Happy Birthday To Me

Wow another year has come and gone and now I'm a year older. I'm not sure I like this getting older stuff. I still feel like I should be in high school or something, not celebrating my 33rd birthday. Time really does fly these days. It's all good though. I'm very blessed to have a wonderful hubby and 3 adorable little girls who all make my life so wonderful! Speaking of which, my wonderful hubby took me downtown to the Little America Hotel for my birthday. We went to dinner at PF Changs (FYI, make sure you make a reservation before you go, we didn't and it was an hour and a half wait before they seated us--I was starving). I love PF Changs! My cute dental school friends introduced me to this place and I was hooked from the very first bite! Later we went back to the hotel and picked a movie to watch. Dan said it was my choice, so of course I picked Twilight! We watched it once together, then Dan fell asleep so I watched it again. Room service woke me up in the morning and guess what, I watched it again. Yes that is 3 times in a 24 hour period. So that brings my total to 6 times seeing this movie. You don't have to tell me that I'm a Twilight nerd, I already know that! Honestly, I think the reason I like watching the movie so much is because it was filmed in Oregon and for the 2 hours watching it, I feel like I'm back home up there. I miss Oregon and Twilight just takes that homesickness away. By-the-way, if you're a Twilight nerd like me, you should check out this blog I found called Lauren's Bite (see my sidebar). This girl is hilarious. She is by far worse than me when it comes to Edward. Her blog takes you on adventures with "Pocket Edward" and she is totally in love with Edward. She named her husband Tedward (who's name is really Ted). She definitely has way too much time on her hands, but it's fun reading for us crazy Twilighters.



OK, back to my birthday. My parents took the girls while we were downtown. We met up with them for a birthday dinner my Mom made. My Grandpa and Grandma Cowdell joined us. I got my cute hat and Bumbles watch, an exercise bike and a ticket to the Kenny Chesney concert coming in July. My ticket is right down next to the stage--3rd row. I am so excited. This will be my 4th time seeing him, however this time I will be right there up close and personal!! Yippeeeee!

I had a great day. Everyone spoiled me! Besides watching Twilight 3 times, the best part of the day was just being with my family. I love you guys!!

Valentine's Day Fun

This year we mixed things up a bit. We usually spend the day before Valentine's Day making our favorite sugar cookies (see recipe below) but decided on trying a new recipe this year (besides I had to make the cookies for a YW activity the next week and didn't want to make them twice). I found a new recipe for Homemade Oreo Chocolates (yummy) and the girls had a blast making them. Warning- They can be messy!!We also made chocolate covered strawberries. Baylee and Brinley were my good helpers!! They had a blast eating all the leftover chocolate.

Rylee however, was the BEST helper of all. She slept the entire time we baked. I can only imagine what my kitchen would have looked like if she would have been out there to "help". She also insisted on wearing a heart sticker on her forehead all day. She didn't take it off until she crawled into bed that night.

After delivering our Valentine's to our friends and family, we had a fun dinner. We ate heart shaped pizza, pink drinks (as Brinley calls it), and our favorite Frozen Hot Chocolate (as seen on the Oprah show). Yes it's as good as she says!! We started this tradition in dental school when Baylee was only 1. We all gather around the drink with our own straw and drink till it's gone. We all get a brain freeze but it's worth it!!

The girls thought it was funny that I broke the pizza's heart.

We had to remind the girls to come up for air.

Rylee finished it off to the very last drop!!

I think she liked it!!

Sugar Cookie Recipe

Here is my favorite sugar cookie recipe for all of you who have been asking me for it. Caution though, you can't eat just one!! Enjoy!

Special-occasion Sugar Cookies
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 egg
3 tablespoons whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon almond extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

In large mixing bowl, combine the sugar, butter, egg, whipping cream, vanilla and almond extract. Beat at medium speed until light and fluffy. Add flour, baking powder and salt. Beat at low speed until soft dough forms. Cover with plastic wrap. Chill 1 to 2 hours, or until firm

Heat oven to 400. On floured surface, roll dough to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut desired shapes into dough. Place shapes 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 4 to 6 minutes, or until edges are light golden brown. Decorate as desired.

Butter Cream Frosting (this is my Mom's recipe)
2 lb bag of powder sugar
1 cup shortening
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
2/3 cup water (approximately-only pour in 1/3 c. then slowly add rest of water until it is smooth. I don't usually use all the water.)

Mix the above ingredients at high speed until well blended.

"Rylee Style"

My little Rylee is 2 going on 17. This little girl is a handful!! She keeps us on our toes 24/7. There's not a minute in the day when she is not trying to make us laugh. She is always putting a smile on our faces. However, I could not get her to smile for these pictures. This was on Valentine's Day and she wanted "tails" in her hair. She looked so cute and I wanted to get some pictures, but she was not about to smile.

After I gave her some candy, she started being silly again. Still not the smile I was looking for.

This is the cute smile that puts a smile on our faces. I had to offer more candy to get this smile.

At age 2 here are some funny things she does...

• Still calls her milk "coke". It's so fun in church when it's quiet and she is yelling for her COKE. All drinks are coke to her.
• Calls herself Ry Ry. When we ask her her name she says "Ry Ry". We'll say no it's Rylee and she corrects us and says no Ry Ry!
• Colors on everything with every pen, marker, crayon, pencil, or anything that will make a mark. I have become very good at removing artwork.
• When I do her hair, she will ask for a bow. When I put the bow in her hair, she looks up and down at her clothes (to make sure it matches), and then in the mirror and says, "Oh, I lub it" or "Oh, that's so coot". Beware, if the bow doesn't match, WATCH OUT!!
• Her new thing is when we ask her a question she replies, "I don't know". You can pretty much ask her anything and she'll reply "I don't know" and she usually gives you that cute smile.
• Loves to watch movies. Her favorites right now are "Tinkabell" (Tinkerbell), "Wash Away" (Flushed Away), and "Pooh, Pooh Panda" (Kung Fu Panda).
• She reads stories to her stuffed animals. We don't have a clue what she is telling them!
• She definitely thinks she is BOSS around the house. She is constantly telling her sisters and parents what to do. The sad part is that we usually end up doing what she tells us to do.
• Loves to do somersaults. Watch out though, she'll roll right on you. I'm thinking of getting her in gymnastics. She's not afraid to climb, jump, flip, or fall off anything. I think it's perfect for her!!
• When I put her to bed, I have to blow her 2 kisses from the door and she blows them back to me. If I forget to do it, she gets out of bed and tells me "kisses Mommy". I love it!!
• The one that melts my heart and is my favorite thing is her singing. She LOVES to sing. She'll sing anytime, anywhere, any song. Usually her own made up song. She has learned "I Am A Child Of God" and it is the sweetest thing to hear her sing it. It goes something like this "Lead me, guide me, walk a side me, HELP (is really loud) me find a wake". We hear that same line all day long, even when we put her to bed she is still in her bed singing until she falls asleep. I will forever sing this song "Rylee style". It just puts a smile on my face!!

Preschool Field Trip

Oh how I love a field trip! Especially when I get to come along. Brinley's little preschool went to Dr. Dave's Dental Office (no it's not Dan's office). Dr. Dave is a pediatric dentist. My Mom is his Office Manager. I volunteered to help with the field trip months ago, not knowing that these little preschoolers were going to Dr. Dave's. How fun!!! Brinley was tickled to find out that she was going to "Grandma's dental office".

Here they are watching x-rays being taken on a little girl...

Watching Emma cleaning someone's teeth...

Grandma Debbie showing them cavity bugs taking over some teeth...

Watching all the instruments being cleaned. Notice Brinley paying attention (that's her in the pink coat) and Tanner picking his nose...

Thanks Dr. Dave, Grandma Debbie, Robin, and Emma for a fun tour of the dental office!!

I'm a little late posting this...

Happy 70th Birthday to our favorite New Year's Baby!!

Dan's Dad, Dave, celebrated 70 years this year. How exciting! We had a birthday breakfast at IHOP to celebrate with him. Can you say YUMMY!

We love you Grandpa Dave!!

Greatest SNOW on Earth!!

The day after Christmas we went sledding with the Dowdles. We had a ton of snow fall on us and it was great to be outside enjoying it. It was still snowing when we went and the wind was blowing, but the kids didn't mind. They loved it!!

I can't say that Rylee enjoyed it so much. This was her first time sledding and she was so good. Her checks were bright red and her hands were frozen. I don't think she quite understood what we were doing. She just watched all of us act silly in the snow. She did enjoy eating the fresh snow though.

I think we wore her out!!

Baylee and I giggled while making snow angels.

After making snow angels we had a contest to see who could catch the most snow flakes on their tongues. I think we tied. It was a fun day. Having all the snow for Christmas was perfect. I love it when we have a white Christmas!!

Priceless!

Hundreds of hours shopping for and wrapping the perfect gifts...

Ten minutes waiting patiently to see what Santa brought...

Watching your kiddos enjoying Christmas morning...

PRICELESS!

Christmas morning with our 3 very excited kiddos was so fun. We enjoyed watching the excitement on their faces. It was all smiles. Baylee and Brinley really wanted a Yorkie, but Dad was not so excited about the idea of having an indoor dog. So Santa brought them a Yorkie and told them that they needed to be a little more specific about what kind of dog they wanted. He wrote in their letter to ask for a real dog next year and this is what he left them...

My favorite part of the morning is receiving the homemade gifts the girls make for us at school. Brinley was tickled that she finally made an ornament like Baylee to go on our tree.

Baylee made us this fun card with her ornament inside.

I will treasure these moments forever. I hear to enjoy them now because they grow up so fast! We hope you all had a very Merry Christmas, we definitely did!!