Thursday, January 28, 2010

Flower Tips


Step class was great. Jess completely kicked our butt's last night which always makes me feel good. There's something to be said for working up a great sweat while keeping time with great, loud dance music. Gives a nice break to my mommy side.

As promised, here are the top secret flower tips I learned.
  • Of course, you probably already know to cut the stems diagonally and immediately put them in water or even cut them in water. This one is pretty basic.
  • Here's one that blew me away: When working with roses, soak them in really hot tap water up to the neck for 3-4 hours to super hydrate them and make them last longer. Take them out and spritz the petals with water.
  • Table top guideline: When making a table top flower arrangement pay attention to height. Put your elbow on the table with your hand straight up in the air. The length from your elbow to your wrist is the tallest the flower arrangement should reach. Any taller and you're going to have a hard time conversing across the table.
  • To find a good rose, feel the base of the flower. If it's hard it should last longer.
  • If you don't have a flower food packet you can make your own with a drop of bleach and a pinch of sugar added to the water. Bleach keeps the bacteria down and the sugar is great food for the flowers.
  • Also, no leaves below the water line. This makes the water foul.
Enjoy! There were many more great tips, but for the sake of time and space I'll stop here.

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

It all started on Thursday...

It all started on Thursday...
...when I picked up this beautiful blue hydrangea from Trader Joe's...
...Kai felt bad that I bought myself flowers. So he went out and brought home these beautiful roses. (He's always been so good about keeping me supplied with a fresh flowers. Ever since we've been married he's faithfully brought home flowers almost every week. Yup, I'm bragging. He's not perfect, but he's close. And since you're reading my blog and know that I don't do this often, you can choke it down this one time ;-)
Today I went to my mom's group and won this cute potted flower.
At the mom's group today we learned about the art of flower arranging from a reputable man who owns a local flower business. He shared some great tips to keep your flowers beautiful and long lasting. There were several tips I had never heard of before and even a few that we all had to ask for clarification on since they seemed opposite of what you would think. It was so fun and now I have a mini garden of beautiful flowers gracing our home!

If you visit again in a few hours I'll share some of these top secret flower keeping tricks with you, but right now I have to rescue my son and run to my step aerobics class, so I'm outta time!

Sunday, January 24, 2010

A little humor for your day

A little humor for your day...


Also, Kai passed Boards Part II ! We waited for over a month to get the results. As it turned out they were delivered to our neighbor who held on to them for almost a week, which made us sweat since everyone who took it on the same day and after had all received their results. And for some reason this year's test either was a lot harder or they changed the way it was graded. Many dental schools are reporting high failure rates this year (we've heard rumors of up to 50% from some schools). The rumor is that almost 1/4 of LLU's class failed this year--much higher than previous years. Needless to say, with those rumors rampant and Kai's letter late, we were thinking the worst. Thankfully once it finally arrived we were able to breathe a huge sigh of relief and thank God for bringing Kai one step closer to graduation!

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Decisions, Decisions...

We just got back from a trip to the east coast, preceded by a trip to Nevada and Arizona, preceded by a trip to Michigan, which was also preceded by a trip to Northern California and Oregon. These trips have been fun to take as a family, but I'm always happy to get back to our home, sweet Kasen proofed home.

Let me paint a brief mental picture.... If you've met Kasen then you know that he is a bundle full of energy; literally a tornado. Aren't all boys? He detests his car seat for long periods of time, he LOVES new toys whether or not they are actually toys (glass vases, cat food, toilet paper, and bathrooms all constitute "toys"). Restaurants are great places to flirt and try out his new vocal talents, not to mention devising creative new ways to snatch food from mommy and daddy's plates. And who needs to sleep when we're traveling? As long as we're in a new place, I can count on waking up with him at least 4 times each night or 7 on the bad ones.

While we were on the trip, Kasen started saying "Dada". He's been saying "Mama" for several months, but hadn't mastered "Dada" yet. Now it's his preferred word and he says "Dada" everywhere we go. Kasen took his first steps a little over a month ago, but still preferred crawling as it was faster. During this trip however, he switched from mostly crawling to mostly walking. He gained the confidence to let go of our hands and walk on his own. It's fun to watch, but we also realize that this adds a whole new dimension to his capabilities for destruction. ;-) Though it's exhausting, it's so much fun being a parent. I'll take the up-7-times-a-night days because they're followed by the (however brief) moments when he smiles big and says "mama", wants to cuddle, or is laughing hysterically while playing with Kai. These are the moments I love!

So now that the traveling is done, we have narrowed our search down to 3 cities/areas. They are all completely different from each other. I won't share where any of the three are yet, but I promise that once we have decided on one, I will share. To be continued....

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Christmas Edition


He's practicing for the real deal in a few more years.
Kasen started walking about a week and a half before Christmas. He loves to get around. Kai and I aren't quite sure if we like it as much as he does since he's able to break into all kinds of new things now--and faster!
Fell asleep on the Wild Africa Tram at the WA Park. I love it when he's cuddly just before a nap.

San Diego
SD Zoo
Christmas dinner. I made a Martha Stewart turkey this year that was to die for. I can't take credit for it though since I only followed the recipe and didn't invent this new delicacy. But I'll make it again for sure!
Opening presents on Christmas morning. This was the "Little People Airport" by Fisher Price.
Uncle Brit bought Kasen his very own computer since he is overly interested in every computer.
Fishies!!!
Nini came for a visit at Christmas and we did many fun things. This picture is from Downtown Disney on Christmas Eve.
Kasen's 1st Christmas.
Peek-a-boo!
One of the only times Kasen get's upset. He loves bath time!
He is so funny and random during bath time. This picture typifies his bath time personality.
I know it's blurry, but this picture says it all! It's one of my favorites.

At Sea World for the Christmas show.
This was SUCH a great performance!!! I was so impressed with how they left Christ in Christmas. Most large organizations shy away from that nowadays in an effort to appease everyone from all beliefs, but every song they sang was a true Christmas song (Silent night, O Holy Night, etc.), not just holiday songs.

The show started with Michael W. Smith's "Christmastime"--my all time favorite Christmas song. There were dancers and singers up front as pictured below. There were also dancers and singers that mingled in the audience. At the end of the show, they asked the audience to stand with them as they sang "Joy to the World". I would definitely recommend the Christmas show at Sea World!

Shamu and her baby
K2 and our baby. Keeping warm during the show
Snuggling in an ice cave
A very messy eating experience. Avocados, raspberries, and bananas. Oh, did I mention that Kasen hates bibs?
But he loves swinging!
And leaves!
I hope you had a wonderful Christmas too!