Rise and Shout! The Cougars are out!

Go BYU Cougars!!! The game today was AWESOME. We beat the U. Woooohooo!

My dad brought a BYU hat for Jed and a BYU shirt for Benjamin. My little boy can finally show some real BYU spirit during the football games now. And it doesn't even matter that the shirt is a 4T size and completely drowns him. We'll take anything with a 'Y' on it. :)

Today we drove to Lake Erie (not much of a drive considering it is only about 5 minutes away). We looked around a little children's museum that had fish and snakes that people can watch. Then we drove to the shore and took some pictures. It was pretty cold, so Benny was snuggling into my dad to keep warm.

Thanksgiving with Family!

Mom and Dad came to visit us for Thanksgiving this year. We have had so much fun with them already, in just the two days that they have been here so far. Thanksgiving dinner was delish - I loved all the help Mom gave me with everything! This was my first year using a brine for our turkey and it turned out really great. My mom stopped me from overcooking it, and I think that probably made just as much of a difference as the brine did. :)

Today we went downtown to the Detroit Institute of Art. It was their Grand Opening (after having been closed for renovations) and the admission was FREE. Score! We thought it was going to be super crowded, but it really wasn't too bad at all. The museum is beautiful, and we were able to walk through the Native American, Ancient Greek & Roman, Renaissance, and American Galleries. Even so, we only scratched the surface. It was a fun excursion.

This evening we put up all our Christmas decorations! Sometimes this is a bit overwhelming for me, but with my mom's help we got it all up in record time. Jed put on some Christmas music for us to add to the holiday spirit. Before I knew it, the clock said it was quarter to 9:00 and Benny was still awake and running around! Before we put him to bed, Mom gave him some Christmas pajamas because today is the first day of the Christmas season. He looked so cute in his reindeer pajamas that we had to take a few family pictures in front of our twinkling Christmas tree.

More on the shower....

Viola! This quilt was so fun to make. It's the first one I've done, and I can't wait to start another. We had it set up at the shower for part of the time, but we were having too much fun visiting, so we didn't get much work done on it. :)

And here are a few pictures from the baby shower that Melody emailed me. It was so fun!

Baby Shower!

Last night I hosted a baby shower for Melody. It was such a blast! Of course when you get 15 girlfriends together, it's bound to be a great party. :)
We had a baby quilt set up on stands that anyone could work on if they wanted to. We did horizontal hand stitched lines in it. I'm going to finish it up and bind the edges and then I'll give it to Melody. I'll post a picture of the finished quilt.

I took a few quick pics of the food before the party. Melody specifically requested Fruit Soup, so I served that along with a Cream Cheese Strudel, Cherry & Lemon Scones with a lemon glaze, and a Frozen Mango Cream Cake with a macadamia nut crust. I also asked Anona to make Coconut Almond Muffins and they turned out perfect (thanks Anona!).

A few friends wanted the recipe for the Cream Cheese Strudel, so here it is! Courtesy of my sister Melanie who gave me the recipe when I got married. :)

2 ¼ to 2 ¾ c. flour, divided

1 pkg yeast (2 ¼ tsp)

½ c. sour cream

¼ c. sugar

¼ c. water

¼ c. butter

½ tsp salt

1 beaten egg

1/3 c. sugar

4 oz cream cheese, softened (half of a package)

1 tsp vanilla

Mix 1 c. flour and yeast. In saucepan, heat and stir sour cream, ¼ c. sugar, water, butter (cut into small pieces) and salt until just warm, and butter almost melts. Mix into dry mixture along with the egg. Let sit 5 minutes. Beat for 30 seconds on low, then 3 minutes on high, scraping the bowl constantly. (I only beat it until it is a smooth consistency, definitely not for 3 minutes.) Using a wooden spoon (or standing mixer) stir in remaining flour until a soft dough is formed. Knead on floured surface until soft and smooth. Shape into a ball. Place in a lightly greased bowl. Cover and let rise until double in size, about 1 hour. Punch down dough and turn out on lightly floured surface. Let rest for 10 minutes. Make filling by mixing 1/3 c. sugar, cream cheese and vanilla. Lightly grease a baking sheet (I prefer to line baking sheet with parchment paper). Roll out dough into 14x10 rectangle. Spread with filling and roll jellyroll style. Place seam side down on baking sheet. Make slits every 2 inches, ¼ inch deep. Let rise 30 minutes. Bake at 350° for 30-35 minutes, covering with foil the last 15 minutes to prevent over-browning. Cool on wire rack. I prefer to serve it with a cream cheese frosting, or you could drizzle with powdered sugar icing. Serve with fresh fruit.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

4 oz cream cheese, softened

3 T. butter, softened

3/4 tsp vanilla

1 - 1 1/4 c. powdered sugar

Mix and add milk and more powdered sugar to desired consistency. (You'll have some extra frosting.)

baby Eliza

Jed surprised me today with this beautiful baby bracelet. He took
Benjamin to a bead shop and actually designed and MADE this bracelet. He picked out garnet stones because that will be her birthstone. (I didn't even know that the garnet was the January stone. I LOVE garnets.) And the white stones in between are real crystals. You can't tell in this picture, but they are dazzling in the light. (In fact, this picture really doesn't do it any justice at all. It is such a beautiful tiny bracelet; I wish I could capture it better in a picture.) Most importantly, he put her name in the bracelet. That was half the surprise. I love the name Eliza, and I've been trying to talk Jed into liking it for a few months. But he just wasn't going for it. Well, I had resigned myself to the fact that we wouldn't be naming her Eliza, so I was very surprised when he gave me this bracelet! It was a double gift - a beautiful baby bracelet for our daughter made by her daddy, and a gift to me because he decided to like the name Eliza because I love it so much.
He is the sweetest husband. It is totally like him to think of something so perfect and special as to make a baby bracelet with her name in it, as a gift to me. I love him so much!

Extreme Room Makeover

Yesterday and today have been dedicated to painting the nursery. It was my first room-painting experience, so I felt very intimidated by the project. My wonderful friend, Melody, was a LIFESAVER. She helped me think of the design & pick out the paint, cut & paint & install the chair rail, and did nearly all of the painting. It took us all day yesterday and today. Yeah, she is a total sweetheart to help me so much!

Here are the BEFORE pictures. Yes, this room was painted in a psychedelic design. It made you dizzy standing in it! In case you can't tell in the picture, the side walls are lime green. And you can see in the mirror that the back wall is the same square design as the front wall. Our landlord had this room painted to match his 12-year old daughter's bedspread. (The squares are actually layers and layers of paint on top each other, so I had to spend hours sanding the edges down so the squares wouldn't be as obvious underneath our new paint.) Everything was incorporated into the paint job: the back of the door, the door and window moulding were blue and purple respectively, all the switchplates and outlets were painted, the closet was completely lime green including the ceiling, even the fire detector, fan blades, and actual lightswitch had been painted bright colors. Unfortunately, the baseboards were also partially painted, so we had to do major touch-up on the white edging throughout the room.


















Middle of the project pictures.
Here's Melody beginning the pomegranate-pink wall. We had already done a first coat of cream on the side wall. And here's Benjamin, getting into my lipstick while I put another coat of edging on all the walls this morning. He was being SO good, playing with toys and entertaining himself. After some time I realized I hadn't heard from him for awhile, so I went to investigate..... :)
He was an angel this afternoon - we painted for about two hours without interruption while Melody's little boy took a nap and Benjamin played in his room. I couldn't believe how great he was being!


And the finished product. In addition to the new walls, we repainted all the white trim, and added the white 'chair rail' (I can't remember what official name Melody used for it since it's up high, but it sounded much more elegant). The room has a whole new feel to it now. It's calm & inviting, but still feminine & playful. I love it! And it's so pristine with the brand new paint. Perfect for a brand new baby! :)

I can't wait to get the baby furniture in it, but we still have to use it for Jed's study for the next two months. I guess there's no point in putting up a crib and moving the changing table and glider in there already. But I really want to!






Here's a photo of the little 'sewing table' I bought at a garage sale for $8. I'll keep it in the baby's room. And see the fabric samples on top the table? That is my final fabric choices for the nursery bedding. (They are different patterns than what I displayed in my older post below. When I have the crib skirt, bumper pad, window valance, and closet curtain finished, I'll post pictures. Then you can see the cute fabric that I finally settled on. :) )