No Longer a Slave to Betty Crocker

My mom's frosting recipe goes something like this: "Take a couple tablespoons of butter, add a bunch of powdered sugar, add a tiny bit of milk, and then a little vanilla, then more milk or powdered sugar if you need it..." I've tried it a few times, but it just never works out for me.

I made cupcakes for New Beginnings this weekend, and I really needed a reliable frosting recipe. So I went to my good friend The Internet, and I totally found one.

I ended up with a whole bunch of extra frosting, so today I made a cake and started practicing for Eliza's first birthday.


I know, I know. I won't quit my day job. But it was so much easier than I expected. It reminded me of my teenaged cookie-decorating days working at Mrs. Field's, which reminded me of the giant buckets of frosting we kept in the back room, which made me wonder whether anybody ever got sick after eating a cookie that had been decorated with year-old, stored-at-room-temperature frosting.

And that reminded me of the conversation Ben and I had recently, where we compared his first job at Subway with my first job at Mrs. Field's. Both of us loved washing dishes because the faucet had a sprayer with super high water pressure, but neither of us remember ever using soap.

Eliza's First Sign

Family Photos

We went to California last week to visit my parents, and while we were there I found this old photo of my family when my brother and I were about the same ages as Liam and Eliza.


Here's a recent photo of my new family, which made me realize a few things:


1) It's probably time for us to get a professional family photo taken.

2) Apparently, I can't blame genetics for the fact that I'm still 20 pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight.

3) Fortunately, I haven't passed on my beady little eyes; but unfortunately, Eliza got my wings ears.

During Eliza's Morning Nap Today...

I tried to paint/sand/stain the baby gate to match the railing:


And then tried to make a valance for my kitchen window:


Just don't pay attention to the fact that I'm still in my pajamas at 2:45 in the afternoon.

Learning to Crawl

Probably most kids Eliza's age are starting to walk by now, but we like to take things slowly around here. There's really no need to rush into mobility.

What Are The Chances?

Ben lost his job a few weeks ago, so he has spent a good part of this month e-mailing his resumé to the world. He's been applying for jobs mostly in Utah, but also a few in California and Colorado since that's where our parents are.

So I've been looking at real estate in California and Colorado, just for fun.

Yesterday I found a house in Colorado that looked like it might be our dream house. It had lots of open space on the main floor and it was completely outdated, so I would get to pick my own upgrades.

I told Ben about my "dream house," and then asked him to come look at the photos online. He asked, "What's the address?" and I told him. Then he said, "I used to live in that house."

You Know You're Originally From California But Most Recently From Utah If...

1) You make Jell-o, but then 2) When you put it in the fridge, you move everything else off that shelf because if there's an earthquake in the next four hours, something's going to land in the Jell-o.

Pigtails!

There's something about putting pigtails in your baby girl's hair for the first time that makes her suddenly so grown up.



It reminds me of Liam's first haircut. It's totally blowing my mind that in three days I'll have a 10-month-old. A 10-MONTH-OLD!

New Tricks for the New Year

In the past 24 hours, Eliza has rolled onto her belly and fallen asleep there three out of three times. She has also woken up with a stinky diaper three out of three times.

Coincidence? I think not.

Happy New Year!

Feeling Crafty

Sometimes I get made fun of for getting all of my ideas off the Internet. But why should I waste time thinking up my own ideas when other people have posted their much better ideas for people like me to copy?

Here are some things I’ve copied lately.

For my bathroom:


For my baby:


For my neighbors:


For my front door:


For my young women: