the dinosaurs Kaden just LOVED it, he couldn't see everything fast enough we had to keep telling him to slow down.
Kairi was very interested in everything too, but with the sound effects they had going I think she was a bit nervous that something might come to life so she wanted me to carry her most of the time.
Kaden had fun with this Design-a-Dino. Kairi wanted to play with the dinosaurs on this matt, but Kaden didn't want to take the time to play with her. He saw the computers they had and; of course, kept asking to play on them.
Kairi isn't so sure about this dino.
This fossil digging area was soo crowded with kids it was insane. But I let Kaden and Kairi go in anyway. Kairi wanted out after a minute, I think it was too overwhelming for her. Then another rush of kids came in so it was time to leave. It was a lot of fun, can't wait to go again.
Papa and Grandma Triptow invited us to East Canyon for the weekend. The weather was just about perfect the whole time. It was so nice to be up in the mountains, though there were a lot of mosquitos that seemed to only like me. There was a fun park that had some huge tires that Kaden loved.
We had to yell at a lot of kids while we were there, none of the other parents cared to watch their kids and they were getting into all kinds of trouble. One group of kids had "found" some baby birds and were knocking down a nest so they had a place to put them. (I'm pretty sure the birds fell out while they were trying to get the nest) And they were just carrying the babies around like pets and one girl got a little box no bigger than a mac&cheese box to put them in. RIP little birds.
That same morning a group of boys were having fun throwing rocks at squirrels trying to make them fall out of the trees. So I had to tell them to stop and they just stared at me and asked "why?". You really have to ask why you shouldn't be throwing rocks at animals? So I asked him if would like rocks thrown at him, and of course no answer. They just went back to their ways when we started leaving.
Then the last day we were there, Teresa said there was a boy on the swing set jabbing a pocket knife around. . . .careless parents.
But anyway. . .
Kaden was so excited when he saw this car. He is constantly talking about how cool Hot Wheels cars with flames are. And this was even his favorite color. The car also had a Hot Wheels decal on the back window. We walked over so Kaden could get a closer look and the owners said he could sit in it and take pictures. He was in heaven. Kairi liked it too and had to get her picture next to it.
We played miniature golf on the little course they have, and the kids even took a shot at shuffleboard which was cute. Jamie came up for the day on our last day and we played miniature golf again. It was such a fun trip!
Jamie picked us up and we spent the afternoon at her house playing in their pool. Kaden and Kairi had so much fun playing with their cousins.
Isn't this the funnest kids pool ever? With the two levels and a slide and the seat and it can spray water. I need to get one.
And when I didnt think it could get any better, they added a big slide. Just look at that excitement on Kairi's face. She was having so much fun she didn't want anyone to help her climbing up and sliding down.
Kaden and Dawson were having fun with some water bottles, and Abby was being Kairi's new best friend.
Abby was catching Kairi as she slid down the slide, and Kairi had to do the same for Abby. What a fun summer day.
I have never seen such an awesome pool! What cute pics of the kids, they are having a total blast!
Kaden and Kairi's First Purchase
Posted By: Jared Jul 17th, 2011
Kaden wanted a new crab for the fish tank so I decided that we can check his piggy bank to see how much he had. It turns out Kaden had about $26 and Kairi had $32, so we took them to the pet store and let them buy a fish for the tank. We also took them to walmart and target to get some toys with their money.
Kaden ended up getting this HUGE crab which was the biggest one that they had.
Here he is on our castle so you can get a sense of how big he is...
Kairi got an oscar. This is the fish we had before that ate goldfish and earth worms. They pretty much eat whatever is small enough to fit in their mouth.
At walmart Kaden got a towing car which said it was $13 on the box but rang up as $6 so he still has money left over. He also got Jujyfruits candy because the box was yellow and he wanted the yellow one. I tried to get him to get Whoppers because thats what I wanted.
Kairi got a cupcake playset and a My Little Pony playset.
so cute. Riann loves her cupcake stuff, and she would love that pony stuff. Do you still want me to take pictures of my lids in their hats you made for your website??
Jamie Wrote:
Jul 18th, 2011
Oh fun. I am so jealous of that crab!!
Zoo
Posted By: Allie Jul 11th, 2011
We went to the zoo Saturday with Myndi, Ty, and Jaxon. It was really fun with all the dinosaurs, Kairi was a little frightened by them and didn't want to get close.
We went for a ride on the carousel and Kairi loved it. She cried when it was over and kept saying "peacock, peacock". I guess she wanted to ride the peacock, which is the most boring one of all, lol. Maybe next time Kairi.
Of all the animals at the zoo, Kairi seemed to like the "kitty" the most; you know that one that looks like a house cat and sleeps in the basket. Kaden says he liked the giraffes and monkeys.
Sure, if you want I can probably put them on a disc for you.
Myndi Wrote:
Jul 12th, 2011
That was fun. Is it alright if I take some of these pics?
Picture Difference
Posted By: Jared Jul 10th, 2011
In response to Allie's "Cousin Group Pictures" post, Here is a little animation to show the difference between the original and her modified picture:
And just for fun, here is one of Dawson and Kairi LOL:
Lastly... Can you tell what has been edited in this picture?
Allie - (I just did this to see if I COULD do it. The differences are small enough that you can't really tell anything was changed unless comparing photo's side by side. It was fun to do)
I love playing around in photoshop, I can show you sometime.
Myndi Wrote:
Jul 12th, 2011
How did you do that? I have photoshop but am clueless as to how to do something that amazing
I-15 5th East Closure
Posted By: Jared Jul 7th, 2011
It looks like the 5th East closure has been delayed and is now set for late July or early August. Here is some information for the Lehi - Lindon area:
American Fork 500 East interchange closure rescheduled: Beginning in late July or early August, the I-15 interchange at 500 East, including all on- and off-ramps, is scheduled to be closed for approximately six weeks. Motorists can use American Fork Main Street and Pleasant Grove Boulevard as alternate routes.
I-15 lane split in American Fork: Beginning as early as mid-July and continuing through August, the travel lanes on I-15 will be split to accommodate bridge and road construction. From the freeway interchange at American Fork Main Street to American Fork 500 East, both northbound and southbound lanes will be separated into two sections. The dividing of the southbound lanes is planned to begin first, followed by the dividing of the northbound lanes two weeks later. Trucks will be allowed to use all lanes in this area. Motorists will need to stay in the right two lanes in order to use the American Fork exits. Remember, all four lanes will continue south.
To stay up to date on the freeway construction, you can visit the website HERE
We took a trip to the old Adventure Learning Park near Lone Peak High to feed the ducks. I think it's also refered to as Highland Glen Park. It's a little run down in some areas but it has a nice playground and fun pond you can fish in.
I gave them each a slice of bread and Kaden knew to tear it into pieces to toss in the water, Kairi just tossed in the whole slice before I showed her what to do. There was a mother duck with her little ducklings that came over to see what was going on.
I don't know what's going on with this duck. ha ha ha.
wow that duck is weird! I have never seen one like that before!
Myndi Wrote:
Jul 8th, 2011
How fun! Its been so long since I've fed ducks. I didn't know there was still a park over there. I had heard they tore it out while doing some add ons to lone peak. what is up with that ducks head? haha.
Peas O' Penty
Posted By: Allie Jul 5th, 2011
Our peas are the best growing veggie in our garden. Some were ready for picking so we sampled a few. If your kids don't like eating canned or frozen peas like Kairi, they might like fresh from the garden. Kairi ate every pea I offered her and kept asking for more. I really wish I planted more. I'm sure there's time to start a few rows.
You are so awesome! I never think ahead enough to plant a garden. Those peas look yummy
Weekend Cabin Trip
Posted By: Allie Jul 4th, 2011
We went up to the Cabin friday afternoon. Kaden was especially excited to go. We went for a walk on Saturday morning and saw this little guy taking a rest in the shade. We tried getting closer for better pictures and he stood up and walked away. He then went and laid down by another cabin where we followed him and got some more shots.
We then went to the Rodeo (or Radio as Kaden kept calling it) that evening. It was a lot of fun, we looked at some horses and calves before it started and the kids were kept happy with lots of snacks.
The next morning there was another moose right outside the cabin - i'm pretty sure it was the same one. We got some more pictures and then Jared followed it over to another cabin where it laid down.
On our way home we passed by this road that was flooded and caving in.
We stopped by the Jordanelle Reservoir for some pictures.
I wish I went. Kairi looks so cute with that fourth of July headband
myndi Wrote:
Jul 8th, 2011
That road is scary. Is it a gated community? I wonder how they are going to get through? You guys always have pictures of moose. I swear that cabin must be moose central. Love the pics of the kids at the lake, so cute!
Jared Wrote:
Jul 4th, 2011
It was scary getting so close to the moose for some good pictures. On the one where he is laying the in shade in the second set, I was about 5 or 6 feet away, but never saw it in my own eyes. I just held the camera out around the edge of the cabin and snapped a bunch of pictures.
Chocolate Cupcakes for Two
Posted By: Allie Jun 30th, 2011
I have a little obsession with cooking shows. Jared; being the sweet husband he is, always downloads these types of shows for me when he comes across them, and he will even watch them with me (I think he likes them too, or it could just be that I'm more inclined to give foot massages when I'm watching them). I always watch Good Eats when I'm on the treadmill, it helps a lot to pass the time. And we have watched most of Bizarre Foods and some of Man VS Food.
Our newest show that we've been watching is Cupcake Wars. Which is basically a cook-off between 4 people to see who can come up with the best tasting/most creavite cupcakes. By the time the show is over you really start craving cupcakes. But who wants to make a whole batch of cupcakes at 11pm. Sooo...I kinda came up with this recipe to satisfy the cupcake craving and not have 20 cupcakes left over to eat for breakfast the next morning. I think it could still use a little work, but it's yummy just the same.
Chocolate Cupcakes For Two
2 T flour
2 T brown sugar
1 1/2 T cocoa powder
1/4 tsp baking powder
2 tsp vegetable oil
1 1/2 T milk
1 1/2 T whipped egg
Bake at 350 for 15 min. If you have silicone cupcake liners you could probably even microwave them for 90 or so seconds, which would make this even easier.
Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
1 T butter
4+ T powdered sugar
3 tsp cocoa powder
1 T milk
Mix ingredients adding more powdered sugar or milk as needed for desired consistency.
I think you forgot to put this one in your recipe section, because I couldn't find it there
Myndi Wrote:
Jul 4th, 2011
I love cupcake wars! I can never remember what time it is on though. I was even tempted to try maple cupcakes with bacon because they made them look delicious
Allie Wrote:
Jul 3rd, 2011
Ya, just a spam post trying to get you to go to their site. You should change your setting to approve all comments before they appear on your blog.
Heather Wrote:
Jul 2nd, 2011
oooh yummy! Um did you notice on my blog that post from oohli, or whatever it is?? Scary! I don't know him!!!
Stromboli
Posted By: Allie Jun 29th, 2011
This is what we had for dinner tonight and it was delish! Stromboli is like a pizza that is rolled up jelly-roll style and then baked. I've never made it before and have always wanted to try it, I'm so glad I came across this recipe, it was SO simple and everyone loved it.
I love that it uses refrigerated bread dough, which really makes it simple, though I'm sure you could make your own if you wanted to take the time. I just stuck with pepperoni and mozzarella since we didn't have salami or provolone, and left out the red pepper flakes for the kids, and it was just like pepperoni pizza in sandwich form. Or you could do American cheese with shaved ham or turkey. Or maybe some shaved ham and chicken with Swiss cheese for a chicken cordon bleu type sandwich. There are a lot of options.
I would brush it with an egg wash after rolling it so the salt and oregano and Parmesan have something to stick to and it'll make it look nicer. Oh, and it says it serves 6, but I'd say more like 4, unless you're serving it with something else.
(serves 6)
1 can Pillsbury Country Italian Bread Dough (13.2 Oz)
6+ slices Genoa Salami
Garlic Powder
Dried Oregano, Crushed Between Your Fingers
Red Pepper Flakes
Freshly Grated Parmesan
6+ pieces Provolone Cheese or grated Mozzarella
Pepperoni
Pizza Sauce For Dipping
Preheat oven to 350F. Place a piece of parchment paper on a rimmed sheet pan.
On a lightly floured surface, unroll the bread dough. The dough should form a rectangle. Lay the dough so that the long edge is closest to you. Make sure the dough is not overstretched in some spots, or the filling will burst out in those areas.
Place 6 to 8 slices of Genoa Salami on the dough, leaving a 1/2″ border around the edges. Sprinkle on some garlic powder, oregano, and red pepper flakes. Add the parmesan and provolone cheeses. It's easier to roll the dough when you break the provolone in half (or even smaller). Finally, add as much (or as little) pepperoni as you want on the top of the provolone, making sure to leave a 1/2″ border around the rectangle of dough.
Starting from the edge closest to you, roll the dough like a jelly-roll style. As you roll the dough, make sure to keep all of the ingredients tucked inside and pinch the ends as you roll to keep the filling from slipping out as you roll. Carefully pinch the seam shut (and the ends) and place on the sheet pan seam-side down.
Lightly sprinkle the top of the dough with kosher salt, dried oregano, and grated Parmesan.
Bake for 25 minutes or until the crust is a deep brown. Let rest for 5 minutes before cutting into 1″ slices. Serve with some warm pizza sauce for dipping.
This was very good! Allie had to run to Walmart and when she got back, I had eaten it all :)
Cousin Group Pictures
Posted By: Allie Jun 28th, 2011
We got all the Triptow cousins together yesterday to take group pictures. It went a lot better than expected considering the amount of children that were there. Out of the 50 or so pictures I took, I thing these are the best.
Can you tell who in the bottom two have been edited? And there was a big ugly sign in the background that I took out of all the pictures.
Great pictures. Can't believe all the kids are focused. and I can't tell they have been edited at all.
jamie Wrote:
Jun 29th, 2011
They did such a great job and are all so cute.
E3 Vacation
Posted By: Allie Jun 12th, 2011
The first day at E3 was just us and Morgan, and then we met up with Jared's cousin Scott and his friend Dave but we just did our own thing most of the time. Here is a picture of the main entrance and there were a couple of tanks outside for the game World of Tanks. Once they opened the doors we rushed over to Nintendo to get in line for the new Wii...the line was SO LONG and we sat and waited for 10 min and then they ended up cutting off the line fairly short and said they were full to capacity for the day.
Here we are waiting in line for the Wii 2, we were somewhere in the middle. Sadly, we never got a chance to play it because the line just filled up too quickly. They had a display with the new Wii and the new controller. One of the games you could play on the new Wii; if you made it in line, was the remake of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, I could watch other people play and it looked amazing. I did get to play Zelda: Skyward Sword, I played a level where you fly on the back of a huge bird, I can't wait for that to come out.
We went over to the Playstation area and Jared played a game with this controller attachment, I don't remember what it was, lol...I think Resistance. It looked fun.
On our way to the other hall we passed by Hulk Hogan. There were a couple other celebrities there too, but we didn't get pictures.
We watched a bunch of demos in the south hall, Fable: The Journey (which is played using just the Kinect, I'm so excited for that), Gears of War 3, The Darkness 2, Duke Nukem Forever, and UFC. I think that's all we watched, but we also got to play a lot demos too.
Jared and Morgan playing the Gears of War 3 demo.
Nexon had a couple of games to demo; Vindictus and Dragon Nest, and after you played you got a raffle ticket. They were giving away dragon plushies, turtle beach gaming headsets, and polar bear Spirit Hoods. They did 2 raffles a day and we went back each time to try and win. Jared won a dragon plushie and I won a spirit hood. If you want to see what Spirit Hoods are you can check out their website SpiritHoods.com. Here is a picture of me with one the the Vindictus girls from the game, and then I got a picture of the other girls who modeled the spirit hoods after I won mine.
We also got tickets for another raffle and won a pink bear plushie at that one. Other than the raffles there were a ton of other free things, mostly shirts and posters. I think we left with 17 T-shirts.
In this pic we played a game that gave out free red wigs, so we had to get a picture, and I'm also holding the dragon plushie Jared won.
Here are some other various pictures we took.
And Scott and his friend when we were getting breakfast.
We were pretty worn out by the end of the 3rd day, a lot of standing in lines and waiting. And I don't think we got to really see everything, Scott unknowingly went into a VIP section for the 3DS when the gaurd wasn't paying attention, I really want to upgrade our DS's to the 3DS. And we didn't get around to seeing the new PSP but Scott said it was really cool.
The second night of E3 Scott treated all of us to an awesome show where we saw Video Games Live. "Video Games Live is an immersive concert event featuring music from the most popular video games of all time. Top orchestras & choirs perform along with exclusive video footage and music arrangements, synchronized lighting, solo performers, electronic percussionists, live action and unique interactive segments to create an explosive entertainment experience!" It really was fantastic, everyone who loves video games should try and see it.
This E3 may have been better than last time we went in 2004, Jared may try going again next year, but I think i'll stay home with the kids.
I woke up this morning like any other; looked at the date on my computer, hmm June 1st. Oh! It's our Anniversary! . . . I wish I could say we had some romantic plans for today, but being middle of the week and having kids makes it a little hard. We'll just take some time on our trip next week to celebrate.
I recently went to Tucanos for the first time and though the food was pretty good, I think the real highlight of the meal was trying their Brazilian Lemonade. It's probably the only reason I would go back there a second time because their prices are so high,... but now I don't even have to think about going back a second time because I can make Brazilian Lemonade at home!
I remember seeing this recipe on a food blog I frequent, but never tried making it before. I made it the day after I went to Tucanos and it tastes exactly the same IMO. I see myself making this a lot in the upcoming summer months.
Brazilian Lemonade
4 juicy limes
1 C sugar
6 C cold water
6 T sweetened condensed milk
Disolve sugar into water and chill until ready to use.
Wash limes thoroughly...using soap. Cut limes into 8ths.
Place half of the limes in the blender with half of the water. Pulse 5 times. Place a fine-mesh strainer over a pitcher and pour the blended mixture through the strainer. Use a spoon to press any remain liquid into the pitcher. Discard the limes. Repeat with remaining limes and sugar water.
Add sweetened condensed milk. Taste, and add more if needed.
Serve immediately over ice.
I'm wondering though, if It would still taste the same if I used prepared frozen limeade and just added the sweetened condensed milk. I wouldn't mind some pulp and it would make things even more simple, i'll have to try it.
I hate Blogger. No offense to anyone who uses it. I know it's free and I enjoy reading my family's blogs, I used to be able to sign in with my google account to comment, but they've made some changes recently that require me to sign up for a blog if I want to comment on other blogger accounts. And that isn't going to happen. So, I'm sorry to all my family that use it, but I can't comment on your cute pictures and stories anymore.
update: yay, it's finally letting me post comments. But still irritating because it's done this before a few times. Frustrating.
That is so annoying. Glad it is working again. I love your comments.
Jared Wrote:
May 27th, 2011
That is why I like doing my own sites... full control over it :)
Heather Wrote:
May 26th, 2011
It's ok, I hate everything to do with computers!!
mw Wrote:
May 25th, 2011
oh, thats too bad. I checked my settings and it is set for anyone- including anonymous users.
Garden Pests
Posted By: Allie May 23rd, 2011
I decided to plant the rest of my garden yesterday and it looks like some things were still too early. I checked on my plants this morning to discover some of them have been eaten! I can only assum this was done by a bird, I'm really starting to hate them.
They ate all of my pumpkin seedlings, and the blossoms off of my raspberry bushes. I read that birds love to eat newly emerging seedlings, and that's where my pumpkins were. "Once the plant has emerged from the soil and has developed a second set of leaves, the sugar converts back to starch, and the birds are no longer interested."
Lesson learned, don't plant them outside until they have their second set of leaves. As for my raspberry bushes, not sure what can be done there. I hope i don't have a garden pest bigger than a bird.
Well, it was only a few blossoms so I'm sure there will be more to come. But I've also read that you should take the blossoms off the first year so the plant will focus on developing a good root system. Then again...i hear raspberries grow like weeds so I don't know if that will be necessary.
Heather Wrote:
May 24th, 2011
Wow thats good to know, I didn't know that.
mw Wrote:
May 24th, 2011
Oh no, no raspberries this year?
Annoying Birds
Posted By: Allie May 23rd, 2011
I think this rainy weather is having a negative effect on the birds. We have one nice day on saturday and there is a sudden burst of nest building.
On saturday morning I kept hearing what seemed to be a flock of birds outside of Kaden and Kairi's windows. I look outside of Kaden's window and see a bunch of swallows flying around and I see a boy just standing near by staring at our house. So I went back there to see what was going on, and when I turn the corner to that side of the house, 20 swallows fly away. They were all building nests on our house. Seems like our little neighbors told their friends it was ok to move in.
Swallows are supposed to be really good at keeping flying insects away, but as much as I'd like that I just can't have that many nests on our house. They are also a protected species and you can't legally remove their nest until they have migrated for the winter. They weren't very far into it, so I figured I was ok to spray them off with the hose. I just hope they don't keep trying.
Then I also found this little irritation...
These birds move really quick! I had used the grill friday evening, and found this nest sunday morning. I guess they had good reason to move so quickly though, because I also found this...
Which made me feel bad for removing the nest, ...well Jared removed it, but I needed to use the grill. When I first opened the lid, a bird flew out, and it was one of those black birds that stick around during the winter. So I know it wasn't a protected species. And I have now learned I can't keep the cover off the grill, even for one day.
WHAT IN THE WORLD!!! How did they do that in one night? And of all places...
Shriners Check-up
Posted By: Allie May 15th, 2011
We took a trip to Portland Shriners on Friday. Getting straight to the point, Kaden is going to have lip revision surgery in August. She (The surgeon) said it was up to me on weather or not to do it. I quickly thought about the pros and cons and just decided to do it.
She said it's just a same day surgery, but since we were flying we'd probably have to stay overnight. And it would basicly just be removing some of the heavy scar tissue.
She then drew out a time line of things we could expect in the future so we can start planning and saving up for it now. This is what it looked like:
He will have to have orthodontics before his bone graft surgery, I didn't know it was a MUST HAVE, I just figured his teeth are going to be bad so we'll have to do it anyway, but she said it has to be done before the surgery...I hope we will have insurance that covers most of it.
Then she mentioned that as his face and skull grow, things will start looking out of place again and he will have to have a nose surgery around 16. And then MORE orthodontics before a jaw surgery at 18.
I am so sorry. That is so stressful. It is good he has lots of people that love him.
Myndi Wrote:
May 16th, 2011
Oh gosh! That's alot. I didn't know they would need to do a bone graft or jaw surgery. His past surgeries have done wonders for his eating and speach though, so its been worth it. We'll always be there for him and you guys
Heather Wrote:
May 16th, 2011
I am so sorry Allie. I know it must be so had seeing your baby have so many surgeries. Let me know if I can do anything to help
Happy 30th Jared!
Posted By: Allie May 12th, 2011
I threw Jared a surprise birthday party today with a lot of help from his mom Teresa. She was so nice to get everything prepared and let us use her house. I don't think I could have kept it a surprise if we'd had it at our house, though I think Jared started to catch on yesterday anyway.
I got him a pair of cool bowling shoes, which you can kind of see in the photo. And he got a gift certificate to Jack and Jill's bowling lanes from his sister Jamie, so he can put his new shoes to use soon.
Thanks everyone for coming to the party. It was quite a surprise to see everyone there!
Little Neighbors
Posted By: Allie May 6th, 2011
I was wondering when our little barn swallows would return, I was so excited when I saw one out the window working on the nest. I don't know why, but i've grown attached to them.
I was just looking for general info on these birds and came across this touching and sad story about swallows. It made me want to cry.
Thats sad. I think its so cool that they return every year.
Jamie Wrote:
May 6th, 2011
Oh that is so sad. Cute birds.
Jared Wrote:
May 6th, 2011
That is sad, I hope people still read my post below ;) he he
Refresher on staying internet safe!
Posted By: Jared May 5th, 2011
I know its a lot to read, but please read it!
With more and more family using the internet now, we need to remember to use common sense about emails we get and websites we visit. I have made sure to install Firefox and noscript to your computers which block javascript unless you allow it. Javascript is a major cause of viruses and sending them to your computer. When you browse the internet and need to allow the site, make sure that it is a trustable website and don't go approving every site you visit.
When you get emails, even if it looks to be coming from someone you know, be cautious on clicking the link to view the site because it could be coming from someone else and not the person you think. When you hover over an address, it should show the actual address in the bottom of your browser that it will be going to, the link in the email could be displayed as anything, but the actual link somewhere completely different. Also be careful of email attachments because those can contain bad programs that could even install a key logger onto your computer and log all the keys you press to be sent off to someone else. Doing this can easily send passwords, websites, bank account information or anything else you type on your keyboard. Don't open attachments if you are not 100% sure what it is and who sent it. If you get an email out of the blue from someone and it shows up as "Jared" with an attachment, then its probably best not to open it if I had not talked to you about it first and told you I was sending something "Especially if its an .exe file", those are the most dangerous.
Again, be cautious of the websites you go to and make absolutely sure that the website is what it appears to be. If you go to a page that looks exactly like ebay, look in the URL of your browser and be sure it says http://ebay.com and not a variation such as http://eb.ay.com or http://ebay.something.com. ebay.something.com is not from ebay but ebay is a subdomain of something.com which would be a completely different website and would be a scam to get your login information. Whenever you go somewhere to login or give information, double check the URL to make sure the address is on the correct site.
Be Careful of emails, phone calls or even postal mail that say you have a bank issue and asks for you to email, go to a website or call to fix the issue because these are common types of scams. They will point you to a site that looks like your bank but has a different URL, a phone number of someone else which they could go as far as use a fake office, reps, etc to convince you they are your bank or email to someone else. When someone sends you information asking for your personal info NO MATTER THE REASON, go directly to the source and not what they tell you no matter how convincing. If they send you a letter, discard it then get your bank information from your credit card and call them directly about it and see if there is an issue. Same goes for if they send you an email, simply discard it and call the bank directly through your own number on your card. If you are on the phone with someone claiming there is an issue with your bank account then simply state that you are busy at the moment and will call back in 30 min or so. You can then hang up the phone and call the number on your card. If they are persistant about getting your information, simply hang up. This goes for anything and not just for banks.
As a final note, I hope you find this imformation useful and its always good for a refresher because we tend to forget how easy someone can get your personal information. Another thing that I wont go in too much detail about is passwords. Someone can easily find information about you such as phone numbers, birthdays etc so when you create a password, be sure not to use anything common about you and rather come up with something more difficult and that is not in the dictionary. An example of something you could do is if you have a tradition of going on a picknick every friday then your password could be P1ckn1ckFr1d@y or something like that with a variation of capitol letters, lowercase and symbols. This will make for a strong password and does not use anything common about you, but rather something vague that people aren't likely to guess.
This year, there have been a record number of hacks going on I believe and its the perfect time to make sure you are safe and your passwords are secure.
@Myndi - Someone could have hacked her email or somehow got a list of her contacts and send email as her. You can send email as anyone through php or even your email program and set the settings to display it as a different email. Tonya should change her password ASAP to be safe
Myndi Wrote:
May 7th, 2011
Thanks for the refresher! I get weird spam all the time from Tonya's email and always discard it, but does this mean someone has hacked her email account?
Jamie Wrote:
May 6th, 2011
Thanks Jared!! You are a great brother
Heather Wrote:
May 6th, 2011
wow that is so scary! I hope it doesn't happen to me. Knowing me I will open something I am not supposed to.
Dad Wrote:
May 6th, 2011
Thanks Jared that is great advice.
Shawn Wrote:
May 6th, 2011
What is that how all my info was stealed?! dang
Why...
Posted By: Allie Apr 30th, 2011
doesn't it feel like spring yet? Sure there is green grass and flowers growing, but when you wake up to this....
It makes you wonder if it's ever going to get warm again. I am expecially upset because I planted some of my garden early and although most of the plants are supposed to be ok in cold weather, they don't seem to be doing so well. (partly because Kairi has smashed some of them).
My peas are still going strong, but I have had to cover up my tomatoes every night the last week, and only 2 of 6 have made it. My strawberries and little blue spruce were covered with an inch of snow.
I got this little tree for free from Lowes on Earth Day. I'm not sure where I'm going to plant it, since it grows 20+ ft wide when it's fully grown. I don't think I have enough yard room for a tree that big. I still have some time to think about it though.
One good thing about this weather is that I havn't had to water the lawn yet. I just want it to warm up so my plants can grow, at least I have some back-ups growing inside if these ones die.
The mountains are so pretty in the first pic. You have a great view.
Heather the great Wrote:
May 3rd, 2011
I know I am so sick of it! I'm glad this week is supposed to be good. I planted some of my plants outside today
Easter
Posted By: Allie Apr 29th, 2011
The kids had a lot of fun Easter morning. They especially loved the pez they got from grandma Triptow. We had candy and eggs and easter grass all over the front room. I don't think i'll be doing the grass in the baskets anymore, what a mess to clean up. After eating lunch we went to spend the rest of the day with grandma and grandpa Davis.
Looks like they got great stuff from the East Bunny.
Easter Eggs
Posted By: Allie Apr 29th, 2011
Here are the eggs we colored. I don't think it's as much fun as you get older, but the kids really love doing it so I'm happy to make it a yearly tradition for them. It's pretty much the only Easter activity we did this year.
This was Kairi's first year helping, she colored on them with a crayon and when they came out of the dye it showed her scribbles. She really loved it. And of course they immediately started using them as toys, dropping them on the floor and putting them in their cars to push around. So I just decided to throw them away when we were done.
They look so proud of their eggs! They are such cute kids and you are a great mom!
Jamie Wrote:
Apr 29th, 2011
How funny. Ya egg dying isn't my favorite thing. We skip some years.
Heather Wrote:
Apr 29th, 2011
That is so cute. Ya Dominic was kind of the same way, he thought they were toys! I love dying eggs
Kairi's First Haircut
Posted By: Allie Apr 21st, 2011
Kairi had her first haircut yesterday. I think I've been putting this off forever because I just hated loosing Kairi's baby hair, but it needed to happen eventually. She threw a fit and cried a lot, but once she got calmed down it went pretty quickly. I think it looks much better now, being all even.
Oh that is so cute! I love your blog it always looks so cute!
Jamie Wrote:
Apr 21st, 2011
Oh it looks so cute. I am glad that you did it even though it is sad.
Painting Toes
Posted By: Allie Apr 19th, 2011
Kairi watched me paint my toes before church yesterday and became very interested. She kept handing me the bottles of nail polish wanting me to do her nails, but we didn't have much time before church started so I told her, another time. Kaden also wanted me to do his nails, lol . . . Im not sure how to explain to him that some things are just for girls.
So today when Kaden was downstairs watching Jared play a game, Kairi and I had some girl time and I painted her toes for her. She LOVED it. She was so good when I did the first foot and just sat there, but then she decided she wanted to do it herself, so I helped her paint her other foot. She got paint all over her toes, but that's ok, it'll come off soon enough.
I keep telling Kaden i'll make a hat for his teddy bear but always get busy with other things, so last night I decided just to do it; which took like 10 min, and it is so cute! I think it would be kinda funny to put little bear ears on the hat.
Kaden and I had a good laugh when we made madrox wear it. If it was a little shorter I think it would have been a good fit. and maybe try to make holes for his ears to go through. ha ha. I need to make one for Kairi's baby doll now, she loves putting hats on her dolls.
That is so cute I love it! My kids love hats too, and putting them on things
Jeep Diggin
Posted By: Jared Apr 9th, 2011
It has been a while since ive taken my jeep out in the hills so earlier this week I had decided to take it out today. Morgan had today off so it worked out well. We went cruising around the hills by 5-mile pass and then decided to head out to where we wrecked the Ford Taurus. There was a steep hill that went up to the top of the mountain and decided to go up it.
We then went further and found the spot where we crashed the Taurus and had a quick snack break. There are roads that went further into the hills so we continued on to see if there were any other good spots. We didnt really find any other good spots for another car crashing but had fun driving all over. There was another smaller hill that we climbed up on:
We found some good mud to drive through on the way back and by the time we got home, the jeep was covered in mud. It started to rain on the way home but I couldnt use my window wipers or it would just smear mud all over so I couldnt see out the window so I just did the best I could to look out without using them.
i saw your car, oh what a mess. i am glad you had fun and your ok
Crochet and a doctor visit
Posted By: Allie Apr 5th, 2011
My website is up and running! I went with a pretty simple name... Crochetbyallie.com. Not too much content yet, but i will be adding more soon, just need to get more pictures. If anyone knows a good photographer that would want to partner up with me please let me know.
Also, I took Kaden to the Dr today. He was sick a couple weeks ago and seemed to be over it, but his cough came back and then he developed a fever over the weekend so I decided to get him in. Poor guy, the tube in his right ear is plugged up with wax and is infected, and he has a sinus infection and was borderlining pneumonia. I would feel so aweful if he had pneumonia two years in a row. The Dr even made a little joke.."oh, time for his annual pneumia treatment". The thing is though, he didn't act like much was really bothering him up until a few days ago, he just had a bit of cough and runny nose. This little guy is so hard to read when he gets sick. At least he's on his way to feeling better.
i hope you are feeling better. it is so hard to not feel good and have to take care of kids. kiss the kids for me
New Websites
Posted By: Jared Apr 3rd, 2011
I have been working on getting some websites up and running since I have not been working. The first one was for my dad's business, Mountain West Development and can be seen here: MountainWestDev.com
Then my sister called me up and wanted a site for her husbands company, Rocky Mountain Concrete Specialists and can be seen here: RockyMtConcrete.com Allie also created the logo.
And finally Allie wanted a website to sell her craft stuff so we have been working on the site quite a bit. I have spent what seems like a week, staying up ALL NIGHT to research and code the functionality of the site. It is just about ready to be put online and hope to get the word out about it quickly and get some business going. Allie will most likely do a post about it once its ready and put a link up.
Allie created the designs for each site and I made sure they all worked correctly and put the images together on the site, set up the emails, admin panel etc.
Thank you for the Rocky mountain site. We love it! You are such a great brother and friend. We owe you big...and I almost cried when I read Allie's post to you. She is so sweet
Allie Wrote:
Apr 3rd, 2011
Thank you SO much for all the hard work you've been putting into my website, all those long hours of researching and coding, it must be frustrating. You have such amazing knowledge and talent for computers, and you so generously share it with anyone who asks. I am so grateful be with you and i hope you know how much I love you.
Getting Fish Again
Posted By: Jared Mar 30th, 2011
Last week I decided to get our fish tank going again so the kids can enjoy them since they are now older. Allie didnt want to get it running again unless it had a stand so we had my dad come over and help us build a stand for it.
We went to the a pet store in Provo and they seemed to have a good selection of fish so we got a bunch there. After that, we went to Petco in orem to look at what they had and got a bunch more there. We tried to stick with fish that will grow big so they can fill up our tank and look better.
Morgan also got a fish and wanted to get a big ugly one so he ended up with this black goldfish with huge eyes
We also got a crab which I think is my favorite out of all of them. He has already killed one of our fish though which was a rainbow shark. Everytime I look in the tank, the crab is in a new weird spot and I think he has climbed up on all of our decorations already. Here he is on top of our huge dragon.
When the fish get bigger, we are planning on getting some more cooler fish for the tank but can be quite expenseive. These are 2 that we had our eyes on and are $40 each.
Horray for Spring, It's finally here! Too bad it doesn't feel much like it. This weather just makes everything feel so gloomy and depressing and it doesn't look like it's going to get much better this week. But I do see flowers popping up and that makes me feel hopeful.
I saw on the bottom it said former employees with complaints should contact the Utah County Attorney, so you should definitely do that.
Kairi's Birthday Party
Posted By: Allie Mar 14th, 2011
Almost a month late, we finally got to celebrate Kairi turning 2. She loves seahorses and fish so I tried to go for a sealife theme. We started with a sand art activity, each child got a little fish keychain and filled it up with colored sand, and when they were done they picked out a fish to color and made it into a magnet.
We then sang happy birthday, Kairi loves to sing and she tried to sing along. She blew out her candle very well.
I made strawberry and vanilla cupcakes and colored the icing coral pink and Aqua.
Kairi loved her balloon so much she didn't care to open her presents, so Kaden opened them for her.
She has grown so much in the last year, most noticeably her hair. She hasn't had a hair cut yet and though I'd love for it to get longer I think im finally going to take her in for a trim, just to even things out.
I did not want to make a big deal about this, but I am just so upset right now and have to get out my frustration....
So as most of you know, I have been programming at HIT Web Design for nearly 4 years now and it was great in the past. With the economy issues and everyone having such a hard time, my dad said that I was the only one left with a stable job.. well that didn't last for long. Toward the end of last year our checks were slowly bouncing but they were paying them back and we were getting them deposited eventually. Further into the year, right around Nov-Dec then it started to get bad and they always went around asking people who needed it the most. We are somewhat cautious with our money and I keep an eye out to make sure we dont spend too much and have a decent padding, not a whole lot but enough to keep us a-float. So with that in mind, I'd always pass thinking that other people needed the money more then I did and always told myself that I'd get it next time around. Well this ended up going on for quite a while so right around the beginning of Feb, we were getting VERY short on funds so I started to ask for money. By now, trying to get money was like gambling with it and you could not get a check bigger then $500 or so. Right around mid Feb we had no other choice but to take out all our kids savings and put them in our checking account so our bills could be paid and then we were set for another round of bills.
This went on until the end of Feb and into March. I had been home a lot at the end of Feb and march because I did not see any reason to continue working when I was getting no money from it. On March 8th they closed their doors but I was at home and one of my friends who quit there a while ago wrote to me and said they closed. I called up my supervisor to see if there was any money and he verified they were closing up shop. I asked about money owed to us and my personal items that were still there. He said to email ceo and possibly mon or tues next week I can get my belongings. I sent an email twice and have yet to receive any word back..... Using the ceo email makes me believe that they do not care and have no intentions of getting back with any of us to get us paid because many clients have the ceo email and its obvious that if you want the owner, thats the email to contact. They are going to have so many emails sent there, its going to be impossible to dig through and contact each one of us.... rediculous!!! As for my personal items, I doubt that I will ever see those again! You can read about the closing of the company and everyone that is upset by going HERE. Fibernet is the place all our customers were hosted at and they were not even made aware of the company closing, but HIT decided to dump all the calls to fibernet for them to deal with.
So here I am now at home, still trying to land a job with no money and about $4,000 - $5,000 owed to me in wages that I may never see. Ive been talking with a bunch of people and have been around online to find out a few things as well. The first thing that I had come accross from a friend is THIS which I had seen while still employed. I asked my supervisor if that is why we were not getting paid and he said no, this was old stuff...... lies? Then after the company closed, we found this new business registered under my supervisors name ISO Webworks and verified HERE. There are complaints about the new business telling people not to use them if you go HERE and Kevin states he is trying to start up his own business, but I really don't know what to believe anymore..... The company always said that things were getting better and we were moving upward when we really werent. Had I known that things were going downhill and had no chance to recover, I would have left sooner and may not have had so much money at stake, but I took their word for it and thought that eventually things would pull out and we could start getting our checks.... more lies i suppose.
I called up to get on unemployment and first of all the online registration wouldnt let me because it said I had wages in california and had to notify them that I didnt or add the employer that I worked for. I had never worked in california so I called them up and told them. He said it was some company called West Coast something... he couldnt read the rest but said there were quite a bit of wages earned through that company.... GREAT. So they tell me to call Social Security to have them look into it and I was sent over to someone to help me finish the registration. This person now tells me that HIT never reported my 3rd quarter wages and so now I dont think I can get as much per week and the number of weeks I can get unemployment is now less... FANTASTIC!! After I am done with that, I call up Social Security and they say that the 2010 information is not available yet and wont be until after taxes, so now I have to call them up in a few weeks, month or whatever and try to get this whole thing sorted out.
And that now brings me to today where I have been trying to take my mind of things by doing household items that need to get done. Allie applied for a call center job which is located near the mall and had a test to do today. She went in to do that but of course their internet was down so she couldnt take it. Also our application for food stamps and medicaid was delayed because of some stupid reason and I am still waiting to hear back about my job application. I am very happy to have a friend like Morgan though, he has come over at least once a week and we go to the store to get hot dogs and whatever else to eat for dinner so that has helped us out quite a bit. I will just end it there because I am sick of thinking about all of this and just want to go watch some shows.
I am so sorry to hear whet you guys are going through. I wish we had internet so we could keep better tabs on each other. Jed wasn't really working for a while and then i was deathly ill so I haven't kept up on things and I apologize. I need to realize other people are having problems too and I need to be a better sister. I love you and I will work on it. Keep your chin up and I'm here if you need me!!!
myndi Wrote:
Mar 11th, 2011
I can't believe they did that to you! A company i worked for was telling everyone that things were going great, even though there were rumors going around saying otherwise. Then they closed their doors overnight, and I never got my stuff back. How can companies do this to hardworking people? I know that if you send them a letter requesting money owed, they are required by law to provide it within 2 days. You may not see them money, but if you do this, you have some type of evidence if you decide to pursue legal action. Let me know if you guys need anything. You have helped me so much with Jaxon, I would love to return the favor anyway I can
Allie Wrote:
Mar 11th, 2011
It's amazing how fast life and turn for the worse. I'm so glad we had all that money saved up, I feel so bad taking the kids' savings too though. The more I hear about HIT the angrier I get, how could they do this to so many people. And the possible identity fraud you now have to deal with...I hope things start turning for the better soon. At least we have each other, and family, and good friends.
Little Big Planet
Posted By: Jared Mar 11th, 2011
So since I have been officially out of work now (See Here), ive been trying to get lots of things done such as removed the pipes under our sink and un-clogged them, fixed Kadens closet door, fixed the leaking fridge (hopefully) and a few other things. Kaden has also shown an interest in playing with Little Big Planet or "The Guy" as the kids call it so I let him play one of the main levels which he did ok with but it was still too hard for him. In the game, you can create your own levels and one night I decided to just make an easy level for him to go through and play on. I finished it and here it is:
Kaden is going to be a pro gamer in no time, and it's been nice having you home all the time. I really hope HIT gets what's coming to them.
Fun with a rubber band
Posted By: Jared Mar 3rd, 2011
We were watching the movie "Tangled" with the kids in our room and then after the show Allie started to put a big rubber band on Kairis face, she looked so funny with it on. She put it on Kadens too but he wouldn't keep it on.
This past month has been pretty uneventful, for me anyway, as you can see with the lack of posts. I can't wait for spring. Kairi's birthday should have brightened things up but we've yet to celebrate; for various reasons, and that makes me a little sad. At least she is young enough that she doesn't care. Hopefully within the next few weeks if things go well we'll be able to finally have her party.
Crocheting has kept me pretty busy. I am now selling my items at a local boutique and have been trying to build an inventory for that. I've gone over a few of my patterns and have made changes to a few. I made a new visor for the Newsboy Cap which I am pretty pleased with. The updated images are now shown in the crafts section along with a new Boy's Visor Beanie.
And here are some cute little crocheted bow clips I made for Kairi. I love these. And a new version of an old pattern below
you are so creative and a great mom thanks for being you. you guys are so cute with your kids.. luv ya
myndi Wrote:
Mar 4th, 2011
The kids are so cute and kaden looks so grown up! Thats awesome you have your hats at a boutique. They are the best.
Jamie Wrote:
Mar 3rd, 2011
Allie I love everything you make! I hope you sell tons of hats. If you need a break and want to come over let me know!!!
Sackboy
Posted By: Allie Feb 11th, 2011
If you've played Little Big Planet you'll know who this guy is. Sackboy. Jared and I just recently finished beating Little Big Planet 1 and 2, staying up till 2 am most nights that we played, such a fun game.
I saw a knitting pattern for sackboy and knew Jared would love it, so I made one for him for Valentine's Day. I kind of improvised on some parts but I think he turned out pretty well. Kaden watched us play the game and knew who the guy was when I finished putting him together, and he loves playing with him.
I made a couple of these for Kairi so her ears kept warm when she plays outside and not have her hair messed up from wearing a hat. She's never kept headbands on for long periods of time, but she loves wearing these.
For the next two weeks I'll be selling them for just $5 each with a limit of 2. The white one is made with baby soft yarn and the pink is regular yarn and outlined with light pink. Flowers are purchased separately.
yes, Guess I should have mentioned that. I can do from toddler up to adult sizes.
Myndi Wrote:
Feb 11th, 2011
do you make adult size? Because I need another one... or two.
Roar I'm a Dinosaur
Posted By: Allie Feb 3rd, 2011
Finished this one last night and I love it. So cute on Kaden and he loves wearing it. Kairi loves it too and says "Roar" when she's wearing it. There are two spots on each side. It could easily be a Dragon hat too, maybe have orange with brown spikes, or even bright green or purple with pink spikes, or just grey and black. So many possibilites.
I have re-done the internal code of the site so it runs on templates and makes the themes much better for the site. Allie spent some time to start on a new set of themes. Right now we just have the Feb. theme created and it looks great, but the other months will be in the works and will switch over when the month is over. If we get some time, we will do holiday specific themes as well as month themes. Maybe we will create a birthday theme to display when there is a bday. The best part of it is, the themes switch over automatically, we just have to create them and put them in place.
If you happen to notice any broken pages or colors that are not right, please let us know since the code changes were pretty major. It seems everything is working fine but there may be something I have missed.
I finished the Lattice hat for Kairi this morning, I love the design. I went too tight on the tension though, so it doesn't fit her as well as it should. But she still looks cute.
Yes, I just added them to the craft section. That would be great.
Myndi Wrote:
Jan 19th, 2011
Are you selling the hats? If so, I can put a link on my blog for people to check out
Learning to talk
Posted By: Allie Jan 19th, 2011
This is probably my favorite milestone and Kairi is learning so fast. It's adorable the way she pronounces things and doesn't quite understand certain phrases. Her word for crayon is "Kree or Krees". Kaden says "cry-ann" which is funny, he has a cousin named Riann and somehow incorporated that into crayon.
Instead of saying cat she calls them "meows", she used to say "ki ki" for kitty, but i can't get her to say it anymore, she just says "meows". And when Kaden is being mean to her she comes running to me saying "nice, nice" which means "not nice".
She says some colors and everything shaped like a circle is "ball". And she's moving on to two word sentences, she will say "he go" for "here you go" when she hands me something.
Haha, I love that Kaden combined two words. I think these kinds of posts are awesome because it will be fun to look back at these silly little things and we will wonder where all the time went.
Jamie Wrote:
Jan 19th, 2011
Oh that is so sweet. She is such a cutie. That is so funny that we both made a breakfast pizza for Christmas! Are your kids feeling better??rn
Dog Allergies
Posted By: Allie Jan 18th, 2011
We are pretty sure now that Kaden is allergic to dogs. I'm not sure when this developed because he's been around dogs before and has been fine, but the last few months he's had various incidents that lead me to believe he's now allergic to them.
The last two times we visited my parents' home he's had terrible asthma attacks and broke out in hives all over his face. We thought at first that it was from cats, my parents have both cats and a dog. But we also have a cat so that just didn't add up. Then when a friend brought his dog over, kaden pet him for a few min outside and got hives a short while later, that's when we figured it has to be dogs.
I did a little research and found out that the main dog allergen is in their saliva, which makes perfect sense.
[Dog allergens are small and sticky and can stay airborne for a long time. Some people are not specifically allergic to dogs, but have a primary allergy to another substance, such as pollen. In these cases, a dog can provide an additional irritant that could trigger the primary allergy attack. People who are allergic to a dog's saliva only experience an allergic reaction if a dog licks them.]
My parents' dog loves to lick kaden's face whenever we go there, and he was licked by our friend's dog as well. It's also possible to be allergic to some breeds and not others.
My SIL Heather has a dog, Kaden has been around him a couple times and never had issues, i've never seen him lick kaden, but perhaps he's a breed that doesn't effect him as much. Same with my sister Myndi, she has two Great Danes and Kaden didnt have problems around them, but the last time he was over there was before the allergy started.
We'll have to be more cautious around dogs and make sure he doesn't get licked.
How interesting. It has been a while since he has been around my dogs, i wonder if things have changed since the last time he was over. There is a discount going on right now for veterinary staff and their families for allergy testing. So if you ever want to know for sure, it takes a blood sample. They will test him against all kinds of allergens for $120. Not sure how much a doctor would charge for it.
Kaden's Slippers
Posted By: Allie Jan 3rd, 2011
I made Kaden these slippers for Christmas, he loves wearing them and will actually keep them on. Kairi likes her slippers too, but she thinks it's fun to kick them off a lot. I also made a pair of slippers for their cousin Jaxon but never got a picture.
Jax loves his slippers and hasn't tried taking them off. He takes his hat off after a few minutes, but the hat is so adorable. He wears it whenever we go out
New Years at the Cabin
Posted By: Allie Jan 3rd, 2011
We spent New Years at the cabin with Jared's parents and sister Heather's family. It was really fun being up there in a cozy cabin surrounded by snow celebrating the new year.
We had fun with noise makers and poppers on New Years Eve.
Kairi and Dominic being cute together.
We had fun playing in the snow and Jared and Jed even built a snow cave.
Jared and Kaden all bundled up to go for a ride on the snow mobile.
Me too, so cute. Kaden is also wearing the shirt you got him in an above photo.
Myndi Wrote:
Jan 6th, 2011
Kairi looks so much like you. Love the outfit ;)
Christmas Morning
Posted By: Allie Jan 3rd, 2011
Kairi was the first to wake up Christmas morning, I told her she needed to wait for Kaden to wake up before we could open presents so she went in his room and climbed onto his bed to wake him up.
They were both so excited to see that Santa had come during the night. Kaden's favorite gift was his big tow truck and Kairi's favorite gift was her box of crayons.
We then had a big breakfast and went to visit Grandma and Grandpa Davis.
favorite toy... box of crayons, haha. Thats so cute. Too bad she'll be on to bigger more expensive things pretty soon. Jax's favorite toy was his magnetic drawing board ($1).
Christmas Eve
Posted By: Allie Jan 3rd, 2011
We spent Christmas Eve with family at Grandma Triptow's. Jared brought his toy helicopter and the kids had fun sticking their hands in the air hoping he would land it on them.
Jared's mom made houses out of pop tarts for the kids to decorate, what a cute idea! Kaden loved it.
Here are all the cousins together, except the new baby whome was still at the hospital.
Kaden and Kairi decorated graham cracker houses. I should have assembled them and let them dry first so kairi's wouldn't fall apart like it did. Oh well...she still liked sticking candy in the icing when I couldn't keep it together any longer.
This is a reminder to keep your important files backed up such as pictures, music, documents etc. Hard drives are fairly cheap for a good size and will be worth the investment to get one. Over time hard drives will fail, so you need a plan in place to keep from losing very important data. One of our drives started having issues in our server and I did not think too much about it until yesterday. It stopped showing up in windows and I could no longer gain access to the drive. This drive had our music, pictures, programs, personal files and phone apps / games. I had luckily made a backup of our personal files and pictures back in March, so any pictures since then are now gone forever. I am very happy that I at least made the backup back in March, but should have kept up to date on the backup so we didnt have to lose as much. None of my music was backed up so it is now all gone. 
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I got a new phone "HTC Sensation" and it is fantastic. Allie took over my old phone so she has the old number and if you don't have my number then let me or allie know so we can get it to you. While Allie was gone to Portland with Kaden, I played around with my new phone taking pictures and making things look funny. Here are some that I took.
With more and more family using the internet now, we need to remember to use common sense about emails we get and websites we visit. I have made sure to install Firefox and noscript to your computers which block javascript unless you allow it. Javascript is a major cause of viruses and sending them to your computer. When you browse the internet and need to allow the site, make sure that it is a trustable website and don't go approving every site you visit.
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