Science Museum

We've been so excited to have my sister's family visiting. We don't get to see them nearly often enough! Always on the lookout for cheap (free!) ways to entertain the kids, we ventured to the Monte L. Bean Science museum on BYU campus. The kids loved it!

Olivia and Emma loved the hunts that the museum provided.

Coleman had a great time too but didn't love "hanging" with the girls (Claire, Sophia, and Grace).

We all thought this butterfly (made up of hundreds of smaller butterflies and moths) was really neat.

The best part about this museum? It's in walking distance of the BYU Creamery outlet. We all enjoyed a cold scoop!

Coleman, Andrew, Josh, and Nathan

Sophia loved hers too!

First Cone

This cute little girl had her first taste of an ice cream cone the other day... of course she has had ice cream before, but when it's on top of a cone it's a whole different treat. Coleman shared his cone and taught her how to stick her tongue out and lick it.

She was so delighted--she would lick it and laugh for a few seconds before going back for more.

Her little laugh is so cute!



I have to admit, I feel the same way about ice cream.

100 Things I LOVE...

This is my 100th blog post! I thought it would be fun (at least for my own personal record) to list 100 things that I love. After reading some of my previous posts, you'll know that many of those things will be food related. I'll probably do a lot of plugs for various restaurants and TV shows too :).I'll start off with a new favorite, a great homemade ice cream recipe that came about by combining a few recipes that I couldn't decide between, and the result was amazing! It was so flavorful and creamy and had a really rich pink color with the right amount of frozen bits of berry. This recipe takes a little extra work, but it's worth it! This is for a 4 quart ice cream maker.

4 cups half & half
2 cups whipping cream
2 cups sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1 (24 oz.) container plain yogurt (I like Activa by Dannon because it's so smooth and creamy)
4 (6 oz.) containers fresh raspberries
1 (12 oz.) package frozen red raspberries

In a large bowl, mix half & half, cream, sugar, and vanilla with a wire whisk until the sugar is dissolved. Rinse the fresh raspberries and put in the blender with 1 cup of the cream mixture. Blend for 1 minute or until the raspberries are pulverized. Pour the raspberry mixture through a fine sieve with a bowl underneath to remove the raspberry seeds (be patient, it will be very thick and might need some stirring to get it through, but you'll be so glad to get rid of all those nasty seeds). Stir the raspberry juice/cream in with the remaining cream and add the yogurt. Stir in the frozen raspberries and pour the entire mixture into the ice cream maker tub. Follow your ice cream maker's directions for layering rock salt and ice and churn until it's thick and creamy.

Now... on to my favorite things... in no particular order at all:

1. Above mentioned homemade raspberry ice cream
2. Being married to Ryan
3. Being the mother of Liv and Cole
4. Coleman's goofy sense of humor
5. Olivia's sensitive and kind nature
6. Ryan's smile and the knowing looks we share
7. Spending time with family
8. New clothes and shoes
9. Frozen York peppermint patties and Junior Mints
10. Going to lunch with Grandma Cole
11. Frozen Thin Mints (Girl Scout Cookies)
12. Grandma Wirthlin's caramel apples in the fall
13. Going to the cabin in Midway and pushing kids on the swing there
14. Fresh flowers
15. Newly painted rooms
16. Clearance rack at Old Navy
17. H&M
18. Great Harvest oatmeal chocolate chip cookies
19. Wheat bread, hot out of the oven (homemade raspberry jam is a bonus!)
20. Cinnamon and sugar toast
21. Book Club
22. Long, hot baths
23. Showers (baby showers, bridal showers) and parties
24. Cafe Rio pork salad with black beans, hold the cilantro and pico de gallo
25. Lemonade (the real stuff, not from the powder)
26. San Diego Wild Animal Park
27. The beach
28. Having a tan (I know it's very unhealthy, so I've been trying so hard to be good about sunscreen, but I just feel better when I have some color)
29. Pedicures
30. Foot Rubs (Ryan gives the best)
31. Flip flops
32. Clearance at Target (clothes, home decor, household goods, etc)
33. Roberts' 40% off coupon
34. My paper cutter
35. My new tape gun (makes paper crafting a breeze)
36. Reading blogs--of people I know and don't know
37. My laptop (when it doesn't crash/freeze, which isn't nearly as often since Ryan has rebuilt it four times!)
38. Gift certificates (I said in a previous post that I don't like to give them as gifts, but I LOVE to receive them!)
39. Date night
40. The Temple
41. The Book of Mormon
42. The feeling after teaching a great Relief Society lesson
43. Costco
44. General Conference
45. Ryan's Frozen Berry Lemonades
46. Sour peaches and sour apples
47. Sincere smiles and compliments (from me and for me)
48. Being in Primary
49. Cheese empanadas and completos (hot dogs with diced tomatoes and avocadoes) both Chilean specialties
50. Good friends
51. Fox TV: Arrested Development, House MD, So You Think You Can Dance, American Idol, 24
52. NBC TV: The Office, Medium, Heroes
53. Music videos
54. Sting
55. U2
56. Dark Chocolate--Haagen Daaz bars and Dove chocolates (especially their little messages, like one that I got said "Chocolate, the gift that loves you back")
57. Meltaway cookies
58. Caramel popcorn
59. Japanese Pan Noodles from Noodles & Co.
60. Honey Seared Chicken from Pei Wei or PF Changs
61. Handmade cards
62. Photos (especially pics of my kids and pics taken by Ryan)
63. Home decor
64. Real Simple magazine
65. A good book--the kind that makes me want to put of everything else so I can find out what happens
66. Hand me downs and great yard sale finds
67. Comfortable shoes
68. Travel
69. Hot chocolate (I love my Cocoa-Latte machine!)
70. Bear Lake with Ryan's family
71. Talking on the phone with my sisters and friends
72. Tickling, giving zerbits (sp?) to the kids, and dog piles with Liv and Cole
73. Creating something new or improving something old
74. Chocolate dipped strawberries or pretzels
75. Disneyland
76. Christmas cards
77. The smell of clean kids
78. Girls Nights Out
79. Making a "To Do" list
80. Crossing things off of my "To Do" list
81. Email
82. Grilled pineapple
83. A great new hairstyle (right now, I'm in desperate need of one.. .any suggestions?)
84. ABC TV: Lost, Eli Stone, Pushing Daisies, Ugly Betty
85. USA TV: 4400, The Closer, Psych
86. Soft-serve chocolate ice cream
87. A clean house (I have yet to achieve it, but when I do, I'm sure I'll love it!)
88. Outlet stores
89. Exercising (at least when I'm finished with it)
90. Being right
91. Cookie dough and cake batter and brownie batter (even though it's bad to eat because of salmonella... I don't usually let my kids eat it, but I can't get enough)
92. Key Lime Pie (Mike's Pies in Tampa, FL or Costco for something a little closer to home)
93. Paris with my dad and sisters
94. Drixoral (how I miss this never-fail allergy med that is no longer being made/sold in the US.. I have yet to find a suitable replacement)
95. Good mail
96. Thunderstorms and the smell of rain
97. Family Gatherings at Granddad's, especially after General Conference
98. Having everything in it's place (and having a place for everything... still a work in progress)
99. Battlestar Galactica (new series on SciFi channel)
100. Blogging! Even if it doesn't enrich YOUR life, I am glad to have a record of the things that are happening in my life. I recently read in a news magazine that many psychiatrists recommend blogging to their patients as a way to cope with life. It's especially effective because you have a built in audience and it can be anonymous (I threw anonymity out the door with the creation of this blog, though). So if you made it this far, thanks for being my audience.

**Do we share any favorite things?
**Do you agree that I love a ridiculous amount of TV and treats?
**Do you think blogging is therapeutic?