Fruit Pizza and Puzzles

"Making" fruit pizza-like mother like daughter, I eat lots while I'm cooking :)







yes, I know they're sideways-I'm having issues today...

I'm sorry to those we told we would have a video of Mere walking, it keeps giving me an error when I try to upload and I know it's not the size or type of movie so I don't know what to do. . .

Mere impressed me today by fitting some of her puzzle pieces in the right spot! She really enjoys coloring too, but much prefers pens to crayons, which isn't so safe. . . She's been a climber since about 10 months but now has decided that it is fun to climb on the chairs and onto the kitchen table, which never interested her before-maybe because she's so short :)

Here's a fun website from my brother:

http://www.heyitsfree.net/2009/06/03/free-juicy-juice-sippy-cup-water-bottle/

http://www.heyitsfree.net/about-hey-its-free/

Easter Vacation Photos from my parents. . .

   
Tom and Chris Hunt helped my dad and Saki moving between houses, especially books :) I have to say I was glad to be pregnant and not have to help. 
    

Dinner with some of the Hunts and Hallett's at my parents new place and at the Fish House in Pensacola, FL. 

 

   

Climbing with grandpa at the temple grounds-Birmingham Alabama.
    
Easter dinner and at in front of church. 
   

Making lamb shish-kabobs for Easter dinner & feeding the guinea pig.

Happy Memorial Day!

In general I'm very negative on things regarding the military, war etc but I have to admit that there's so much we have thanks to them. I am grateful for those who have and do sacrifice so I can live in a free country. Did you know 104,366 Americans are buried in cemeteries in Europe?

So walking isn't so bad after all. . .

  

 Playing with leis. She put them all on herself. 

   

This week Mere has decided that walking for long distances can be fun, she walks carefully and is able to clap or do things while standing, but still thinks it's funny to throw herself down and laugh if we cheer her on. Here's a photo of Mere sitting at the table in her own little chair intently watching a learning video-I'm not to into videos for kids but Mere has a signing video and an alphabet video and a healthy eating video and as you can she she gets very into them. 

Bread & random things

Finally I have found an easy whole wheat bread recipe (food storage people!) that actually rises and is soft and airy without the use of wheat gluten. It was stashed in my recipe box and I'd just never tried it before. It tastes great and Saki loves it, he's a bread lover. Especially hot chocolate and bread smothered in jam, butter, and peanut butter...

This makes 4 medium sized loafs so I suggest halving the recipe you don't eat a lot of bread!

5 C water
2 T yeast
1/3 C honey
1/3 C oil
1/3 C potato flakes
2 eggs
1 T salt (I make it without salt, but think it tastes a little funny that way)
6 cups whole wheat flour

Mix all of the above at let rest for about 10 minutes. Then add 4-5 C more whole wheat flour making a soft dough.

Knead and let rise until double.
Punch down and make into rolls or loafs and let rise again until double (pretty much until you can poke it lightly with your finger and the indent doesn't bounce all the way back quickly).

Bake at 350º-don't overbake if you want soft bread. Enjoy!

Just some thoughts:

-TO SEE MY CUTE TWIN NIECES: http://bradshaw.no-ip.org/slides/galleries.php
-greased lightening is a grease cleaner that actually cleans!
-sometimes buying in bulk isn't cheaper-compare the price per unit or oz
-72 hour kit tips--use the overnight kit you may get from plane delays (toothpaste etc)
-for baby's use old stained clothes or hand me downs that aren't quite your style & use all
those formula samples you get from your dr's office and the hospital
-cats like tuna and it's cheaper than canned cat food and healthier than lots too-have you ever read the ingredients on lots of pet food? (if your cat lives mostly off of a balanced for cat dry food diet)
-we're enjoying listening to general conference online! http://lds.org/move/index.html?type=conference04-2009&event=april179&lang=english

Meresiana-1 year and 4 1/2 months!

Some photos of us at the park-it's in the 100's here so you want to go before 9am, and preferably before 8 or it's just too hot! Mere is sometimes nervous of slides, and likes to go down on her stomach.






I love this dress Kristin and Andrea!

Mere is really growing, she's getting taller and much more involved in others around her and things that are going on. She went to nursery this week and last (she's not quite old enough but they kept offering to take her and how could we resist that!) and loves it. She really enjoys learning and doing new things and when I took her today she climbed right into a little chair at the table waiting for her puzzle. I hope she continues to be like this, I love that she likes to try new things and isn't too attached to mom and dad, though we get big smiles when we come to see her if it's been awhile :)

Mere enjoys going in circles on her knees and laughing wildly. She isn't very patient at the store anymore and does not want to sit in the shopping cart long. She is taking more interest in walking now, but still just takes a couple steps at a time and then throws herself down and laughs like it's some kind of game.

Another thing she does is kiss her little white bear from Nau (grandma) and the cat and hold her bear up for us to kiss it:) She likes to make any animal she has growl too.

San Diego Temple, Scripps Aquarium, & Beach

On Monday and Tuesday we went to San Diego so we could attend the temple. We decided to stay overnight so we could fit more in while in town. We visited Scripps Aquarium, a smaller aquarium affiliated with a university, as Mere really loves fish. They do a lot of research here and have live fish camera's online.

At the tidepools with fish and some huge lobsters.

Neat fountains at the enterance.

The big fish you see here weighs about 600 lbs and can grow to the size of a VW Beetle (car).

Each tank had different fish environments and Saki said these ones were like the reefs in Fiji. We had a hard time getting a photo of the yellow finned fish as he was very fast!

Learned a bit about global warming and hope I can make more of an effort to prevent it! Here's Saki and Mere live on TV :)

In a shark's mouth. . .

Sea dragons blend right in with the plants! There's two kinds (or maybe male and female?) below.

Beach in La Jolla area-I love rocky beaches-they're so picturesque, but a little scary since they're slippery. Mere loved the sand, though the waves were still scary and load, but she didn't cry even when her and I got pretty soaked by a wave that splashed of the rock back onto us. We even got a group shot with the timer on my camera!

Our little spot where we had a picnic. I love using my beach umbrella :) I think I enjoy the beach even more than Saki, he just smiles to see how happy the waves and sand make me. . . By the end of our stay the water was almost up to where Mere is sitting.

About 2 months to go! I feel a lot bigger with this baby then with Mere, I think because I'm carrying the baby lower... and it's my second child... I get another ultrasound Monday, which will be fun cause Saki can be there this time :) It's so neat to see the baby!