Aiden's Big Bash

Thought I would share some pictures of Aiden's birthday party that we had last Saturday...we took him to pizza at Paddingtons on his actual birthday, and I of course, forgot my camera! They even put a candle in our pizza for him, it was too cute!

Happy Birthday Aiden!

Oh, my sweet little baby boy, how is it possible that you are 1 year old??

So cliche, but I can remember every detail about the day you were born like it, literally, was just yesterday!  I wish I could rewind back to when you were a tiny baby and press pause...even preemie clothes were too big for you, you were almost too small for your carseat, and we were constantly amazed and amused by the funny sounds you made.  Now you crawl and scoot and stand, you say "wow" and maybe even "mama", and you love facing forward in your carseat. 

I can only imagine all the adventures that the next year will bring....walking and talking and all sorts of discovering, I am so excited for you! 

It's hard for Daddy and I to imagine life without you, we love you so very, very, very much!

Love, Mommy

I Must Vent...

There was an article in the Statesman this morning about PGE replacing all of their old antiquated meters with new digital meters, and all the complaints they are getting because some people's bills are going up as the new meters are much more sensitive and pick up tiny amounts of power usage that the old ones did not (the power it takes to keep the lights on your printer on, or the clock running on your microwave).  And, obviously, PGE is cutting a fat hog on this deal, raking in money hand over fist.  ARGH!!  I love how people are so quick to complain, but never stop to think about the incredible amount of resources it takes to run a company like PGE, and that in reality, Oregon's power rates are significantly lower than most other states.   Don't they realize that, in effect, they were stealing power?

I suppose I  have a small dog in this fight as Andy and my dad work for PGE, but I just wish people wouldn't be so dang quick to complain about every little thing that they see as a personal attack by big business, and would actually stop to think about how businesses run and what it takes to be even a tiny bit profitable.  I have a lot of additional thoughts on this, but I think I will just stop now because it could get ugly.  :)  Ahhh, I feel better now!

I Can't Wait!

Saturday we are throwing Aiden's 1st Birthday Party!

I'm sure he could care less, but I am so excited!! I of course wanted a giant party, but Andy rolled his eyes at that idea, so our trade off for a smaller party is having an awesome cake! I had Jennifer at Bittersweet Baking do the cake for his baptism and it was amazing (I am sad to admit that it was better cake than our wedding cake), so I made sure to book her way in advance for his birthday.

Can't wait to post pictures of Saturday up here, especially of the cake!!

Give the Malt-O-Meal Guy a Second Chance

When it comes to groceries, I am a big cheapo. I buy the off brand of everything unless it is a steal, and am always appauled at how much grocery stores charge for basic necessities. Anyhow, I found a great steal today! I was at Winco fighting the crazies (yes, pray for me please), and I needed to get some cereal for Aiden to snack on. Cereal is one of those items that drive me crazy how much they charge. I am quite sure that it does not cost $4 to produce a box of Cheerios...I know for a fact what oats cost per pound (around $.20 per pound), and I would highly doubt that there is more than 2 pounds of oats in one dumb box of Cheerios. Now I know there are many other costs that go into that box, but $4?? Come on!! Woooooooow Betsy, back to the story. So, I was looking for some cheap cereal to keep in his diaper bag and for some around the house snacking, but I was also hoping to get some with nutritional value greater than cardboard.

I always crack up at the guy who scoots around on the floor in those Malt-o-meal commercials, and tend not to buy that brand much after a serious disappointment with their Captain Cruch knock-off (don't buy it, it is a horrible immitation). But, I was checking out their "Tootie Fruities" (their version of Fruit Loops), and I was pleasantly surprised by a few things. The first was the price, $1.79 for a pretty big bag. Second, absolutely no high fructose corn syrup to be found in the ingredients, sugar was about 5th in line, and all the flavoring was natural! And third, I found out when I got home, was that they are a perfect match for fruit loops! Yum! And yes, Aiden likes them (add that to the slowly growing list of foods he likes, none of which are vegetables)! I always love a good food find!!

Walla Walla

Almost 3 weeks ago (yes, I know I am sort of behind getting this up), Andy and I took a weekend trip up to Walla Walla to visit my little sister Lydia.  She moved up there in September to take a job as a copy editor, and that was the first time we had been up to see her.

I always thought that WW was a lot further north in Washington, but in reality, it is just across the border and only about 30 miles from Hermiston, and just about 4 1/5 hours from home.  Oh, did I mention this was our first weekend fully away from Aiden? Yes, it was, and he had a great time at Grammy & Papa's house (my mom and dad)...but I think they needed about 3 days to recover! :)

 When you do a grilled cheese under the broiler, you must watch it closely, or you get this...

 The first winery we went to, Andy really like the label colors

Thanks Cred for the great hospitality!!

There's No Replacing Powdered Sugar

Andy and his buddies are going away to Sunriver this weekend for a "man weekend". I know it will involve snowmobiling, probably some or a lot of beer, but beyond that, I'm not asking. And, who knows what they will be eating...probably burgers morning, noon, and night (as long as Cheetos are involved, Andy will be happy as a clam). But, I thought I could do my part to make sure that some sort of breakfast food is available, so today I made some cinnamon rolls. Well, you can't have a cinnamon roll without some sort of yummy glaze or frosting on top, both of which require as the main ingredient, powdered sugar. Getting everything out to make the frosting, I looked up in my baking cupboard for some powerded sugar...none. I looked out in the pantry for some powerered sugar...none. There was no powdered sugar to be had in our house. I looked across the street to see if Andy's mom was home, maybe she would have some...not home. I looked at Aiden and then thought of how increasingly difficult it is to get him in his carseat (he is not a fan), and quickly wiped running into the grocery store from my brain. This seemingly simple task of making some frosting for cinnamon rolls was becoming more difficult than it was worth. The internet provided me with zero recipes for powderded sugar-free frosting, and I couldn't think of a single other topping for those dang rolls. But then, a great idea entered my brain. Powdered sugar comes from regular sugar, and I HAD regular sugar! So, if I could just turn the granulated version into the powdered version using AHH HA, my cuisinart food processor, I would be in the chips!!! So, I processed, and I processed, and I processed, and I about burned the motor up in my poor food processor. Twenty minutes later, all I had to show for it was a kitchen filled with sugar dust, and some powdery gritty sugar. I like the saying "when life hands you lemons, make lemonade"...so I mixed that gritty powdery sugar with some butter and almond extract and frosted those rolls like I had just made the lightest, fluffiest, most delectable frosting ever to grace the tops of cinnamon rolls. And do I think those boys will know the difference? Not a chance.
Moral of the story? Make sure you have powdered sugar on hand, because there is no replacing it.

A Complete 180

It's amazing how much can change in the span of a week and a half. Twelve days ago, the worlds of thousands (and amazingly I am not exagerating with that number) of people were rocked when we found out that our Heidi's snowboarding trip came to a life-altering ending. I can only speak for my own emotions those first couple of days, but helplessness and uncertainty were top of mind. But slowly, almost hour by hour, those emotions changed to encouragement and sheer amazement. I watched with my jaw on the desk as the number of people that looked at her blog grew by the minute (I know because I watched...don't worry, I didn't artificially inflate it!), and as it became apparent that not just her family and a few close friends were praying and rooting her on, but it seemed as though just about the whole country was doing the same, even New Zealand! Offers to get her and her family home by private jet & retrofitting at their house...it was like "Heidi's Army" had been called to action and all were going at 110%! And the sheer detirmination of Heidi, to not let her injuries slow her down, and the courage she has shown in the last 12 days, well, if they haven't changed the attitudes of many, I would be very surprised.
She is a bright and shining example of God's miracles in action, and I cannot wait to see what the future has in store for her!!