A Mother's Day Tribute...

To the greatest Mom in the world, literally. We are so lucky to call you our Mom. Love you! XO

Our Seattle Adventure

My friend, Dewi, planned out a little adventure for the four of us. The 1st Thursday of the month is free admissions at the Seattle Art Museum (SAM) so we decided to give our girls their first cultural experience. We headed into Seattle via bus to make the trip a little easier. The girls were SO excited to be riding the "school bus."

The girls in front of SAM

For Ellie, the highlight of the museum was me pointing out where the "Please Do Not Touch" sign was on each and every exhibit that we were interested in looking at. The other highlight was definitely asking where the closest escalator was (she asked about twenty times.) I think she was interested in knowing the closest escape route in case this became too boring for her :)

Overall the girls did great throughout the museum.
This was them at the end of the experience... begging to eat the lunches we had packed for them.

We headed to the closest park and had our little picnic.

Upon exiting the museum we realized Pike's Place Market was just a block away so we decided to take a little detour and find some goodies.

We found the freshly baked donuts that are famous at the market and enjoyed a little treat at the end of our adventure!

Enjoying a little rest :)

The trip home.....

Trip to the Zoo

On Monday we had planned a trip to the zoo with some friends. We woke up Monday morning to a downpour of rain... not that uncommon of course, but still bit of a damper on our plans. We decided to put our raincoats and boots on and head to the zoo despite the rain. Good thing we did because by the time we got there (just thirty minutes later) the rain had stopped and it was a beautiful sunny day! We enjoyed a leisurely day at the zoo.

Jack & Ellie hiding in the dinosaur egg.

Weekend Getaway

Brandon and I celebrated 6 years of marriage at a mock Bavarian village in the Cascade Mountains of Washington. It is a little touristy town called Leavenworth.

We stayed at this cute place, the Bavarian Lodge.

We had to try the famous bratwurst. Brandon said they weren't much different than the authentic ones he had in Germany a couple of weeks ago.

The main strip of Leavenworth is just so adorable. Each of the buildings are designed in the same style as in Bavaria.

I can't believe we have been married six years already but I'm lovin' it and can't wait for the next sixty.
XO

International Cuisine

I love international food. Ok well I love all food but especially anything different. One of my favorites is Indian. We had a tough time finding the best Indian restaurant when we first moved here. We had to try out a number of different ones before finally settled on our favorite. Anyway, we love to go. My dish of choice is chicken tikka masala. After heading there last week I thought to myself I could make this. So after doing a little research on the internet this last week... I did. And it was oh so yummy!

Headboard Project

A while back my friend, Jihan, posted about making her own headboard. I decided to join her in undertaking this little project. Well... it turned out to be not so little of a project but it was definitely fun!

It's in the genes

Ellie had a sleepover at Grandma & Grandpa Rowley's on Friday night. She loves going to spend time with them. Grandma always has special crafts and activities planned out for them to do together. Her grandparents spoil her and make cookies with her and give her all the attention that she loves.

Ellie had had a great time playing with Grandma and Grandpa but when 7:30 pm rolled around... she asked Grandma if she could go to bed. She was tired and it was a half an hour past her bedtime. When Judi (Grandma) told this to us the following day we were shocked. But then again.... if anyone knows me and my desperate need for sleep you wouldn't be all that surprised. I was always the first one to go to bed at sleepovers and also the first one to wake up in the morning. I guess I passed the genes on......

The Dilemma

So I have this dilemma. It is something I battle internally every day. Ellie has never had a haircut. She is coming up on three years in just one and a half months. But her hair is just too pretty to cut. Up until now there really hasn't been a need to cut it. She'll let me put pretty bows in it...but now they don't stay in all day long. She'll pull out her bows mid day and then her long beautiful hair covers up those gorgeous eyes and it drives me crazy! She is always smoothing her hair back behind her ears and I feel so badly that she even has to worry about it! So here it comes... I want to have her hair chopped.... like to her chin... a cute little bob. It would be so much easier to take care of! And I think it would be so cute. I was thinking maybe on her third birthday we would have it done. But then on a day like today, when I take the time to curl her hair, the thought of it all being chopped puts a pit at the bottom of my stomach! Oh the dilemma!

Trip to Bavaria

The last week of March Amazon sent me (this is Brandon posting) to our Munich, Germany office to represent my group. In the spirit of work hard play hard, I had a great week in Bavaria. On the ride from the Munich Airport to my hotel I passed by the famous FIFA 2006 World Cup Allianz Areana. Our office was just a few minutes away from the BMW welt and the 1972 site of the Summer Olympic Games.


Our German team took us out to dinner one evening to a restaurant called Ratskellers, it was located underneath this building, the Munich City Hall. Nice restaurant and great food.



In 1923 Hitler and his supporters, who at that time were concentrated in Munich, attempted to overthrow the Weimar Republic. The revolt failed, resulting in Hitler's arrest at this site.

Over the weekend, I made the trip to the German village of Hohenschwangau in South West Bavaria to visit the Neuschwanstein Castle . This was the castle that inspired Walt Disney.

The Bavarian Alps

Hohenschwangau-- King Ludwig II's Home During Youth

View from the castle

View of the castle

Herrenchiemsee

This castle was built by King Ludwig II. It was his weekend island getaway. Versailles was the inspiration for the castle's appearance. I took a short 15 minute ferry ride across Lake Chiemsee to reach the island. The castle was magnificent. The fountains are currently covered for protection during the winter months. The highlight of the interior tour was the hall of mirrors which was approximately 100 meters ( little longer than the equivalent room at Versailles).

Wicked

When my parents come home for conference they have started a tradition visiting one of the kids on their way to Salt Lake and spending the weekend with that family before heading to Utah for conference. Last weekend it was my brother Todd's turn in California. My mom and I were having a conversation about what they could do while they were visiting him and I suggested they go and see Wicked which is playing Los Angeles. So my mom asked if I could help her find out if there were tickets available. In the meantime I headed to Phoenix to hang out with my sister. Well.... since we were so close to California as I was helping my parents get the tickets... my sister and I sort of invited ourselves to tag along. We headed to California for a quick 24 hour trip (without the kids- thanks to the hero of the year Uncle Alan!)

Wicked was AMAZING! I have been listening to the soundtrack for months with absolutely no idea when I was going to be able to actually see the play. It was everything I had hoped it would be! I was blown away by the talented voices of the lead singers. We enjoyed a great evening reuniting with my parents, hanging out with my brother and a fun road trip with my sister (we listened to the Wicked sountrack NONSTOP for the entire drive so my sister could learn the music before the play. It was a blast!)

Thanks Mom, Dad & Alan!

Sunny Arizona

On Tuesday morning Brandon found out that he was heading out of the country for a last minute business trip (leaving that night) for a week. So when Ellie and I woke up on Wednesday morning (to an empty house) we decided to ditch the snow in Seattle and head south to visit my sister and her family for a week. We hopped on a plane in two hours time and have been enjoying the sunshine ever since! I have had a great time visiting my sister and Ellie has LOVED playing with her cousins.

Running in the park

The Curtis Family and Ellie at Alex's Saturday morning soccer game.
Ellie loved cheering for her cousin... but in all reality she wanted to be out there playing!

Bunny Bounce at the Zoo

This is a girl on a mission!

Mission accomplished... look at all of the loot!  

Meeting a real bunny

We had a full day of family fun at the Bunny Bounce at the Woodland Park Zoo.  Ellie got a basket full of eggs and finally said, "I'm done."  

Then we toured the rest of the zoo including the new baby gorilla. So cute!  

Growing Easter Grass

For FHE this week my sister gave us the idea to grow our own Easter Grass.  So we gave it a try.  Ellie loved getting her hands in the dirt.  Can't wait to grow a garden with her this spring!

Yummy Whole Wheat Bread

Some friends were asking me about my wheat bread recipe.  I made it today so I thought I would share it here.

Yummy Whole Wheat Bread

1 1/2 T. yeast

3/8 c. warm water

1 1/2 T. sugar

Combine the above and set aside.

2 c. warm water

1 T. powder milk

3/8 c. sugar or honey

3/8 c. oil

1 T. salt

6-7 c. freshly ground whole wheat flour

1/3 c. wheat gluten

Combine the above including yeast mixture.  Knead for 10 minutes.

Place dough in greased bowl. Cover and let rise for 1 1/2 hours.  Divide into two greased bread pans.  Let rise for 15 more minutes.  Bake at 375 degrees for 28 minutes.  Enjoy!

Girls Weekend in Monterey, California

I spent a long weekend in California with six of my closest girlfriends from my days at BYU.  It was a fabulous reunion and tons of fun.  It was so nice to reminisce and enjoy some quality girl time.  

At Pebble Beach

Checking out all the cute little shops on Cannery Row

All dressed up and nowhere to go.....

Valentine's Day Cookie Craziness

We had some of Ellie's friends over the day before Valentine's day to make our annual heart shaped cookies.  WOW... it was so crazy but SO fun.  The kids loved helping cut out the cookies and decorating with sprinkles. We all enjoyed the end product!  YUMMY!

Special Delivery....

Ellie and her friends Kaya and Gage handed out Valentine's Day cards at a local Assisted Living Center.  As soon as the trio walked through the door all of the faces in the room just lit up!  It was precious to watch.  They loved passing out the Valentines... although Ellie had a little difficulty giving away all the chocolate bars without sampling a few along the way as you can see below. 

She's a BIG girl now!

Ellie is officially potty-trained!  It has been a LONG couple of weeks.  Thankfully, we both survived!  YEAH! No more diapers!

A New Excuse

So all children come up with excuses as to why they shouldn't have to go to bed.  Tonight I heard a new one from Ellie.... "But Mommy, I have to clean my room first."  

I just hope this excuse will come up in her later years in life when her room is truly messy.