Hearthreads Giveaway

Because it's Monday...and because my uncle said he would hook me up with a shirt to give away...let's have a contest! There is no skill involved, no purchase necessary and you don't have to read any long-winded post about me or my kids - just do the usual blog giveaway thing and leave a comment.



The only rules are that you leave either the color and/or affirmation you like the best in the comment (if you win you can change your mind before it's shipped) and if I don't know you or don't have your contact info provide me with some way to get in touch should you win. See color choices here: http://heartthreadsclothing.com/shirts.html . Even if you don't see a shirt for you (i.e. - you are a guy, you're not in touch with your feelings or you don't like free stuff) feel free to enter anyhow cause you can always give it as a gift (Valentine's Day, Mothers Day etc.) However, if your comment involves peddling High Yield Investment pyramides (sic) you are disqualified.

If no one enters I am going to claim a 9 o'clock navy/faith shirt for myself. In XXS of course.

Entry closes next Sunday at midnight.

HeartThreads on the Daily Grommet

Many of you know my uncle Scott and many more of you know that the majority of Ben's (and a portion of mine and the kids) wardrobe comes from samples and seconds of various apparel lines he has designed for companies over the years through his company Tour Image (Not Guilty, Disney, LegoLand, Good Neighbor Pharmacy, Callaway, Titleist etc.). Well now he is in the t-shirt making business. Not just any plain t-shirts - although they appear that way from the outside - but shirts with a personal, inspiring message printed on the inside resting over ones heart. (And I shouldn't say they are just plain t-shirts from the outside either - they are high-end, extremely well fitting Supima t-shirts)

The DailyGrommet.com picked up on this as a great gift idea and is featuring it as today's fresh find. Check out my uncle Scott and HeartThreads t-shirts through the short video on their site!

Six

Avery's 6th birthday was all about seeing how much sugar we could consume. We kicked off the occasion in California the day before we left with these delicious treats provided by Grandma Leah. If I could remember the bakery they were from in Redlands I would give a shout out and tell you to try the lemon cupcake next time you're in the neighborhood but I don't know the name. Looks like it'll be Cuca's burritos followed by cupcakes next time we are home.

On her actual birthday we did the treats for school thing. I was planning on making cupcake lollipops for the class but we found this pretzel butterfly cupcake idea and it was easy enough that Miles and Avery could decorate all of them by themselves. Ben helped me make the cupcakes, I frosted them and the kids decorated them. They actually didn't turn out as badly as I thought they would. I made some chocolate and some funfetti - next time, and I should have known this, I will only make one kind because even though giving a class of kindergartners a choice of vanilla or chocolate seems like a good idea - it only causes problems. Everyone wanted chocolate.

To my amusement and slight horror Avery went to the front of the class after she thought everyone was done eating and gracefully got their attention (think clasping hands and looking around at everyone and saying "I'll wait" until everyone appeared rapt). She then proceeded to thank everyone for coming to her party (she did acknowledge that they had to come anyhow, but that she was grateful for their attendance that day) and then told everyone that after they got their backpacks and jackets that they could come up front and meet her little brother Miles. And I'm pretty sure she was wearing a tiara at the time. Her teacher (who I absolutely love) was like "uh, no, everyone needs to get in line for the bus" (I asked the teacher if she would be surprised that Avery was the daughter of not one but two ASB presidents (which isn't indicative of anything except that we like attention and a certain degree of power. i'm pretty sure I ran uncontested, not sure about Ben) and without flinching (or smiling) shook her head no. Anyhow, Avery has much more of a presidential presence than either of her parents and I have a feeling her campaign has just begun)) So instead we had Miles give high fives down the line as we made our exit. Avery rode the bus home. Not for any reason other than she loves to.

Then we went home and made cupcake lollipops (without sticks) (a baked cake mix crumbled and mixed with cream cheese frosting and formed into balls then dipped in white chocolate and decorated. This was way to much sugar even for me. But it's a cute idea.

2009 Recap/2010 Resolution

One year ago today I was writing about doing or not doing resolutions, finally taking down Christmas decor, backdating posts etc. Honestly, I could save myself some time and just cut and paste the entire thing because it all still rings true...down to the finally throwing out the pumpkins from Halloween (this year I had a 4 year old ask me why I still had a pumpkin on my porch in late December - that should have been a hint- but I hope he still enjoys the pine wreath come spring) and Ben is still wishing that I would carry my cell phone. One thing I have improved upon is getting places on time. Really!


So even though I still would claim to not officially "do" resolutions I thought of a good one for me. And that is to not wish away time. I decided this as I found myself doing just that during a block of time at church. Whether it was because it was a boring lesson or if I was just wanting to get home and get something to eat I'm not sure but it tends to happen. It also happens frequently around 4pm when I wish Ben would come home from work - but at least then I have chocolate to turn to. So instead of wishing time would go faster I'm going to try to enjoy every single dull (there's not that many after all) and exciting moment of my life. Especially with my children. And I'm going to stash some chocolate in my church bag to help me power through. And this resolution isn't going to be easy when it's still overcast and raining in May. Or when I've got 9 weeks to go and I already look/feel like I'm carrying a full term baby (actually, although I'm anxious to meet our new little guy and anxious to not be pregnant, I am not so anxious to do the exhausted new mother thing). So here's to making the most of every minute.


But what happened last year while I was still wishing away the seconds?


-Well at some point I got pregnant, although according to the ultrasound dating we had done Ben was out of town at a conference/fishing trip during what would have been a crucial period of his involvement. But those high-tech down-to-a-science sonogram machines are known to make mistakes. Ben says as long as the baby doesn't come out part Thai, black and really good at golf then we should be all right. And it's a boy.

- We built a house.

- The kids got passports. Mostly in case we want to take them to Canada.

- We went on vacation. Without the kids and their passports.

- I found a really good, reasonably priced spray tan: Salon Bronze from Sally Beauty. It comes with about 3 full body applications and an airbrush gun for $12.95. My sister also discovered a really good spray tan by Bliss: A Tan for All Seasons. It runs about $36 at Sephora and maybe has one more application than the Salon Bronze and it is the most real color spray tan I have ever seen. At least on me. (Britt I don't think you read my blog but I used your spray tan while you were gone.)

- I did some mystery shopping, which I have always wanted to do. Most were actually customer service phone shops, one was an oil change and a couple were mall kiosk inquiries - nothing fun like real shopping or restaurants although I did get offered a sporting event that I couldn't do.

- Now that we have a garage and some extra storage space I started getting more serious about our emergency food storage/supplies. More on this later.

- I learned how to properly make mashed potatoes. That doesn't mean that mine are spectacular. I just finally got the science behind the process.

- Music I particularly liked in 2009 was the new Pearl Jam album Backspacer, the song Beggin' by Madcon and the band Recess Monkey for the kids.

- My 2009 crush was on Rick Bayless. He won Top Chef Masters and has a show on PBS called Mexico: One Plate at a time. Something about this nerdy, super nice chef just makes me want him to cook up some duck carnitas for me. I would settle for Ben taking me to one of his restaurants in Chicago and whispering topolobampo in my ear (I don't know what this word means but it's one of Bayless' restaurants and I just love the sound of the word) because darn it, even after all these years I still have a crush on that guy too.

Other stuff happened, most of it has been recorded in previous posts, or if it was personal or difficult, it was recorded elsewhere, or hoped to be forgotten. But all in all 2009 was a success by my standards and I look forward to what 2010 has to bring. This doesn't mean I won't still be digging up posts from 2009 - I have a half finished but very long Thanksgiving entry that I still need pictures for...

Book Reviews 2009

I started way more books in 2009 than I finished and read a ton of magazines (my favorites and ones I got regularly in the mail last year include The Week, Sunset, Real Simple, Better Homes and Gardens). That's the type of year it was. I hope that 2010 bring more opportunities to read and perhaps better selections that I will want to finish.

The Taste of Sweet by Joanne Chen - This was probably the first book I read last year so it's been a long time and I tend to forget details of things I read or watch rather quickly. It's about sugar. Our relationships with it, the history of it and the science of it. It's a delicious piece of non-fiction. But don't read it if you made any sort of ridiculous resoution not to eat sugar. Unless you enjoy a challenge.

The Price We Paid by Andrew Olsen. This is a religious (LDS) non-fiction account of the Martin and Willie handcart pioneers and their tortuous trek from England to Utah. The author seperated the accounts of the two companies into different portions of the book, since they were seperate events (although generally classified as one event) and I was riveted by the first half and worn out by the second, but I still enjoyed this book as a whole. If you ever feel like you don't have enough material wealth or comfort, read this and you will be glad for whatever you do have. I promise (if you have a computer, or access to one and you are reading this post trust me - you have plenty). And while I would classify this as Mormon faith-promoting literature I think anyone who enjoys inspiring stories of human struggle and historical events would enjoy this book. Basically, even if you consider the Book of Mormon to be a work of fiction - this really happened. And I was truly inspired by the courage and strength of the men and women (especially the women! imagine giving birth on the side of a frozen road!) in this account.

(Photo Above) Julie and Julia by Julie Powell - My least favorite book I read this year. I took it on vacation and hadn't seen the movie but had heard good things so I bought it. It wasn't so bad that I didn't want to finish it and it's not that I disliked the story. The book would have an R rating by the way (for language and PG13 for sexual situations - just a warning). I disliked the writing and although I feel really bad about this I disliked the author by the end. But I did make the potage parmentier soup that I believe was the first Julia Child recipe she made. Anyway, I'm sure it was the easiest. It was really nice, but I don't think I will be making anything else from MtAoFC because it just seems a bit too complicated for this stage of my life. But I would eat anything from it anytime. And I am a bit interested in reading Julia Child's My Life in France, she and her husband seem like a hoot.

Note - Ben and I just watched the movie and I enjoyed it, I probably would have enjoyed it more had I not read the book first. It just made Ben hungry but I don't think he was that interested in losing sleep over it.

The Help by Katheryn Stockett. (non-fiction) The best most enthralling book I have read in a long time. Loved it loved it. Ben's mom and my mom recommended it and Leah sent me her copy to take on vacation (because there is nothing like reading a hardback on the beach) but I wasn't sure that I was going to be interested. The cover looks like an Amy Tan novel - I like Amy Tan I just wasn't sure that I was in the mood for that. It is about 1960's Mississippi, race relations, and sassy women. The story gives voice to three women - two black maids and one white girl just home from college. I can't say much more except just read it. I wished I had written it. I don't know anyone who has read it who didn't like it. I started it on the plane ride home from Turks and Caicos and barely said hi to my kids when I got home because I wanted to finish it. I hadn't devoured a book in less than 24 hours since Kite Runner.

Free-Range Chickens by Simon Rich. I picked this book up on a whim from the library kiosk. It's not what I thought it was going to be about - I thought it was going to be about chickens. It's a collection of jokes, or joke situations - I really don't know how to explain it. But I found it hilarious (irreverent at times) but hilarious. And a very very fast read - like you could read it in one hour. And then spend another hour reading it over your husbands shoulder as he reads it. I went ahead and got his first collection of joke stories and laughed through that one as well (although it has a few pages that are offensive in a raunchy way). It starts off with an imagined conversation with Abraham and Isaac on their way back from the attempted sacrifice/"camping trip" (excerpt - "Wow, there is nothing like camping! Cooking your own lamb, building your own pyre...and no women! Just a couple of guys in the woods, lighting fires, doing stuff, and keeping it between themselves! Speaking of which, did you ever notice how your mother sometimes gets ideas? I mean, she raised you and I love her, but she's a very nervous person. All I'm saying is sometimes it's all right not to tell her about certain things. Like GUY things."). The author is young (born in the 80's young), went to Harvard and writes for Saturday Night Live (don't hold that against him, his book is much funnier) Anyhow, pick it up at your library that way if you didn't like it you didn't spend any money on it. Or you can buy multiple copies of it like I did.

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The following are books that I started in 2009 and intend to finish but haven't yet.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. This is another book I got to take on vacation but Ben snatched it from me and started reading it before I had a chance to start it. He only read a bit of it before he got bored I think. I haven't found it to be boring yet, it's just not a book you feel compelled to read quickly. And although Kingsolver is a novelist this is a non-fiction account of her family moving to a sort of farm where they are to live off of the land or from their neighbors land. The eat locally movement thing. And in season. Personally I enjoy having access to food out of season. I just had some delightful strawberries in fact. But their experience is inspiring, informative and amusing at times. It includes perspectives by her teenage daighter, her husband who tracks down various interesting facts about food production and consumption in the world and her young daughter besides herself. There are also a few recipes and I find it helpful as I think about planting our next garden in a few months. If I didn't keep starting new books I might actually finish it before planting season.

Rough Stone Rolling by Richard Lyman Bushman. Also not a quick read. This one will probably take all year. But parts are extremely interesting. It is a fairly neutral biography of Joseph Smith. It is a thorough study of the person and the time period. And it is long. I think Ben bought this with the intention of reading it but I stole it from him. I guess we tend to steal books from each other even when one of us has already started it - how rude. I'm only about 70 pages into the over 700 page book so I can't say much about it except that so far so good.

Waiter Rant by The Waiter. Another book I picked up at the library. I've been wanting to read this one for a long time. I was intrigued by Anthony Bourdain's review that "you will never look at your waiter the same way again, and you will never top less than 20%". It's an anonymous collection of experiences in the restaurant business by a waiter. I think it'll have some good parts but so far is a book I am inclined to skim.

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*If Ben ever decides he wants to hijack my blog again I think he has read a few good books this year. Open by Andre Agassi, The Book of Basketball by Bill Simmons and Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance by Atul Gawande (which I wanted to read but he left on the plane).

Hymnbook for the modern LDS child.

Avery's Book o' Hymns 2008. She had me make this not this previous summer but the one before that. I found it and photographed it when we were moving. I'm sure that this compilation of religious and secular songs under a familiar green cover could be offensive to some. The humor outweighs the sacrilege to me but frankly, I'm afraid to ask her what songs she might like to add to it now.

She started off in the right spirit with Mormon primary favorites such as I am a Child of God and I Love to See the Temple then lifted the tempo a bit with a favorite among contemporary protestant youth groups Our God is an Awesome God. Naturally a Black-Eyed Peas song such as Pump-It was to follow. Her final selections were retro: Elton John's Bennie and the Jets, Talking Heads Psycho Killer (don't worry grandma it's not as bad as it sounds. plus this one has a special place in my heart because avery's dad is ADORABLE when he sings it and brings back memories of our honeymoon road trip up the california coast). No book o' hymns is complete without a little Aloha Oe pasted in the back cover as it were when we lived overseas so that about rounds it out. A little something for everyone.

*I am not a musician and so the notage on the songs is not accurate. So please don't try to play any of these songs from the pages above. :)

Finally! I mean... "Westbrook Nativity '09"

Avery landed the coveted role of Mary, mother of Jesus, this year in the annual Westbrook family nativity. Whether it was because it was her turn or because her mother refused to have her children participate unless her daughter got the starring role we'll never know. Miles made an awesome wise man.

Sorry Sara for stealing these photos without permission. I guess you shouldn't take such good ones (see here and here). If I could find pictures from previous years I would have posted those too.

Nature's Bounty

These were my carrots. I kept them in the ground as long as possible (harvested 9-2009) and the lush green tops were getting me excited. Much to my dismay this is what I pulled up.

I don't know whether to blame rocky soil or transplanting tender seedlings at the wrong time but these are the saddest gnarliest carrots I have ever seen. I was hoping to have a family taste test to see which color was preferred. Instead I washed them off and chomped a few myself then tossed them into the compost pile. The purple were the best.

Even though I grew tired of the gardening thing by the end of summer, and even though I couldn't bend over to plant anything at the moment if I wanted to, looking at these pictures and getting seed catalogs in the mail makes me excited for what might come forth from the soil per our hard work next year. All I know is that it won't be zucchini. And that I will plant my tomato plants farther away from each other (who knew they got so big?). I will probably be starting seedlings here inside come March. Depending of course on when my own seedling decides to arrive.

(I had always wanted to make a panzanella (bread salad) and having basil, tomatoes and scallions in the garden provided the perfect opportunity. But I was the only one who liked it)

One thing we had copious amounts of besides squash and tomatoes were dahlia's. In October when I finally thought we needed to cut down the cutting garden we had enough flowers to make bouquets for three of our neighbors plus ladies I visit teach. Avery made deliveries on her tricycle in the rain. the tubers have since been pulled up and stored for the winter to prevent rotting.

Kids 2009 in Review

Truffles

Clockwise from top left: Lemon Thyme, Coconut, Raspberry, Mint & Peanut Butter.

I've always wanted to make truffles and had two recipes to do so - one from Bon Appetite and one from Real Simple. So I took tips from both, bought a ton of dark chocolate from Trader Joes (I couldn't find a good bittersweet which would have been preferrred) and set to work. The first part - the filling was easy enough - just melt the chocolate with some heavy cream and butter, whisk it up and put it in a shallow pan to cool. I did make a couple variations on the basic filling by infusing a portion of the cream with thyme and mixing in lemon peel and also doing a raspberry puree version. I really wanted a chocolate peanut butter combo so I did another batch with peanut butter, sugar and cream. I didn't have a recipe but since I used natural PB I should have added more sugar.

My intention was to do the whole she-bang in one day but that turned into three days until I came out of the chocolate coma I had induced on day one. Then came the harder part. You have to work fast to roll them into balls because they will start melting all over the place. Then you have to refreeze/refrigerate them before they get dunked in another coating of just pure chocolate. This can only be done a few at a time if you want to put any kid of decor or final coating b/c you can't let the chocolate shell dry. It helps to have all of the potential toppings in separate bowls when you start. And it is really messy.

I didn't really have anyone to give them to by the time I finished b/c I didn't have time for deliveries before we left for vacation. Plus I wasn't sure if they were any good because I was in a second chocolate coma/overdose by this time. I did send Avery off with a box for her teacher and the bus driver with a warning that they were super rich. Next year I will try to seek out bittersweet chocolate if I try it again because the dark is so... well dark (and for me usually the darker the better. this is where ben would insert a joke about him liking his chocolate like he likes his women...to which I would do one of two things - roll my eyes or giggle uncontrollably - depending on my mood). Anyhow, I still have some in the freezer so depending on how they keep, those in the local vicinity are welcome to come over and try some.

But speaking of chocolate did anyone get to try the Belgian Chocolate Mini Bar assortment from Trader Joes? They were so good and since I figured they were a seasonal item (they were dressed in shades of red and green) I stocked up because they are the perfect bite of dark chocloate, milk chocolate, dark chocolate espresso or milk chocolate with tiny almond bits. I don't think I have enough to last me until next Christmas but I have enough to stave off post partum energy slumps. Maybe. I just ate four as I wrote this last paragraph.