Two Minutes Is Too Long...

Apparently. This is what happens when I leave the room for two minutes. I think Sarah taught him this one. I came back into the kitchen to find Lucas on the counter trying to open a pack of fruit snacks. He knew exactly what he wanted, where it was, and how to get it. Very cute, but a little too smart for his own good.

Farnsworth Girls

It's Girl Time in the Farnsworth household. We had fun on Sunday taking some pictures of just the girls. Sarah had a lot of fun making faces, and Audrey was mesmerized by the little orange light on the front of the camera. Here's how the cute Farnsworth girls look.

Is It Monday Yet?

This is the question of the day lately from Sarah. She is SO excited for her "Grandma Kafy" to come visit her, that she keeps asking, "Is it monday yet?" You see, after Jeff talked to Kathy about it, he told Sarah that Grandma was going to come visit soon. When Sarah asked, "Is she coming today?" Jeff must have told her that it won't be until a Monday because she keeps asking if it's Monday yet. A few days later, we found out that Aunt Emily and Uncle Todd will be able to come too, and Sarah can hardly contain herself. Grandparents always worry that their grandkids won't remember them if they don't see them very often, but Sarah definitely remembers her "Grandma Kafy." We all can't wait to see you guys!

Best Valentine's Gift EVER!

I've been waiting almost a week to post this. I finally got my Valentine's gift from the jeweler (it was being re-mounted). Jeff got me a pair of diamond earrings this year! Woo hoo! They are absolutely beautiful, and I'm so proud of my thoughtful husband. He said he wanted to make up for past holidays when he didn't do so well in the gift giving department, and he always wanted me to have a pair of round diamond earrings to go with my engagement ring. Now I do. Thank you Jeff. I love you.

Tag! You're "it"...

Okay, I change my tag. I want to tag Brooke, Amanda and Emily. And, of course anyone who really wants to do this. I'd love to hear about you all. (see next post for your assignment)

Tag! I'm "it"...

I have been tagged. (Thanks Nanci) I want to tag my sister, Brooke, so that maybe she'll start updating her blog! Anyone else is free to do this, too. I'd love to hear about you all.

10 Years Ago:
I was spending the last few months I was going to have in my favorite school: Auburn Riverside High School. Little did I know, in a short 9 months, I would be ripped away from my senior year to move almost 1,500 miles away to finish the last half of my last year in high school. I think I was probably diving for school at that time, or cheerleading... I can't remember which.

5 Things On My List Of Things To Do Today:
-Make sure Lucas keeps his clothes and diaper on for a full day... Guess that one will have to start tomorrow...
-Clean the house... again.
-Find a preschool for Sarah.
-Figure out how to successfully change my blog background.
-Paint my fingernails. (There are WAY more things on my "to-do" list. These are just five things, in no particular order, and not rated by degree of importance)

Things I Would Do If I Suddenly Became A Billionaire:
Buy a reasonable home.
Buy a new, very reliable family car.
Put some in an account so I can finally finish school.
Donate a bunch to charities.
Invest the rest so we are completely and comfortably financially secure.

3 Of My Bad Habits:
-I can never remember the name of a new person I meet after 20 seconds of conversation.
-I sleep too late in the mornings
-I don't plan my grocery shopping trips well enough to be able to try new dinner dishes.

Places I Have Lived:
There's not enough space on this blog, so I'll just list the states.
Washington
Utah
Georgia
Arizona
Ontario, Canada
And probably some I can't remember... I stopped counting the moves after #31

Previous Jobs:
Taco Bell
Bed Bath & Beyond
Taco Bell again
American Golf Skills - Administrative Assistant
DAUM Commercial Real Estate - Administrative Assistant
PlanetEDU - Telemarketer, although they insisted that's not what the position was
JC Penney - Floating Associate (Isn't that a cool title?), and Switchboard operater
Gymnastics Coach
Clint W. Smith, P.C. - Legal Assistant for bankruptcy cases
Domestic Engineer - Present job ;)

Things Most People Don’t Know About Me:
- I absolutely LOVED serving as a Director on the Laveen Community Council before we moved to Utah.
- I'm a total goofball
- Despite what my parents probably think, I never got into any real trouble as a teenager. (Never any drugs, drinking, smoking, sex, stealing, or any other serious offenses that most rebellious teenagers like to try.
- One of my goals in life is to write a book. It would be great to get it published, but at least to write one.
- I really wasn't all that into Jeff the first time I met him. Obviously, that quickly changed as he tried to get me to fall in love with his goofy, quirky personality. And it worked!
I'm really not that interesting of a person... sorry. Okay, Brooke. You're up!

Boys will be... boys?

Ever since they realized they could control their bodily functions (burping, passing gas, coughing, etc.), Alex and Lucas have found it nothing short of hilarious when they can audibly accomplish one of those functions for me or for each other. The other day, I volunteered Jeff to sing "I Need Thee Every Hour" in a men's chorus in Sacrament meeting. They sang today. It was an interesting spectacle to watch me alone with my four kids in the pew. Jeff had been holding Alex the entire meeting up until he had to go sing. As soon as Jeff walked away, Alex started whining. So, I had both boys squirming on my lap and Sarah trying to "play" with them and make them laugh during the entire song. Sarah was also trying to get us all to wave at Jeff. They weren't being too loud, but definitely moving around enough to be noticed. Just as the song ended, and everything fell quiet, Lucas let one out (passed gas, in case you didn't quite get that). It wasn't long, but it was LOUD. As soon as he did it, he immediately looked up at me with a huge smile and started laughing. I had to work really hard to suppress my laughter. But I was the only one. Sarah, Alex, Lucas and even the guy sitting in the pew behind us were holding nothing back. And to top it all off, I had the entire time it took all 8 men from the chorus to find their seats to try and shush my giggling family. So, I guess the title says it all, huh? Boys will be boys!

Best sugar cookies EVER!

These cut-out sugar cookies are SO good. They are so buttery and just melt in your mouth. They don't get all crunchy hard like other recipes I've tried. Seeing as Easter is coming up, I thought I'd share this really good recipe for all you baker-adventurers out there who might want to try these out.

8oz butter
1 C sugar
1 egg
3 1/2 T heavy cream
1 t vanilla
3 C all purpose flour
1/2 t salt
1 1/2 t baking powder

Cream sugar and butter until very light. Add egg, then cream and vanilla.

Sift together dry ingredients and mix into creamed mixture. Scrape bowl and mix until well incorporated. Divide in half, wrap in plastic wrap and chill until firm.

Roll out on floured board and cut into shapes. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet or parchment paper. Bake at 350 degrees for 7-10 minutes. Do not allow to brown. It is best when the edges are just a creamy color; not even a light tan.

*This dough can also be rolled into walnut-sized balls and flattened with a glass dipped in sugar, then baked as above if you don't have the time to let it chill (or don't want to wait - or don't want to make the mess on your counter)

I used milk instead of heavy cream this time because I didn't have any cream. They turned out just as well without it. Yum.

HAPPY BAKING!

This one's for you, Steph!

So, when I read Stephanie's blog about Chase pooping in his room and fingerpainting with it, I thought to myself, "Wow, I'm so glad I haven't had to deal with anything like that yet." Well, as they say, as soon as you say it, it's going to happen. Sure enough, when Jeff got home from work yesterday, he went upstairs to get the boys up from their nap. As soon as he cracked open the door, he could smell something was wrong. As he opened the door, he noticed Lucas' naked, poopy bottom sticking up in the air. He was asleep. As he examined the room, he found Alex in the corner, covered in poop. He was also asleep. He discovered that it must have been the closet where the poop party started. It was the dirtiest. They must have locked themselves in for a while, because there was poop covering the doorknob as if they had tried for a little bit to open the door. (They've been working on their door opening skills lately) Eventually, they got out and fell asleep all poopy on the floor. It was pretty gross. Apparently, Lucas got his pants AND diaper off at some point during their "nap" time and pooped on the floor because the diaper I had just put on before putting them to bed was dry.

Now, before you all go labelling me as a bad mom who didn't check on her kids while they were napping, let me clarify: That particular day, I had put them in their room a little early so they could play with the blow up slide they got for Christmas without having Sarah there to bother them. I heard them playing and laughing for quite a while before it fell quiet. Usually, at naptime, they will play for anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour before they actually fall asleep. Most days, they lie down in bed to sleep. Naturally, when it fell quiet this time, I assumed they had fallen asleep...not locked themselves in the closet. Since it was Valentine's Day, I was pretty busy getting dinner ready during their nap, so I didn't go upstairs to check this time.

They are both no worse for the wear, and they even got a fun bath out of the whole situation. It was their own little way of saying "Happy Valentine's Day, Mama!" Being that this is a pretty gross story, you'll understand that I'm not posting a picture.

Valentine's Card

Jeff said all he wanted for Valentine's Day this year was a nice dinner (roast, but not beef) and a homemade card. Well, I bought a pork roast and plan on making that for him tomorrow, and here's the homemade card. It's cheesy, I know. But I thought it was a cute idea. The dots all through the middle of it is Sarah's contribution. Happy Valentine's Day!

Just HAD to share...

What parent doesn't use their child's middle name when they are being stern with them? Well, Sarah's middle name is Elizabeth, thus we say "Sarah Elizabeth!" when we are trying to "guide" her actions. Today, Sarah wanted me to help her do something, and I wasn't coming right away. I was in the garage looking for something and Sarah kept saying, "Please, mom?" I kept saying, "Just a minute, honey." She finally got fed up with waiting and said, "Mama Elizabeth! Come here right now!"

Valentine Girls

Sarah and Audrey looked absolutely adorable for church the Sunday before Valentine's Day.


Audrey wore a pink ribbon...



And Sarah wore red.



When we got home, Audrey worked on her sitting skills (She is so proud that she didn't fall on her face this time!)...



And Sarah worked on her spinning skills...



...but she almost landed on her rear end.


It seems the girls like to be girly girls. Sarah loves her full dresses so she can spin around and make her dress fly in the air, and Audrey seems to love to grab her dresses and put them in her mouth. Whatever the reasons, they sure look beautiful. Happy Valentine's Day!

Wintery Dinosaur Park

We loaded up and went to the Ogden Eccles Dinosaur Park today because it was only 44 degrees out. What's that? "That's cold!" you say? No... it's been in the teens and twenties for the last two months, and today was a balmy 44! It really didn't feel all that cold, despite the 2 feet of snow on the ground, and the 5 feet of excess piled up on either side of our driveway. The kids all loved the time outside, and Alex and Lucas enjoyed splashing the melting slush around. They all thoroughly enjoyed watching the Mama Triceratops defending her two babies from the approaching Tyrannosaurus Rex in the moving display on the upper level of the museum. They liked seeing all the snow piled up on the dinosaurs outside, and were sad that the playground was covered up to the seats of the benches with snow, and that the Terradactyl slide was covered and thus un-slideable. But everyone had a great time and Jeff and I learned a lot about dinosaur history. For instance, the Tyrannosaurus Rex and the Allosaur lived more than 100 million years apart from each other, yet they were strikingly similar in size, behavior and structure. Allosaur, by the way, means Different Lizard from the Greek word Allo (different) and Saur or Saurus (Lizard). Also, there is a newer species of dinosaur that was recently discovered in Utah called the Titanosaurus. It is a fairly large long necked dinosaur similar to the Bracheosaurus and the Brontasaurus. There is much more to learn there, and Sarah especially likes to go and learn the names of all the dinosaurs she has at home. Here are some fun pictures from the trip.

Game Time

It's the cutest thing in the world. Or at least in our house right now. Jeff and Sarah are playing a game on the Wii. Wii Sports. They are playing one of the bowling games, and Sarah is actually doing BETTER than Jeff! She plays with the controller like a pro. She is definitely a smart one and loves to play her "games." She also loves her father-daughter time when Jeff comes home from work every night.

NEVER again...

Of course, that's what I said 3 1/2 months ago...the last time I went out by myself with all 4 of my lovely little children. Yesterday, I got up and turned on the TV to watch the news while I fed everyone breakfast. During one of the commercial breaks, a Mervyn's commercial came on advertising a huge clearance "blowout" where if you buy one clearance item, you can get two additional clearance items free. You know me...I'm a sucker for a great deal. That alone was motivation enough for me to pack up all my little ones, the diaper bag, double stroller and baby carrier in the Durango, drive out of our nearly blocked by snow driveway and head to the mall for some bargain hunting. We got to the mall, and found the perfect parking space: right in the front with a loading area on one side of the car. I packed up Alex and Lucas in the double stroller, Audrey on my chest in the baby carrier, and Sarah walked along side the stroller as we searched the clearance sections of the store trying to find some things that were the right size and a suitable fit for my family. As usual, we got lots of stares and glances and comments of amazement that I had twins, and how cute they are, and then the awe that followed that indeed they were all mine. I found some nice things, and got 11 items, including 3 pairs of shoes, 5 shirts, a turtleneck, pair of pants, and a dress/sweater/shoe combination for only $12 and some change. Well, 3 1/2 hours later, we arrived back home, exhausted from our one stop shopping trip. The boys took a nap, Audrey ate lunch and promptly fell asleep, and even Sarah wanted to sleep. (of course, she got too distracted by other things to actually take a nap). It so wasn't worth all the effort. It makes me appreciate the times I can get Jeff to go to the store with me, or to stay home with all or most of the kids while I can sneak away for a few hours by myself to grab some much needed "alone" time. Here's to all you moms who cart kids around to lots of activities on a daily basis.

Day of Love

Does anyone else just really love Valentine's Day? I really do. I never get a spectacular gift, or have the perfect evening, but I always look forward to Valentine's Day. I don't need a reason to tell Jeff I love him, but it's nice to have a day that is dedicated to one of the things that keep the world alive. I can't wait to spend all day reminding the ones I love of how much they all mean to me.

Reunited

Yay! Jeff is on his way home right now. He's coming back from Alabama today, and I can't wait! He should be home around 5pm. Sarah is so excited that it's Friday finally. (That's when Jeff told her that he'd be coming back.) Your family sure loves you Jeff.