Welcome to Cafe Ryan!
Tonight we have a few specials on the menu. Pureed Bananas, Pears or Sweet Potatoes seem to be very popular, and of course you can add a side of Rice or Mixed Grain Cereal. And our Special for the night is a new item: creamed avocados! Come back tomorrow for our seasonal green beans. There's also something new at Ryan's!

Ryan's starting to sit up by himself, well at least for a few seconds, and loves his new choices for meal time. Although he's got a lower front tooth that I'm hoping won't take too long to cut through! Also if you blow up his close up you can see his eyes are starting to change. I think they're going to be that beautiful hazel that Laura also inherited from their Daddy.

'February Family Staycation'

Continuing our family tradition, and in celebration of Brent having a week off of class, we spent the last weekend of February playing. We ate great food, relaxed a lot at home, went to a few fun places, and enjoyed each others company.

What we did:
~Ate out a lot, at the awesome Two Hen's Cafe, the enigmatic Moore's Family Diner and kid friendly Red Robin
~Visited Temple Square and *gasp* didn't get frustrated with trying to find a place to park!
~Played at the Children's Exhibit at the Church History Museum
~Went to(and took all of these pictures) at the Model Train Expo in Ogden
~Played on the trains and the girls took a mini train ride around the parking lot
~Played at the Children's Museum
~Had a family movie night at home watching Beauty and the Beast



What we didn't do:
~Cook, except for big breakfasts
~Clean, except for basic necessity
~Spend moolah on a hotel or travel
~Stress about life or what we could be getting done!

Highlights:
~ Accidentally finding the Moore Family Diner with it's awesome cowboy decor and atmosphere. The old guys having their usual coffee after work was awesome. The girls loved it. And their homemade food was delicious
~Making our won popcorn on the stove, we're hooked.
~Being able to just relax and enjoy being a family.

During our mini-staycation a few weekends ago we stopped by the model train show at Ogden's Union Station. We didn't actually go into the show, they didn't mention in the ad that it was ten bucks an adult, but we did spring for the fifty cent mini train ride. The girls even made the choice to ride it instead of getting a treat later.

I did it, I made bread...

I feel like I've turned a corner in my housewifery skills department. In other words, I made my first loaf of homemade bread that turned out delicious. Not door-stopesque. Yummy. I'm quite proud, so I thought I'd share this recipe with you because heck, if I can make it, anyone can!

click here to go to Favorite Family Recipes Blog where this recipe was discovered

p.s. this also is a great one for food storage because it uses so few ingredients.

Top: Painting fingernails yesterday. Eden chose pink poke-a-dots on red, and Laura chose red stripes on hot pink. And I even let Laura put on the top coat by herself. Of course it got all over her fingers, but that's why I let her do the clear instead of the hot pink:)

Bottom Left: The girls' happy chart. We've been focusing on getting along and not fighting. My ultimate dream, like so many other parents', is to have my children not fight. I remember my mom trying to get my older sisters to call each other by their best friend's names. Maybe we'll have to try that. Our latest tactic was this chart. If they cooperated and didn't fight they'd get to put on a sticker-together. Laura would pick it out and Eden would get to put it on, and vice versa. It took them about a week, but they finally got it filled up. I think I only had to take off a few for bad behavior. So during our errands on Wednesday they got to go to Arctic Circle and get ice cream cones while playing on the toys. I must admit that Daylight Saving's time puts a serious cramp in our family for a week or two.

Bottom Right: About two weeks ago I was feeling pretty blah, the end of winter is looking longer and longer with each new snow flurry. So during preschool while Eden and I were at Walmart we stopped to look at the after-Valentines day flowers adn noticed they were all marked down. Especially the tulips that hadn't even started to open. So we got three bunches. We kept a few for our table, gave some to my friend who was about to have a baby, and after Laura got home we took them around to our neighbors. Each of the girls took a turn handing the surprised women the flowers and saying, 'Happy Almost Spring!' It was a fun way to give a little service and cheer us up. Now if only the real tulips would start blooming!