The Zoo

Today we took a trip to the zoo. A girl in our ward that has kids almost exactly Ainsley and Owen's age invited us to go to with them. I was excited to get to do something with an adult. And I'm still desperately trying to get to know people in our ward and be social, so I was very excited. It's also always good for Ainsley to play with kids her own age. We all ended up having a good time even with 2 babies in tow and considering that there were at least 300 local elementary schools that decided to have their zoo trip today as well.

The highlight for Ains was the merry-go-round that she begged and begged to go on (although she doesn't look like it in her picture). Ainsley was a little nervous around the snakes. She really liked the monkeys. She kept begging to go see the penguins (probably because we just saw Happy Feet). We never found it, it must have been in the very back of the zoo. And by the time we were half way through babies were grumpy and we were ready to go. So we had to lie and tell her that they were asleep today. Maybe that will be her favorite part next time. If not, I'll just find a closer merry-go-round for her to ride on so we don't have to drive all the way to the zoo for a ride.

Some Movies!

I have been working for a week or so now to get a video of Owen clapping and waving, his two newest tricks. Last night, with a little encouragement, I finally got it. You have to look closely for the quick wave he sticks in before grabbing his tongue. Then we got the elusive double had wave, one we don't typically get...but we'll take it. I love how he is fully demonstrating the love he has for his tongue!


Ainsley was a little jealous of her brother and insisted that we get some video of her as well. I'm not sure what "marley" is. Something special she made up for this video I guess. I'm also not quite sure why her elephant sounds an awful lot like a cow. Weird!

Looks can be deceiving...

This afternoon I decided that since I haven't been very good about making dinner lately I would go above and beyond today. I think I have made dinner approximately twice in over a week. I've been wanting to make Navajo tacos for some time now and decided that now was as good a time as any to go ahead and make it. I looked online to find a fry bread recipe and then concocted a recipe of my own for the meat mixture. I made my dough and began frying the bread. I then started adding all sorts of good things to my hamburger. I added onions, green peppers, corn, black beans...and so on. It tasted great. I had some lettuce given to us from someones garden that I chopped. I grated the cheese, chopped tomatoes and I have to admit that by this point I was pretty impressed with myself.

Then I decided to taste the bread and see how good it was turning out as well. Not so good. I should have noticed something was amiss when the small recipe called for 2 tablespoons of salt. I should have thought to myself, "Hey Jess, that seems like a lot of salt. I wonder if they meant 2 teaspoons." Unfortunately, I didn't think this until I tasted the salty bread. My dreams of a magnificent dinner were dashed. Luckily I married a person that has very few taste buds and prefers an insane amount of salt on all food. John didn't notice that our dinner was very salty. He ate the bread plain. I have to admit that it tasted alright if I had enough "stuff" along with every bite of bread. They sure did look delicious though, didn't they!

The Incapable Seamstress

Yesterday I tried my hand at sewing...again. Usually the projects I undertake are extremely simple and don't involve a pattern because I can't read one. John has been wanting a new curtain by our front door for a while now. The one that was here when we moved in was covered in paint,(big blobs- not little specks) dingy, and crooked. How they got paint all over the curtain I will never know. I also wanted to make Ainsley some pajama bottoms. I guess it might be more accurate to say that I'm so cheap I decided that was the most economical choice for her sleep wear. I just refuse to pay $10 for a pair of pj's, no matter how cute they are!

I made my mom set aside time to help me seeing as how she has a bit more knowledge when it comes to sewing, and I had to borrow her machine. I started sewing at about noon and finished up with the projects at about 6:30. Not bad you might be thinking in your head, but remember there were 2 of us working for a large portion of the time. The curtains went fine with no pattern, although I measured something wrong because they are a little shorter than I wanted. Oh well, no one will ever notice...I hope. My mom ended up having to make a pattern for the shorts because everyone that we thought had one either didn't or refused to answer their phone. She just copied the shorts that Ains was wearing and then made a few minor adjustments. I have to say the pattern worked great. Or would have worked great for anyone with any minuscule amount of sewing ability. My mom pretty much made the first pair of shorts. I just hemmed and did other minor things. Then she left me to do the second pair while she went out to mow the lawn and such. That was a mistake.

I began sewing and before long I had sewn the two back leg pieces completely together. That's what I get for sewing and talking at the same time. Then I sewed the pieces into something that looked like either and upside down shirt with the arm holes sewn shut, or a skirt with weird little poofy things protruding from the hips. After a significant amount of picking out stitches and resewing, and after I was given a little more direction, I finally arrived at the shorts pictured above. Not the best looking, but perfectly suitable for Ainsley to sleep in. Plus the whole project only cost me $3. Quite the bargain! Now I just have to find some tops, I refuse to sew the tops!

Find the Binky!

Owen currently has 3 favorite places to store his pacifier. They are; the drawer where sippy cups are stored, the oven drawer (very safe), and my magazine basket. What's funny is that these aren't just weird places where I have found his pacifier. They are places where he regularly puts his pacifier. I have watched him crawl up to each location, open it if needs be, take his pacifier out of his mouth, and drop it in. I'm not sure why these are his favorites, but to him they must seem like perfectly logical storage places.

Gilbert Blythe

Last night I read this and instantly I was reminiscing about being a Miamaid and having a sleepover at Sister Galloway's house (her son currently lives in my ward by the way) and watching Anne of Green Gable's for the first time. I thought Gilbert was great and Anne was much too difficult and that it should have been titled Gilbert of Green Gables. I wasn't aware that anyone else had a crush on Gilbert.

I did a lot more reminiscing as I read through all of the comments and other girls brought up great teenage crushes like the boy's from Newsies (mine was fan flying boy...you had to be there), and Mr. Darcy. My friend Karalenn is jealous because she claims I got to marry a Mr. Darcy and she didn't. I have no clue how she came to this conclusion or what she means by it. I have to admit that I have only watched the new Pride and Prejudice and I didn't really like it. I never read the book. I tried and failed miserably about 2 chapters in. But now I have committed to at least watching the old movie. I have also decided that I want to read the Anne books as well. I'm not sure why I didn't read them as a kid. I think I even had them for a while. I guess I thought the movies were enough.

It was funny because with in minutes of my reading all of this, and then telling John, John was on the Internet looking for the Anne movies, Anne of Green Gables, and Anne of Avonlea. I told him that those 2 movies were on the list for this summer. We usually come up with a list of random movies/TV shows to watch during the summer when there is nothing good on TV. Right now on the list is Hero's, Gone with the Wind, Anne of Green Gables, Pride and Prejudice, Battle star Galactica, Newsies... and the list goes on. We'll see how many we actually watch. Hopefully even if we don't get around to watching my old tween movies I've at least been inspired to go back and read the books.

The Recital

First of all I sincerely apologize for the cruddy pictures and video clip but I thought I'd share anyways. Ainsley did a super job tonight. During her first dance I was laughing so hard I was almost crying. Hence the bumpy video clip to follow. I would have just taken more video if I had realized my pictures weren't turning out but I was just clicking away while watching the lovely performance.
This picture fully shows Ainsley's excitement for the night. We painted her nails and I even let her wear make-up for the big night. I thought she looked adorable.
This is a picture of Ainsley actually doing her dance. She was so funny because if she noticed what any of the other girls were doing she would just watch them, or when she noticed there was an audience she would just stand there. Kind of like a deer in the headlights. It was so funny.
Ainsley was actually the only one on the right pose in this picture, we were so proud!
Here is Ainsley getting mad at her partner who is supposed to hold her hands and spin in a circle with her. Her partner refused (she just ran back and forth during both dances like she did during dance lessons). Ainsley was sweet though and when her partner didn't cooperate she calmly walked back to her "X" and patiently played with her hair until there was more dance for her to perform.

Enjoy this clip. Again I apologize, I was laughing and couldn't hold the camera still. It's short but maybe one day we'll get the whole dance that John recorded on here.



Ainsley had such a fun night. She sat quietly and intently watched all the other dances. I'm glad she loved it!