Projects & Food

We have been trying to get a bunch of projects done before the baby is born.  We have ripped out our old closets making our master bedroom bigger and converting the tiny office next door into a walk-in closet.  We have built the door frame for the new closet entrance but it will probaby be a while until we buy a door and put it in.  We still need to figure out closet organizers too but we are loving all the space in our room now-especially since there is a cradle and changing table taking up residence in one corner.



I decided to make a cute little diaper and wipes pouch the other day. I love how it turned out and I think it will make so much sense to not have a ton of diapers floating around all over the inside of the diaper bag.  You can find the tutorial and pattern HERE.

 

Another project we wanted down before the baby was born was adding a closet organizer to Belle's closet.  It was such chaotic mess and we needed more space for some of the baby's clothes.  Jarod did such a great job and whipped this project out in no time.

Jarod and I love food and love cooking. We tried a creme brulee recipe the other day for the first time and it turned out pretty good for a first attempt.  Jarod loves creme brulee and has been wanting to try a recipe for a while.  We think it needs a little more flavor and the first serving we made we added too much sugar on top and torched it too much, the 2nd torching was a lot lighter than the picture below and it was much yummier.

One of our favorite dishes-Pad Thai.  I just buy a box dinner (I think its Thai Kitchen brand) and than we bake chicken with a Spicy Peanut Bake (I think its Taste of Asia).  Super easy and super yummy.

 

Belle's 3rd Birthday

Belle wanted a pink party for her birthday this year.  I found a fun idea for the cake and used pink and red m&ms to decorate it.  It turned out so cute and the inside was pink and white zebra stripes.  I need to get some pictures off our video camera cause I didn't take a lot of still shots.  We had family come over for the party and ate soup, rolls, cake, and of course homemade chocolate ice cream.  We opened presents which included some some games to keep her busy from Bart, Kellie, and the boys, some dolls, dress up stuff, and a basket for her bike from Grandma and Grandpa Yeates, and a Cinderella doll, helmet, bell, and puzzle from us.  We played a fun balloon popping game where candy and confetti went everywhere.


 

 

This wasn't taken on her birthday but its a fun picture and shows how much fun Belle is.  She loves to laugh and often asks us to tickle her or chase her.  She is becoming quite the daddy's girl and wants Jarod to see her a naptime and bedtime and wants him to participate in her picnics and play in her room with her.

 

Christmas!

Of all the Christmas presents we got Belle's favorite was the box Jarod's new saw came in.  She played and played in that box for hours! 


 

Belle's big toys this year was a dollhouse from Grandpa Rollins and a bike from Santa.  She is in love with both and wanted her bike in her room when she went to sleep that night. Jarod got a new miter saw and Tanya got the new Kindle Fire HD.  It was a great Christmas was lots of food, love, and fun.

 

 

 

Santa & Sledding

At the ward Christmas party Belle got to meet Santa.  She has been very excited about Santa this year and talking about how "maybe Santa will get me a bike" for like the last 3 months.  Once she Santa in person, not so excited.  She would not get very close and was clinging to Jarod.

 

For Christmas Eve we went to Chewelah this year.  There was so much snow.  You can see Jarod's parents house in the background.  There was at least 2 feet of snow.  We took Belle out sledding and found a little 10 foot long run for her to sled down.  She loved it so much and wanted to go and go. We had fun staying in Chewelah and Jarod loved seeing familiar faces at church. We stayed for a few days and came home Christmas Eve so Santa could visit us at our own house. 

 

 

One of the best parts of our stay was Belle's story about the snow.  There was a ton of snow hanging precariously off the side of the airplane hanger and when Jarod when inside and slammed the door all the snow fell down with a loud thud.  Belle thought that was great and started saying "whump, whump, whump, and the snow all fell down" over and over and over again.  She was still telling the story weeks later. 

Cider pressing & Thanksgiving

The weekend before Thanksgiving we pressed cider with Jarod's family.  The kids had a blast picking apples, playing in the water, and taking a bite out of every apple they could get a hold of. 



Everyone was pretty wet by the end of the day, it rained most of the day, even though we were under a canopy and the kids we were all so tired.  We pressed 100-half gallons of cider and everyone went home with a huge bag of potatoes (thanks to Uncle Dan!) and a years supply of juice.

Thanksgiving was spent with Tanya's family in Quincy.  We had a super yummy brined turkey and a deep-fried turkey (because one turkey is just not enough) and we had about 10 different flavors of pies! 

Belle's new smiling face-she likes to show all of her teeth.

 

A great highlight of the day was Belle trying to blow out the candles.  It took her about 20 tries because she was blowing straight down-not at the candles.

 

First Snow

Jarod and Belle went out and made a snowman after the first snow of the season.  Belle loved it!




I think it was a missionary snowman. 

Belle has started to wanted to dress up more.  Here is an outfit of her choice (of course wearing pants is optional at our house-like most houses with toddlers).

She loves to put my shoes on and she also loves to have her toenails painted.