The past 2 weeks

Here are some pictures from the past couple of weeks. Here is Ryan and cousin Jaxon in Grandpa Harris' big semi truck. They LOVED it!

Audrey will hate me for this, but I thought the picture was priceless! So here is Audrey and Sarah when we hung out at their house.
Here is our play date with Catherine, Emily and Jonathan. I found out Wade's cousin is in my ward too, Britni, so she came and hung out with us also. It was a lot of fun, and now we need to have a girls Wii party!

After our family home evening lesson on Monday we went across the street to fly a Cars kite at the park. Ryan had a fun time holding it, then watching it dive down and hit the ground. Ethan liked watching it from his stroller.

Ethan's first time sitting up by himself (and my sexy pants).

And Ryan flying the kite with the wind blowing in our face.

Ryan flying the kite again.

And are we all loving American Idol?? Heck yes!

Wee Wee we got the Wii

We have been looking for the Wii for a while now. Who knew it was so hard to come by. I found it at Target in Orem, so I packed the kids as soon as I found out and headed for Orem. I bought the Wii and Ben wanted to get Guitar Hero. So if anyone wants to come play, come on over (don't mind the messy house...as Audrey says...I am a wife and mother, not a housekeeper!)

Sorry there haven't been posts for a while. I have been SO sick...it reminded me of being pregnant, only with a fever, sore throat, and ouchy ears. (NO, I am NOT pregnant). Ben took half the day off last week to be with me, then my mom came out for a day, then I had to go back and sleep at my mom's. I haven't been this sick in a long time. I had the flu, a sore throat, tonsillitis, plugged ears (yes, my ears plugged on the way to my mom's, and have been plugged now for 5 days, only one unplugged for a few minutes on Sunday). Although, good news...they're not infected. I have an appointment tomorrow with an Ear, Nose, & Throat doctor. We'll see what he says. I'm half hoping I have to get my tonsils out (then maybe I won't get sick all the time anymore) and half hoping I can keep them in (I hear it's killer to get them out as an adult). So we will see how that goes. I am feeling better though. It's nice to be able to take care of my kids again.

So we're trying this new discipline with Ryan, and if you have any suggestions that would be great. Ryan stopped cleaning up his toys. I tried for 5 days to get him to do it. Every time he said no, I'd put him in timeout. It got to the point where I'd ask Ryan to clean up his toys and he'd say, "no, I'll just go to timeout". So, I told him if he didn't clean them up, I'd give them away. Well, he went to a birthday party on Saturday, and when he returned, he went down stairs and saw the toys were gone and said "Uh Oh". I told him we gave ALL his toys to a little boy who was grateful for them and cleaned them up when he was supposed to. (They are really in the back room we never use, locked up). Well, it's Tuesday night now and he still does not have one toy, or one movie, or one NES Nintendo game to his name...and he doesn't care. I keep telling him he can have them back if he starts cleaning his toys, and he just says, "no, the little boy can have them". He is starting to ask about them more, but he still says he won't clean his toys. Any help you could give me would be great! How did I get such a stubborn boy? Oh wait...he's MY son...now I remember.

Ethan had his 6 month check up today. He is doing great. He weighed 18 lbs. and was 27 inches long. He is my big boy!! But his head is still small, in the 23rd percentile. :-) He had to have 3 shots today, but only cried when he got them, then calmed right down. Ryan and Ethan are like night and day so far. With me being sick last week, I don't have as much milk anymore, so Ethan has been eating a lot more solids. He loves the baby Oatmeal. He hates a bottle though! So much for trying to ever go on a date! Speaking of date, I want to go see Leatherheads if anyone wants to come with us (we'll be bringing a baby of course).

Ben's brother Sam just got engaged last week to Shalleece (I was spelling her name wrong before). There are pictures of her on my Super Bowl post. They will be getting married June 6th, in...crap, I forgot which temple...I think Salt Lake though. Anyway, we're excited to call her family.

Alright, I think that's all for now. I'll have to post pictures another time. I figured all of this writing would do for now. Oh, does anyone else Co-Sleep with their babies...or am I weird??

Meatloaf

I watched part of Oprah the other day and Katie Joel, Billy Joel's wife, made meatloaf and gave the recipe. I got the recipe off of Oprah.com, bought all the ingredients I didn't have (which was almost all of them, I'm not much of a "fresh" cook), and I made it. Yes, I made a gourmet meatloaf, and it was delicious. I recommend everyone trying to make it at least once. It was a little time consuming, but it was worth it! I usually have to drown my meatloaf in Ketchup in order for it to taste good...not this one! I served it with fresh French Bread and butter.

(Katie Joel) I like to call meat loaf 'man loaf' because it's every man's favorite dish," Katie says. "My husband loves when I make meat loaf, and it makes the best leftovers. We love it the next day on white bread with mayonnaise."
INGREDIENTS
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1/2 medium yellow onion, diced (about 3/4 cup)
1 garlic clove, minced
1 medium red pepper, finely diced (about 1 cup)
1 bay leaf
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
2 tsp. chopped fresh thyme
2 pounds lean ground beef
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
3/4 cup dry bread crumbs
1 cup ketchup
1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 350°. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Spray lightly with oil.

Heat the olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Sauté the onions, garlic and bay leaf until the onions are tender, about 3 minutes. Add the red pepper and cook until the red pepper is tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in the parsley and thyme and cook for another 2 minutes. Remove pan from the heat and let the onion mixture cool. Discard the bay leaf.

In a large bowl, combine the beef, eggs, bread crumbs, 1/2 cup of ketchup, the Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper and the cooled vegetables. Use your hands to mix everything together.Transfer the mixture to the center of the baking sheet and form into a loaf.

Coat the meat loaf with the remaining 1/2 cup ketchup.Bake for 1 to 1 1/2 hours (depending on the shape of your loaf), until the meat loaf is firm. Let set for about 5 minutes before slicing.


(Kelly) I would only bake it for about an hour. After 65 minutes mine was done, but I kept it in for the hour and a 1/2 just in case and I burned the outside of it (but it still tasted good).

Easter

Our Easter weekend was great. Saturday we didn't do much of anything, but we dyed Easter eggs that night. Sunday the Easter bunny came to our home, then we went to church. After church we went out to Mom and Dad Clegg's for ham, funeral potatoes, salads, rolls, jello, and Mom made really good homemade chocolate Twinkies YUM! After dinner we all sang karaoke, I was embarrassed, so Sam said he would sing any song I chose for him, if I would sing. So I sang Billie Jean by Michael Jackson, and I made him sing Like a Virgin, by Madonna. And Ben sang Sugar Pie Honey Bunch, and another song by Duran Duran. Anyway, then we went to my Mom and Dad's home for Strawberry Shortcake, and an Easter egg hunt for the Grandsons. We had a nice weekend. Can I say again how nice it is for my parents to have a home for us to go to?

Ben singing karaoke.

The Harris girls. Liz, Mom, Summer, and Kelly (and Ethan, but he's not a girl).

Me and Liz...Kissy Kissy

Ethan eating his first Vegi, Carrots

Ryan and Dad dying Easter eggs.

Do not adjust your screen, our Easter eggs really were this ugly. The colors were not bright enough so Ben mixed colors, and we came out with Black, Puke Green, and Bright Blue

Ben laying on the floor with the kids. (I bet I didn't have to tell you that, you could have figured out).

The Big Move/Book Tag

My parents finally moved out of my sister's home. They moved to a home in Stansbury just past the Benson Grist Mill. I couldn't be happier. Now we can go to my Mom's for dinner on Sundays! My dad was working this weekend while we moved them, so we had Ben, Brant, Kit, Liz, Summer, Mom, Me, some of the awesome Elders quorum (we needed the men, us girls are wusses), and Ben's brother Sam, and his friend Craig help. Anyway, this is us taking a break for lunch at Taco Bell/Burger King in Lake point. Ethan was trying to drink dad's Pepsi (no, we didn't let him, we are mean, and just teased him).

Summer, Liz, Brant, Kit, Mom, Ben & Ethan. (I was taking the picture, and Ryan was at Grandma Linda's seeing the Easter Bunny (we thought he'd have way more fun over there then helping us).
Alright, Kai book tagged us. Here are Ryan's favorite books: The Stinky Cheese Man and other Fairly Stupid Tales, Curious George, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and Go Dog Go. He picked them all out, and said "mom, I love these". So now it is time for us to tag some other kids...so we tag: Mercedes, Eliza, Micah, Emily and Ava is a little young, but she can do it to if she wants. And anyone else who feels the urge to participate.

Games

Last week Ben, Ryan, Ethan and I went to the UofU basketball game. We had a lot of fun. Ethan LOVED it! There was so much to look at. This is a picture of Ryan and I with my pork salad before the game.

Ryan, Ethan, and I went to St. George with my Mom and Grandma last Thursday, Friday and Saturday for my brother Kit's baseball games. It was so nice to get out of the house and into the sunshine. We loved going to all the games and eating at my favorite places. Thanks to Ben for calling last minute to schedule the Bach Employee Unit down there...because all the hotels were booked.
Kit # 21 playing ball. We also saw his girlfriend Lynzie there supporting him also.
Mom and Baby Ethan getting warm after the sun was going down. Ethan loves being outside!
My two sweet boys. Ben was mad I got matching outfits...he said I'm such a mom. But I couldn't help myself.
Ryan with his Cheerios and water. We had a lot of fun. It was good to come back and see Dad, but it was depressing to come back to cooler weather. BRING ON THE SPRING!!

(Below) Ryan and Ethan. Every time Ryan
is with Ethan he wants me to take a picture
of them.















Ryan and I in front of an Elk (Ry was scared, so I had to hold him).



Grandma Linda and Baby Ethan on Sunday. It is so nice to have 9 o'clock church. We got a nap, and went out to Tooele!












Jake and Ben. We went with Jake and Shayla to Chili's for dinner. Has anyone had their Molten Chocolate Cake? It is SO good!

Ryan slapping his face at Chili's.

I feel like Ryan is getting so old. He was invited over to a friends house last night to play Wii with him. Does that mean I'm getting old?

So we love our calling as the librarians. With a baby it is actually perfect. We don't have to worry about the baby crying or cooing. And we get to meet a lot of people. Last week Ben had to fix the T.V. in the Relief Society room. He was so embarrassed trying to fix it in front of all the women. :-) I thought it was funny...there was no way I would have been able to do it. I barely know how to plug it in.