Yes, Your Majesty

Right after this picture of Elora in her crown was taken, she had to go potty. I went in the bathroom with her to arrange her dress so as to make sure nothing nasty got on it. She says to me, "Go away. I queen." So I left her highness alone to finish her business.

New Fave

Last night when I saw this for the first time I laughed until I cried.
Since I generally only watch tv on my dvr I don't usually see any commercials but occasionally I stop for movie previews, Glee previews, and Dr. Pepper ads:)

Matchy Match, well, kind of

Cute Sayings From My Kids

Today Jonah pointed at something out of the car and said, "Look mom a wheol." I saw a couple cars so I just said, "uh huh" or something. And then he says, "It goes whee-o, whee-o." It was a flashing yellow light on top of some kind of truck, which apparently made Jonah think of an ambulance that says "whee-o." :) Too cute!

Elora now occasionally says, "Lo-ra's!", her version of "mine." I love it!

Last night at dinner Jonah says to Elora, "Elor, drink yo juice. It make you healthy."

Just in time for Easter, Jonah's new favorite food is "bow-lid" (boiled) eggs.

Oh, and Elora is pretty much potty trained.

Idol's Top 12

Dear America,
I am very disappointed in you. Your American Idol elimination choices last week were terrible.
Sincerely,
Emily J.

How can my single vote compete with the young girls voting for the teen contestants hundreds of times each episode? Why is there no limit to the number of votes a single phone can put in?! Anyway, you really should have better taste. I am especially upset that Lilly Scott will not be our American Idol this year. She was my very favorite.

And now onto last night's show and the top 12. Really, this is a talented group of singers. For some reason I'm not a big fan of the three teenage contestants, and it's not that they are not great, I guess I'm just old now and I don't connect with them.

Here's my rundown:
Michael: You rocked again, brother. You rocked.
Didi: I love you.
Andrew: It was fun seeing you without the guitar. Your best performance since Hollywood!
Casey: Probably my favorite performance from you as well. Bravo!
Katie: I think you have a great voice and this was perhaps your best performance and song choice, but I just feel lukewarm about you all around.
Lacey: Great song choice, good performance, but my overall feelings towards you are best summed up as, "eh."
Aaron: You do this weird hip shake thing that I find annoying. You have a great voice and I think you are very talented but I'm just not a huge fan.
Lee: You have a great radio voice. You are handsome. You are talented. All of your performances are starting to sound the same though.
Siobhan: The judges loved you last night. I wasn't blown away, but I really do like you. And your tattoo on your shoulder is way cool.
Paige: I don't remember you from Hollywood week, but since then you have not made a great impression on me. You make terrible song choices and arrangements. You are boring and forgettable despite a cool voice. Last night you rocked the house. Good job!
Tim: Snore. At least you made the song sound current.
Crystal: You were awesome as always, though I would have picked a different Stones song if I were you.

Sushi Class

Friday night two girlfriends and I went to an awesome sushi class in North Salt Lake taught by my friend/boss Jonas (both a sushi chef and an nationally recognized and award-winning photographer). It was fantastic, delicious fun! If you live in Utah and like sushi, for the cost of a dinner out, you can fill up at this fun class and make your own:)


Jen, ready to roll.



Chef Jonas slicing up some eel while my friend Sheryl assists by frying up shrimp tempura.




Sheryl displaying her beautifully-made sushi rolls. Me brandishing my sloppily-made sushi burrito.

"The Bird Place"

Last Tuesday was fairly warm outside and I took the kids to Tracey Aviary, aka: the bird place. We had a lot of fun. All of their bulbs were poking their heads out and they should have hundreds of daffodils there soon, followed by lots of tulips. Can't wait to go back!







Aunt Katie was in town for her Spring Break and when she asked Jonah what birds he saw he said, "Pelicans, peacocks, and tamingos."

A February Weekend

Talking on the phone with my friend Avalie in January made us realize we hadn't seen each other in two years! They only live an hour away from us but with each of us having relatives closeby, friends, church, kids, life, we never get together. We made a plan to take the M. family and their four kids plus our little family of four up to the cabin for a night. We had so much fun we stayed a whole extra night and all went home in dirty clothes! It was great hanging out with some of our old college buddies again:)


The kiddos snuggling on the beanbag while watching their morning show.



Taylor ready for her first snowmobile ride.



Brandon reading Backyard Livestock on the porch swing while Jonah snuggles him.



This room in the cabin is generally referred to as 'the bunkroom.' This weekend it was dubbed, 'the playroom' (check out Jonah's bedhead!).



Our littlest ones both suck on their fingers and play with their hair when they're tired!



Brandon on lead guitar for Rock Band.



Trent singing karaoke while Avalie smiles on appreciatively.

'N Stuff

February's Culinary Club
We've always held our cooking club's activities at my house, but last month we had it at Rena's beautiful home and her father-in-law taught us how to make a Philipinno noodle dish (cut everything on the diagonal:). Having Rena's family around was fun and if possible, we gabbed even more than usual (with none of us having to be the teacher). I'm looking forward to teaching my friends how to make risottos this month!


Cherolyn, Rebecca, and Debbie



Rena, Leah, and I



The Chef



Ingredients heading to the wok.


Last Night's Idol
When the top 24 were picked this season, I agreed with Simon that the girls were the much stronger group. Last night came as quite a surprise with the boys far outshining the girls performances this week. I'm not even sure I can pick a favorite, though I'd lean towards Mike again. Unfortunately Andrew's performance was good but not as strong as many of the others so I have a feeling that he's out. Aaron Kelly, who is usually great, had the night's weakest performance, and it still wasn't all that bad. Great show, guys!


My Darling Children

Jonah modeling the train engineer costume he got for his birthday from Nana Lisa.



Adorable Elora at the aviary on Tuesday.

Idol

I loved Shiobhan's performance tonight. I don't think I can forgive her parents for spelling her name like that even if she is Irish. You can see the performance here: http://idol-mania.com/american-idol-fan/2010/03/10/siobhan-magnus-“house-of-the-raising-sun”-american-idol-9-video/

I also loved Crystal's performance.

As usual, I didn't vote.

This is a big deal for me to endorse contestants with such bad teeth.

Doh Doh

Elora calls Jonah "Doh Doh", it's very cute.

Saturday at the grocery store Jonah suddenly, very loudly announced, "Mom, that lady got a big bum." He repeated it louder when I tried to shush him. It was horrible. When I told Brandon about it later at the dinner table, Jonah added, "Jonah grow up. Jonah grow big. Jonah get a big bum; a big, huge bum." That's right folks.

My Top 5 Picks

The American Idol contestants are down to 16. Here are my choices for top 5 (I tried to pick 10 but couldn't):

1- Lilly Scott (currently my very favorite)
2- Crystal Bowersox
3- Didi Benami
4- Katelyn Epperly
5- Andrew Garcia

I don't have very strong feelings about the boys this season (except for thinking Todrick and Alex are very cute). I thought in the first live show, Lee Dewyze gave the best performance and last week big Mike was the best (who I've never been a fan of before).

Jonah in AZ

Look at Jonah and you will know what I was doing while taking this shot.






Cool Cousins