Beautiful, Historical, Delectable, Boston.

When Taber and I were setting up our Boston agenda
there was one major priority on my list: Food.
As a true foodie, I judge the awesomeness of a vacation by how good the food is.
With that in mind, I will say, Boston was A-MAZE-ING!
(aka: delicious ; )

Before we left I asked some of my friends who had been to Boston
where the best places were to eat.
Several people mentioned the Italian restaurants in the North end.
Two specifically mentioned Giacomo's. So of course, we had to go.
I will now add my recommendation to that of others,
if you go to Boston, eat at Giacomo's.
It's worth the long wait in the street.
And the butternut squash ravioli is divine.

After we hit Giacomo's we were told by pretty much everyone that we HAD to get dessert at Mike's Pastry, which was just down the street. That place also had a huge line but Holy Cannoli!! It was WORTH it!!

Here is my prize from the pastry shop. A chocolate chip cannoli. Light flaky pastry shell filled with sweet ricotta cheese and sprinkled with chocolate chips. Mmmmmm......

Okay, I'll take a break from the food for a minute to talk about some other trip highlights. While we were there Taber got us tickets to see Topol, the original actor who played Tevia in the Fiddler on the Roof at the Boston Opera House. He was reprising his role in a farewell tour traveling across the country. It was so amazing watching this legend on stage. Even in his 70's the guy hasn't lost any of his magic. His comic timing and incredible voice were unbelievable. It was such a great performance and so worth the hour we spent driving around lost and confused in the maddening streets of Boston to find the Opera house. (we actually ended up just parking somewhere and hailing a cab to take us there, that's how lost we were)

Some cool pics of the Opera house at the top of this collage. On the bottom, me with one of the actors during the intermission and me in front of the Marquee sign.

And now, back to the food. So the one thing I REALLY wanted to eat on this trip was a Boston cream pie, IN BOSTON! My friend Joanne had this picture of a Boston cream pie on her blog from when she went there, and ever since I saw it I knew I wouldn't be the same until I had that pie. I emailed her and she told me where to get it. I had my hopes set high, but our schedule got crazy and by the time we were able to go, the restaurant was closed. It was a bitter pill to swallow, but I'm a glass is half full kind of girl, so we found another restaurant that only serves dessert and is open super late and there I ordered a fancy little version of their Boston Cream pie. It wasn't the traditional kind, but it still danced on my taste buds and I left feeling full and happy.

Another highlight was driving out to Salem, MA where the witch trials were held. It was a cool city with lots of history and it was nice to be able to walk along the beautiful harbor. The first two days we were there it rained a lot but we finally got some nice weather and were able to spend some time outside.

We found a little light house and got kind of camera happy. Here are just a few of the pics we took. Then we went to a cute little restaurant by the dock and ate clam chowder and fish and chips. It felt very New England-y : )

The whole weekend was a lot of fun. Taber had business for part of it but we were also able to do some fun things, see some great sights, and of course, eat some amazing food : )

And I also have to give a shout out to my wonderful mother who came out on such short notice to watch the girls. Not only did she keep them fed, clothed, and thoroughly entertained, she also went the extra mile and took them to church, (25 minute drive) wrestled them both through sacrament meeting by herself, and then chased Brinley through the halls for the last 2 hours so Teya could enjoy nursery. There really aren't words for how much I love that woman. I'm so glad the girls got to be with her while we were gone.

Feeling the Love

I don't think I could've asked for a better birthday this year. So many people went out of their way to make me feel special, and believe me, I was feeling it!

The birthday love started last week when my dear friend Kara threw me a surprise party during playgroup. She made a delicious ham and asparagus quiche, chocolate chip pancake muffins, and the most DIVINE chocolate peanut butter cake ever to grace my taste buds.

I can't imagine how much time it took her to do all that cooking and have it ready by 10 in the morning! She really is an angel.

me and the girls at my playgroup party

On my actual Birthday another dear friend, Maria, offered to watch the girls all morning so I could go to the temple. It was one of the most thoughtful and sweet gifts I've ever been given. Going to the temple on my birthday was so refreshing and such a wonderful way to start my day with love in my heart and a greater perspective on life.

While I was gone Maria helped the girls decorate the house with balloons and homemade signs. They also baked me a birthday cake and Teya got to decorate it. When I came home the girls were jumping around yelling "SURPRISE!" and "CHEESE!" (because that's what Brinley shouts when she's smiling : )

Teya holding her beautiful cake creation

After Maria left, Brinley went down for a nap and Teya continued spoiling me with sweetness. She kept saying things like, "Happy birfday mommy, I'm so happy it's your birfday. Thank you so much for this birfday, it really makes me happy." She kept petting my hair and giving me hugs, then she offered to give me a birthday pedicure and manicure. Like my cake, it was done with so much love and affection; even if it was a little rough in spots, the gesture was so sweet I will never forget it!

That afternoon I received a fabulous candy bar bouquet from my Sister Naomi and her husband Kevin who live in Chicago. Obviously they know me pretty well, flowers are nice, but chocolate...now that's what I'm talking about!!

When Taber got home we got ready to go out on our couple birthday date. That's my "I'm really excited and hyper and hungry" face.

He took me to Benihanas. The food was amazing and our chef was hilarious! So entertaining and fun.

Waiting for our table

Our awesome chef making the onion tower

Getting creative with the fried rice

When we got home, even though I was stuffed silly, Taber had MORE birthday cake and presents! I'll admit, I had a "feeling old" moment when I saw that my cake said "Happy Birthday Mom" and not "Becca". Then I realized what a compliment that was because being a mom is awesome, and 29 really isn't old. : )

We had cake and opened presents with the girls. Taber, being the thoughtful guy that he is, even wrapped up some little presents for Brinley and Teya which made Teya's whole night.

He also surprised me with a book. I was sure it was a cookbook because that's what I asked for. But when I opened it though this is what I found: Guide to Finishing Your First Triathlon. Um yeah, I don't think I EVER said I wanted to do that. I guess this is my payback for getting Taber a Guide to Finishing your First Marathon Book back in April for his birthday. This should be interesting...

My other fun surprise is a trip to Boston. Last week Taber found out he had to go there for a business trip so he decided to take me along. We called my mom with only a week's notice and asked if she would fly out to watch the girls. Even though she works full time, she managed to pull some strings and flew in yesterday. We spent the day together playing with the girls, getting pedicures, and of course, eating lots of yummy food. Taber and I are taking off today and are excited to see a little bit of New England. Thanks to everyone for all the kind birthday wishes, I am without a doubt, feeling the love.

Happy Birthday Becca!

Today is Becca's birthday and so in honor of this momentous day I thought I would take over her blog for a minute and share a few of the many things that I love about Becca. Happy birthday love!

10 things I love about Becca
1. I love the way you love our girls. I love how you have so many holey jeans because of all the time you spend on your knees playing with our girls.
2. I love your eyes. You have the most beautiful eyes in the world. Your eyes are stunning to look at, but you also have the gift of using your eyes to see the good in everything and everyone you meet.
3. I love your sweet tooth. How lucky am I to have our home filled with sweet moments so often.
4. I love that you have a heart of a teacher. You are so good at encouraging others to reach their best. There's no way I could have got into grad school or made it out with a good job without that encouragement.
5. I love that you are fearless. You are not afraid to take on any challenge. Whether it’s deciding that you are going to run a marathon or not even flinching to rescue a rat that has fallen into a window well.
6. I love your voice. Your voice warms the entire room when you sing. Even if we are just singing a simple primary song to the girls it sounds like we have a music star in our midst.
7. I love your sense of humor. You have the gift of making people laugh and it's a lot of fun being able to laugh often.
8. I love how you are close to the Spirit. In every major decision we have made you have always been so close to the Spirit. Even in everyday happenings you always make a point to bring the Spirit into our home.
9. I love how you are so passionate about music. I love how if a song is playing with a solid beat I know you will be moving to the music. I love that when we run together I always know when a Beyonce or Justin Timberlake song is playing on your iPod because you suddenly turn our steady pace into a sprint.
10. And most of all I love that you are my wife and best friend! Happy Birthday!

Teya's first cavity

Today I took Teya in to have her cavity filled. I'll admit, I was nervous. I didn't let her know it, but my stomach was in knots imagining how she would react to the whole experience. I spent the week before talking excitedly about how "FUN" it would be to get her "silver star!" (aka cavity filling.) I talked it up like it was the best thing that was ever gonna happen to her.

She bought the whole thing and was jumping up and down for joy to be at the dentists this morning. I on the other hand was not. I was feeling sick for telling her that it was going to be so great. I just knew something was going to go wrong, she'd see the needle and flip out, the drill would scare her, the laughing gas would make her sick, something was going to happen and she would never forgive me for telling her it was fun.

I kept my cool when they took us back and Teya was still all smiles and happiness when they put the laughing gas on her.

Then they pulled out the giant needle. The Dr. Suess cartoon does not exaggerate! THAT IS SERIOULSY HOW BIG IT IS!! My whole body tensed and I braced myself for her reaction. I was sure she would start screaming and thrashing around in the chair. My heartbeat accelarted and I watched in slow motion as they stuck that monster in her mouth.

Her little legs went stiff but the nurse quickly grabbed her hand and the dentist starting telling her a joke. The next sound that came out of her mouth wasn't a scream, it was a laugh! She was laughing with a giant needle in her mouth. The nurse talked about how silly it was that they were putting sleepy juice on her tooth. The dentist said, "boy I hope your teeth don't snore when they sleep!" Everyone was laughing, Teya loudest of all. I started to relax and realized I had been nervous for no reason. These people are professionals, they do this all the time, of course they know how to make it as easy and painless as possible.

The rest of the process went as smooth as could be. Mr bumpy came in and cleaned out her tooth. Mr thirsty straw helped suck out the water and tooth crumbs and then the dentist filled her tooth with her beautiful "silver star" that was as sparkly as Teya had hoped it would be.

Teya left the dentist office with some bling in her mouth, a prize in her hand, and a smile on her face. Hopefully we won't have anymore cavities, but at least if we do, I can honestly tell her that getting them filled will be "Fun!"

Thank you Mother Nature : )

After her cruel joke of dumping snow on us in October, I guess Mother Nature was feeling kind and gave us a BEAUTIFUL warm sunny day on Saturday. We had our friends, Noah and Maddy over and spent the morning outdoors in the sun. I know it won't last but I was grateful anyway for the lovely breath of fresh air : )

Getting Organized!

A few weeks ago I attended the most inspiring Relief Socitey meeting where we learned how to organize our homes. The class was taught by the amazing Camie Christensen, who could seriously be the CEO of the world because that's how organized she is. Since that meeting I have been an Organizing machine! I tore through my house like a woman on a mission. I threw away 3 huge garbage bags of toys and lame stuff we never use. I sold some things on craigslist, gathered a few big boxes of clothes to ship to my sister, and took 5 huge garbage bags full of clothes and toys to Goodwill. WOW that felt GOOD!

I bought a bunch of plastic trays, bins and containers and starting organizing my junk drawers, bathroom drawers, desk drawers and closets. I also did a pretty good number on my pantry. She told us to Find a home for everything you own, and every night, return everything to its home. That advice has saved my life! My house is so much easier to clean, keep clean, and navigate. I used to be the ONLY person around here who knew where anything was because we didn't have proper homes for everything. Well now I can confidently leave anyone in charge and know they'll have no problem finding what they need : )


I present you, the drawer of organization (formerly known as the black hole or junk drawer) No more digging around to find what I need, everything's in its home, right where I can find it.

My Pantry used to be a nightmare too. Boxes would sit on the shelves totally empty, and I wouldn't even realize it. Camie suggested buying some clear sterilite plastic containers to put kid snacks like granola bars, fruit snacks, chips, etc.. in. That way they are accessible and easy to keep track of when the inventory is getting low.

I Also like that they're down on Teya's level so she can just open the pantry and get what she needs. The best part is those containers are only 97 cents each at Wal-mart. Easy and cheap.

Finally found a home for our shoes that pile up by the back door. I have one of these by the front door but we never come in that way. Bought one to go in the closet by our back door and our entry way is no longer clogged up with shoes!

I've had so much fun purging and organizing my closets and drawers that now I'm ready to hit my filing cabinets! Camie told us that 80% of what we file is never looked at again. A couple days ago I bought this bad boy, time to get rid of that extra 80%!!

Pumpkins, Parties, and Trick or Treat!

Pumpkins Take 1:
Halloween comes with a lot of fun traditions. Pumpkin carving is a must, mostly because we love eating pumpkin seeds! Taber found a big ol' pumpkin at Sam's and brought it home to carve with the girls.

Everyone got into scooping the guts, except Teya, who is going through a dainty phase and doesn't like to get her hands dirty. She had fun watching though.

We took a nice family shot and then I started preparing the pumpkin seeds. We had every intention of carving our giant pumpkin but the kids got hungry and then they were tired and we had to put it off for another day. Unfortunately, by the time we got around to it again the giant pumpkin was rotten and moldy. So, we had to go to option B.


Pumpkins Take 2:
Option B was a kid friendlier version anyway. Teya can't really wield a carving knife yet so she was happy to do some fun painting with Daddy.

Here are their final products. Teya's is the pumpkin on the right. She painted that whole thing all by herself, not too shabby!

Ward Party:
Another great Halloween tradition is going to the trunk or treat Halloween party at our church. I was glad we could have a night that the girls could wear the costumes without being bundled up. Teya looked so stinking cute in her little mermaid costume.

And here's princess Brinley, I never got a great shot of her by herself so I had to crop this one. Isn't she adorable in that dress?
The party was a lot of fun, they had a cake walk, costume parade, pie eating contest, Halloween bingo, crafts and more. At the end Teya went out to the cars and got a HUGE loot of candy too.

Trick or Treat!:
Last but not least, we took the girls out for a little trick or treating in the neighborhood. This year was my favorite Halloween yet because Teya was totally into and Brinley was old enough to sort of get it too.

Getting bundled up and ready to go.

Here they are at their first door. You'll notice that Brinley's bucket is empty and she's looking at me like, "What the heck are we doing here Mom?!"

Fast forward a few houses later, bucket is full and Brinley is happy as can be. She really got the hang of it and wouldn't let anyone take that bucket away!

Here's Teya with her combined loot from the trunk or treat and trick or treating. We've told her she can only have one piece a day but she's still young enough that she thinks that's awesome! Brinley is still a little small for candy so I guess I'll just have to take one for the team and eat hers for her. : )

And Monty wishes you a Happy Halloween too! Woof!

Taking advantage

The other day the forecast promised a high of 53 degrees. It was going to be overcast and windy but 53 degrees?! Well I had to take advantage and plan an outdoor playgroup (a group I organize with other SAHM's from church). In Tennessee if it was in the 50's we'd be huddled up indoors drinking hot chocolate. Here in Minnesota though we're much less picky when it comes to what we consider outdoor weather : )

I planned a trip to our favorite farm to go check out their pumpkin patch. The pumpkin pickings were kind of slim since it was 3 days before Halloween, but the kids still had a great time running around and getting dirty.

Teya and her buddies dancing around in the corn crib.

And of course, what's a trip to the farm without some good old hay jumping?

Teya and Abby, two peas in a pod.

Even though we had to bundle up (the wind makes 50 degrees feel a lot colder) The girls had so much fun and I was really glad I made the effort to get them out of the house.

Friday Foto: Dora and Napolean 2004

My second year teaching high school I figured "hey, I'm a Spanish teacher, I should dress up as Dora for Halloween!" (This was before kids, so I had actually never seen an episode of Dora. Little did I know she would one day become a regular part of my daily life) I had super long hair then so I was wearing a wig that day. The kids thought it was great and were pretty freaked out when they thought I chopped my hair. This was also when Napolean dynamite was HUGE. A couple kids dressed up like him but this student not only looked like him but could imitate him perfectly. Fun times teaching high school! Looking at this pic it's also no wonder I got in trouble every time I was in the library during my prep hour for not having my student ID. It seriously took 4 or 5 times before they remembered I was a teacher : )