Swimming Lessons

Bentley started swimming lessons today. Maxwell is too young, so he and Jonah got to watch with me. Kind of. Max watched, Jonah screamed because he wanted to swim. They also fell down and skinned their knees. Who know watching could be so much work?
Bentley's the guy on the right, doing his own thing. He was only distracted at the beginning though. After that he was very good. He watched, listened to, and obeyed his teacher.
This poor photo is Bentley's class with their teacher. Bentley is the one in the front on the right.
When we got home, Max asked for an ice pack to nurse his wounds. Jonah seemed oblivious to his. We get to do this eight more times! :)

Yum

We finally have ripe tomatoes in our garden, so tonight we followed Sunset Magazine's suggestion and had BLTs for dinner. They were really good. You can find their recipe and a picture of their sandwich here. Aside from using green leaf lettuce instead of arugula, we followed their recipe.

Thanks to my wonderful mother-in-law, Carla, for the Sunset subscription.

pictures for our kids

We saw a lot of things in Park City that we thought our kids would like. Here are some of the pictures we took for them.

A large chess set off Main Street.

Main Street Trolley

Silly animals.

(The boys really like cranes)

A subway-type "ski lift."

The Lonely Hour

Each day, Maxwell and Jonah take naps. Jonah goes to sleep right after lunch, and Maxwell takes his nap about an hour later. On most days, Bentley has one lonely hour while both of his brothers are sleeping. Some kids might enjoy the time without little brothers following them around, but I think Bentley misses his brothers. His Mom tries to think of fun things to do every once in a while, but there are a lot of times that she wants to rest or work on a project and Bentley is left to his own devices. Today he sat outside on the swings, and then tried to destroy a spider's web with a rock. He was thrilled when he heard Jonah wake up!

SuperMax Sleeping

Here's our little SuperMax sleeping at naptime today. He had Batman and Robin nearby so he was ready for any bad guys he might have met in his dreams.
(I love how he has his little legs tucked up under him.)
I'm so glad we've got Max.

Sweet Pork Burritos and Creamy Tomatillo Dressing

This burrito recipe is one of my favorite recipes. I told Ginger I'd email it to her, and almost forgot, then decided just to post it here. It's a good summer recipe because you don't have to finish the burritos in the oven. I usually cook the meat and the rice, heat up the beans and tortillas, and let everyone assemble their own burrito. The salad dressing is good on almost anything. I keep it in a quart jar in the fridge.

Café Rio Style Pork Burritos

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 lbs. boneless pork loin salt, pepper, garlic salt, to season
• 1 package flour tortillas (burrito size)
• 2 15 oz. cans mild green chili enchilada sauce
• 1/2 c. brown sugar
• 1 15 oz. can black beans, drained
• 1 bunch cilantro, chopped
• 1/2 lb. Monterey Jack cheese, grated (more if desired)
• chicken broth or bouillon cubes
• around 2 c. prepared rice
  

Directions: Cut pork into large cubes and place in slow cooker with 1/3 c. water. Season with salt, pepper and garlic salt. Cook on high for 4 hours or on low for 8 hours. Remove from cooker and drain. Shred meat and place in a bowl. In another bowl, mix together 1/2 to 3/4 cup green chili sauce and 1/2 cup brown sugar. Pour over pork and mix well.

--Rice: Prepare white rice per directions. Add chicken bouillon cubes to water, or use chicken broth instead of water for extra flavor.

--Beans: Drain black beans and warm up over the stove or in the microwave. Add salt and pepper to taste.

--Tortillas: Brown tortillas on a skillet with a little bit of cooking spray. (I like to use uncooked tortillas - you can get them at Costco)

--Assembly: Heat oven to 350. Spray 9x13 pan with cooking spray. Pour 1/2 cup green chili sauce into pan. Sprinkle each tortilla with cheese, then some rice, 1-2 T. chopped cilantro, black beans, and 1/3 c. pork mixture. Roll up each tortilla burrito style and place into dish seam side down. Pour remaining green sauce over burritos and sprinkle with cheese. Put into the oven until burritos are heated through and cheese is melted (around 20 minutes). Garnish with desired toppings (e.g. tomatoes, sour cream, salsa, guacamole, lettuce).

Cafe Rio Style Creamy Tomatillo Salad Dressing
Place the following in a blender:
3 fresh tomatillos, cut into quarters
juice of 1/2 lime
1/2 cup buttermilk (or make w/dry buttermilk mix)
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup sour cream
1 package of dry Ranch Buttermilk Dressing Mix
1 cup fresh cilantro (abt. one bunch)
5 stalks (1/2 bunch) of green onions w/ends
2 cloves crushed garlic
1/2 to 3/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. crushed cayenne pepper
4 tsp. sugar or other sweetener (you might want to taste it w/out first)
Combine well in blender and refrigerate at least one hour.

countdown

What Two Days Without Little Boys Is Like

Thursday afternoon, John and I left the boys with Mindy and my parents, and we drove to Park City. It was our first vacation without the kids since we've had kids, and neither of us had ever been to Park City. While we were there, we explored Main Street.
I had a lot of fun looking at shops and people. When we stopped to rest I found a new friend. This was a pretty popular photo spot. I thought we were being original, but after we left several other groups filed through, taking pictures with the bear. :)
One of our first stops on Main Street was the Park City Museum. They had some great displays on the history of Park City, from mining town to the Olympics. The basement of the Park City Museum is the old jail - it was called "the dungeon." John decided tor try out the toilet for my Dad. ;) I think he took a similar photo on his mission in Florida years ago.
We ate lunch at a place off Main Street called La Casita. They say their food is 110% Mexican. The tacos were wondeful, but John thought the salsa was a little hot, so I grabbed some "green tomatillo salsa- not hot" from the salsa bar. The problem was that they were OUT of green tomatillo salsa and what I really got was "jalapeno salsa- VERY HOT." We didn't figure that out till we'd each eaten big scoops of the stuff. OUCH.
We visited the Olympic Park just before we came home. They have two museums inside, one is a history of skiing in Park City, and the other is a museum of the 2002 Winter Games. After strolling through those, we headed outside to watch the ski jump practice.
We got to the Park right after the musical choreographed show ended, but we did get to see some practice jumps. I'd been told this was awesome, but I didn't get excited until we were actually there. It was amazing! I think I could have stayed all day watching them. They even had little kids going off small jumps. We left Park City a little later than we'd planned because I wanted to watch "just one more jump."
This is a picture I took on our way home. It was a beautiful day and Provo Canyon is always pretty. We had a great time on our vacation, and the boys didn't seem to miss us at all. They had a lot of fun with their Aunt Mindy and Grandpa and Grandma. Here's hoping it won't be another 6 years before our next vacation. :)

Mindy's Goal

My sister, Mindy, came to visit this week. She teaches Jr. High and just finished teaching three 2 week summer school sessions. Mindy decided to kick off her "real" summer vacation here in Utah with her nephews. During the school year (and during summer school) she has lofty goals - like educating young minds. This week her goals are a little different. She wants to eat one snowcone every day she is in Utah. So far she's three for three. Way to go Mindy!

The Big Bad Brady

This is Brady. He's Brianna and Spencer's dog, and the closest thing the boys have to a cousin on my side of the family. Unfortunately, they think he's pretty scary.
Brady loves to play. Here he is playing tug of war with Mindy while Spencer looks on. Brady really likes kids and gets really excited when the boys scream and run away. He thinks they want to play!
Jonah isn't afraid of the dog. He does seem to think that Brady can be a bit of a nuisance, like when Brady follows him around.
While Jonah is next to Brady, his big brothers are hiding in the corner. Maxwell actually got stuck in the corner behind this chair. They do seem less afraid each time they see Brady, and I'm hopefull that eventually they won't have to run and hide whenever they see him.

It's a . . .

. . . baby who wouldn't keep his/her mouth closed so I could have a cute profile picture. Here's the best profile shot we could get. Our baby kept opening and closing it's mouth. The tech said the baby was swallowing amniotic fluid. What a hungry little person!
Here's a picture of Riggs baby #4's cute foot (and leg). Everything looked good. The baby seems to be growing well and on schedule. I'm always nervous before my ultrasounds - I'm afraid something will be wrong with the baby - but as far as the technician could tell, the baby is healthy.
I always think these front view pictures look like aliens, but here's our baby's face. We were successful in NOT finding out whether our baby is a boy or a girl, but I did enter our information into the Chinese Gender Predictor and was told that our baby would be a girl. That information, however, condradicts the heart rate test, which says our baby is a boy. So I guess we're back to square one. :)

(the chinese gender predictor correctly told us that Bentley would be a boy, but it thought Max and Jonah would be girls. So did Bentley. He's been wanting a sister for awhile. I'm planning on another little boy.)

The Dinosaur Museum

Today we went to the Museum of Ancient Life at Thanksgiving Point . About a year ago, we took the boys to the museum for the first time. They were excited to hear that we were going back. We were especially glad to be going somewhere fun that was INSIDE with air conditioning. It was very hot here today! (not this hot, but hot for Utah)

We met my friend, Jenny, and her cute kids at the museum. They live in Brazil, so we don't get to see them very often. The last time I saw her little boy, Eric, he was only a few weeks old. This summer we met her daughter, Sarah, for the first time.

Many of the displays at the museum are "hands on" and those are the ones that my boys like best. Here they are exploring a cave with their Dad.
Bentley and Maxwell agree that this Erosion Table is their favorite part. The kids (and the parents - many seem to enjoy it more than their children) can move the sand around to create lakes, rivers, and dams. There are little trees they can position, and plastic dinosaurs to play with or bury and rediscover - which is what Maxwell likes to do.

(Jonah was too short to reach the table, but he did get a little dinosaur to hold while his brothers played in the sand. I tried to get a picture of him, but he wouldn't stop moving!)

Jonah's First Shoes!

Jonah is having a great day . . .
. . . because he got his first pair of shoes!
Now that he's really walking (finally) the boys and I took him to the mall and he chose his shoes (they were the only ones he would stand up in). For weeks he's been trying to wear everyone elses shoes and he's pretty happy to have his own now.

My Kitchen Window

Last night I was so happy that I have a window in the kitchen above the sink. John took the boys outside while I did the dishes and I got to watch them. Maxwell and Bentley played on the swingset. John would push Max really high on the swing, and then go back to the garden. Maxwell loves to be pushed high, and it was so fun to watch him. He held on for dear life, and at least once he closed his eyes tight until the swing settled down.
Jonah is lucky enough to have a wonderful and patient Dad who will let him "help" in the garden. I think Jonah spent the bulk of his time moving the soaker hose around - which probably means John had to move it all back when they were finished.

I like pizza - 2

My craving of the week is pizza, and luckily all three of my little guys like pizza, too. In the past six days, we've had homemade pizza twice, regular frozen pizza, french bread pizza, and mini pizzas. Today we made our own using refrigerator biscuits. I know we should probably have more variety in our diets, but when pizza is all that sounds good . . .
Here's Bentley with his creation - sausage, olives, and pineapple.
Maxwell loads the toppings on his pizza, but mostly he likes to eat plain cheese, which explains the leftover pineapple on his plate.
I was too slow to get a picture of Jonah with his pizza. As I took this picture, he put his last bite in his mouth. That's a good thing. Our doctor thinks Jonah is too skinny, and if he doesn't start gaining weight he'll have to have some blood work done to see if anything is wrong. The boys split an instant breakfast every day at lunch to help Jonah, and today when he asked a blessing on the food, Bentley also prayed for "Jonah to get fat." Maybe he will if we keep eating pizza. :)

inconvenient and miserable with a purpose?

John found this article about morning sickness. It says that "morning sickness might have evolved to ensure pregnant women do not digest too much unhealthy food." Some women are so sick that they aren't able to digest ANY food, and I'm not sure peanut butter qualifies as terribly healthy, but that food is usually pretty safe for me to eat while I'm feeling sick. I wonder if there is anything to this theory?

New Sidewalk

There's been a lot of activity on our block lately. All up and down the street, cracked sidewalks have been replaced with new sidewalk panels. Yesterday the trucks got to our house. The boys had a great time watching the backhoe destroy part of the sidewalk and street in front of our house.
This morning the cement truck came and the boys got to watch that. And the fun isn't over yet! Tomorrow or the next day the men should come back to fix the street they tore up! :)

Crime in Provo

I usually try to post about life with my boys, but this article is kind of sad/funny so I thought I'd pass it on. It was in Provo's Daily Herald. Here's a related article.

Cookies

This morning the boys and I made cookies with some fun colored cookie dough my parents and Mindy gave us. It looks like playdough, so the big boys were a little nervous about eating it, at first.
Jonah had no problem eating all the dough he could get his hands on. He didn't actually make any cookies, although he ate enough dough to have made several.
Here are some of the cookies before we baked them . . .

. . . and here are the finished products.

Baby Quilt - Beginnings

On Saturday I was able to go shopping for fabric to add to the cute Classic Pooh fabric my mother-in-law bought me a year ago. (I wish the colors in this photo were true) I'm looking forward to making Baby #4's quilt. Hopefully I'll be able to start soon because I know that I'll be busy this fall. Maxwell's quilt was finished just one day before he was born, and I don't want a repeat of that close call.
ps - baby is due five months from today!