The Taylor Times

I have been meaning to organize my pantry for months.  Many, many months (like 24+ months).  I had been stuffing and stacking things in the pantry for far too long and it was driving me crazy!  Every once in a while I'd hear something fall in the kitchen and when I opened the pantry door more things would fall out.  That is insane and I'm embarrassed that I let it get to this point. 

I had intentions of cleaning it out several times, but I wanted to add some shelves and I knew that it would be a bigger project than just cleaning it out.  When we moved in I was in love with this pantry because we had a sorry excuse for a pantry in our old rental.  The pantry was about 18 inches wide and had a heat vent that ran below it so it got really warm. 

Two weeks ago I finally had had it and I gave myself an ambitious goal to pull everything out, built shelves, paint and organize in two days.  Why two days?  Because I think that is the longest time I could go without having a chocolate peanut butter shake at the time and I told myself that I couldn't have another one until I organized the pantry.

I swear that it looked worse in person.  You can't see the many things stuffed in the back.

Here it is completely empty and newly painted.  The shelves are 17 inches apart and 14 inches deep

I added two half-shelves in the back. I love my new nail gun!

BEFORE

AFTER!  Here we are nice and organized!

Originally I had all white buckets, but I found these green buckets and I like how they add some color to the area.  If I was really daring, I would have used a colorful paint, but I used the free paint that was in the garage.  The paint smell is finally going away- blech!  Next time I'll buy some low-VOC paint.  I used it with my bathroom project and I couldn't smell the paint.  I think that I need to convert all of my painting projects to the new low-VOC paints. 

We have been able to keep the pantry looking this clean for two weeks now!  Hooray for an organized pantry!  That was one well deserved chocolate peanut butter shake!

Two weeks ago I took the boys up to Snowbird to see how everything looked when it wasn't covered with 4+ feet of snow and to ride the tram to the top of the mountain.  Unfortunately, the tram was closed for maintenance, so we weren't able to go to the top of the mountain.  We found a trail that had a beautiful view of the valley and enjoyed our visit in the cool mountains.  I noticed that there is a campground just before you get to Snowbird, so we stopped in there to talk with the management.  Tanner Flats campground is beautiful.  We were told that if we come anytime between Sunday and Wednesday night that the place is nearly empty and Thursday through Saturday night you need reservations or to come by 7 a.m. to get a spot.  I talked things over with Daniel and he said that he would watch Jane while I took the boys camping and then back up to Snowbird the next week. 

A different angle, but the same spot in May

This is roughly the same location as the last picture, it was hard to find the spot with all of the snow gone!

The look out view at the end of the trail.  Seth was our photographer because he didn't want to go close to the edge.

Our camping trip had all of the ingredients to be a disaster, but I found myself wanting to stay longer and truly enjoying our trip. 

The first disaster ingredient was that I got diarrhea as soon as we got up there.  Seriously?  I took some meds and a few hours later I was fine.   We got camp set up between my jaunts to the bathroom.  We had to buy a new tent because our old one had a broken zipper, a few holes in the bottom and a few seams coming apart.  (We bought it 12 years ago, so we feel like we got our money's worth out of it.)  The new tent is a Coleman Instant Tent and it was awesome!  It is designed so that the poles are attached to the tent and it sets up in 1 minute.  We timed ourselves and it was up and ready to be staked in 40 seconds.  No lie!  It was a big relief for me to not have to spend so much time and energy putting the tent up. 

The second thing to go wrong was while we were up at Snowbird.  We took the tram up the mountain and had a great time walking around, playing in some patches of snow and taking in the beauty of the world.  On the tram ride down, I got motion sick.  I did all I could do to not throw up, so once we were on solid ground, we left the tram station and I found a place to sit down.  Once I felt collected, I stood up and realized that Paul was not with us.  Seth and Mark didn't know where he was.  I did a quick scan around the area and then walked down to where I thought he might have wandered.  I couldn't find him anywhere.  After about 5 minutes of not seeing him, I contacted security. 

Snowbird's security team took good care of us and had us stay put where we last saw Paul while they looked for him.  I showed them a picture of Paul that I had just taken.  I wasn't worried until it had been over 15 minutes since we last saw Paul.  I started imagining the worst case senarios.  I imagined using the picture I had just taken of Paul to make posters to try and find him.  I told myself that he was just fine and gave myself 5 more minutes before I called Daniel to cry.  I was scared, but trying to act brave in front of Mark and Seth (who, by the way, were really good to sit and wait- they didn't complain or act out, which was greatly appreciated.)



20 minutes after I noticed Paul missing, the security team found him.  He couldn't see us, so he continued to walk out to the van.  We were parked quite a distance from where the trams are.  I was so relieved that we knew where Paul was.  I gave myself permission to let a few tears escape my eyes as we went to the parking lot to meet up with Paul.  Paul was relieved  to be together, but a bit embarrassed as well. 

Once we got back to our campsite, it was time to start dinner.  Mark wanted to start the fire, so I gave him the lighter, wood and some cardboard and let him have at it.  He couldn't get the logs to catch fire, so I gave it a go and I could not get the fire to start either.  So here enters disaster ingredient number 3 for the day.  No fire means no easy hotdog dinner.

I started looking for more kindling hoping that the logs would catch fire.  I found a bush next to our tent area that had some dead branches near the bottom, so I started to pull them out.  When I put my hands down near the bottom to scoop up a bunch of branches that broke off, my hands started to burn.  Congratulations!  We now have disaster ingredient number 4- stinging nettle!


We had worked on the fire for over 30 minutes, my nerves were still rattled from loosing Paul, I was hungry, I was frustrated and now my hands were burning and blistered because of the stinging nettle.  We put the meager fire out, got in the van and went back down to the valley to get some ointment for my hands.  We got dinner at Wendy's while we were there and bought some fire starter logs, charcoal and lighter fluid (and an extra canister of fuel for the camp stove because I didn't check how much we had at camp and I didn't want to run out while making breakfast!)

Back up at camp, we put the fire-starter log in and guess what?!  It didn't catch fire!  (disaster ingredient number 4.2?) No kidding!  I pulled out the charcoal and lighter fluid and MADE those logs start fire!  The charcoal was my last backup for fire.  They would make good coals for cooking marshmallows with if we had to. 

I will never leave you behind on a camping trip again.

Wah ha ha!  We have FIRE!  Fire fire fire!

The rest of the evening went really well.  We roasted marshmallows, Starbursts and Hot Tamales.  We were sugar laden and tired.  We played card games in the tent until we were ready to sleep.  The ointment I bought didn't do a blessed thing to stop the burning on my hands.  I didn't sleep much because my hands really hurt.  I was so glad that it was me and not one of the boys who discovered the stinging nettle, though.  The stinging/burning lessened but didn't go away for about 48 hours (and I tried every remedy I could find when we got home). 

The weather was perfect, the company was wonderful and the scenery was breathtaking.  By the next morning the frustrations of the next day (despite my burning hands) were forgotten.  We had a wonderful morning exploring the campground, throwing rocks in the river, and being silly.  We found an ampitheater that wasn't being used, so we put on little skits for each other and had a fun time. 

If our schedules had permitted it, I was willing to stay for another night.  Despite the recipe for disaster that we had, the disaster flopped and I had a wonderful experience spending time in the mountains with my boys.  If nothing else, I discovered what awesome kids I have.  They didn't complain about our disrupted dinner, they didn't cry or argue during our journey down to the valley to get dinner even though I know that they were hungry and tired.  We had a lot of fun.  They were great.  I love my boys! 

Check out the elevation!  11000 feet!

The view from our campsite.  The river was loud but it was beautiful!

I didn't know that I had been craving this food until I read the recipe and fell in love.  A wild, passionate, got to have it type craving.  Chocolate and peanut butter quite simply complete each other.  I knew that I could easily change it to be dairy-free.  I was thrilled that not only did I have all ingredients on hand to make this chocolate peanut butter shake, but that I always have these ingredients on hand. (that is a dangerous quality for something that has been quite addictive the past few days). 

This chocolate peanut butter shake is dairy-free, but doesn't use ice cream.  Yes, seriously- no ice cream.  I have found that the dairy-free ice creams out there are expensive and have weird tastes to them, but I eat them because I love and miss ice cream.  Lately, I have been reacting poorly to the dairy-free ice creams I think due to the types of sugars they use or the soy.

This recipe is ridiculously simple to make and uses only 5 ingredients.  Here it is in a rough estimation of how I make mine because I don't measure I just dump things in!  Don't worry- shakes and smoothies are very forgiving foods!  Just taste it and play around with it to make it how you like it.  Sometimes I put more cocoa powder in and sometimes more peanut butter (I found this recipe on Thursday and I have made it at least once a day since!).  You can use cow milk instead of the almond milk, but rice milk didn't work well.   Here is the skeleton:

Chocolate Peanut Butter Shake (Dairy-free)

about 2 cups of ice cubes
2-3 Tablespoons peanut butter
1 Tablespoon cocoa powder
2-3 Tablespoons sugar
1/2-3/4 cup almond milk (enough to cover about 1/2 of the ice)

Blend in the blender until the ice cubes are broken up and the mixture is smooth(ish).  You must have a blender that can handle ice well.  If you can make smoothies in it, it will work.  I use the 'ice cruncher' setting and then the 'liquify' setting. 

If I could eat bananas I would definitely shake things up a bit (get it?  SHAKE things up?  hahaha) and put 1/2 of a banana in it.  It would be really smooth and might even bring Elvis back to life just to try it!  (Did you know that Elvis liked chocolate-peanut butter-banana mixes?  Back in the day I went to a restaurant to get some pie.  It was Elvis' birthday, so they had a chocolate-peanut butter-banana pie to celebrate.  I was in heaven!  It was so delicious.  I was really disappointed that they only made it that one day.  Boo.  But now that I can't eat the banana part or the dairy part, I'm not so disappointed!)

This costs considerably less money than the ice cream version.

Daniel was really skeptical when I told him how I made it.  He tried it and then asked if there was any left in the blender for him.  Try it and let me know what you think. 

Paul is one decade old today! I am having a hard time accepting that he is 10 years old already!  Even though he has an August birthday, he had to go to school (only one more year of that and then he won't be on year-round) so to console him (he wasn't terribly upset) I checked him out of school and took him out to luch.  Daniel and Jane came with us and we had a lovely meal at Paul's choice of Carl's Jr. 

We celebrated his birthday with the family by going out to eat together (the last time we went out to eat was on Jane's birthday in May).  He decided on Cafe Rio- yummmmm!  When we got home he opened his presents and had brownies and icecream.  He wanted a bow and arrow set.  I didn't think about where to set it up for  him to use it.  Hopefully we will figure out a safe place for him to use it!

Paul is such a beautiful kid.  His big, blue eyes and dark, long eyelashes thrill me!  I always tell him that his wife will thank us for giving him such beautiful eyes!  He is growing up and it is exciting to get a glimps of what he will look like as a teenager.  I love this kid!  Happy birthday Paul!

One Day Old

1 Year Old

2 Years Old

3 Years Old

4 Years Old

5 Years Old

6 Years Old

7 Years Old

8 Years Old

9 Years Old

10 Years Old

Yesterday I realized that Jane is the same age that Mark was when Paul was born.  Yowzer!  I really wish that I had written in my journal when Mark was a baby.  I wish that I had been more diligent with writing about the little things that amazed me with my little babies.  I think that I was just on survival mode though.  I have far more free time now than I did with two little ones.  I started writing weekly emails (the beginning of Taylor Times) when Paul was about 3 months old, so I do have a lot of things recorded that I wouldn't remember now. 

That being said, I wanted to write down some of the things that Jane has been doing lately.

Jane has changed so much in the past few months.  Once she started to walk (run) we have been able to see another side of her personality.  It has been so much fun to see her discover things and to watch her explore.  One of my favorite things to do with kids this age is to go for a walk and let them be the guide.  They scatter about from one thing to the next and it is fun to see what catches their eye. 

Jane continues to amaze me with the things she does. She seems to enjoy patterns and routine.  When she wakes up from her nap, she will grab her binkie and have us hold her up to the shelf to put it away.  She knows to put the diaper in the garbage can after she is changed.  I didn't realize that she would put the diaper away until one day when I changed her clothes and diaper in the living room.  I normally change her in the bedroom, but she took off while I was getting her clothes ready.  I held up the diaper and said "Let's go put this in the garbage".  She took the diaper, and beelined it to her bedroom and put in the garbage.  We had just rearranged the bedroom a few days before so I was really surprised when she knew exactly where to put it.  (We had to rearrange her bedroom because she can reach the light switch from her crib and she discovered it!)

She loves to play with Legos.  She has been putting together little towers with the 1 inch Legos and loves it.  We have a little play kitchen that has a shape sorter.  When you put the little shapes in the hole, you can push a button to make them come out from the 'ice cube dispensor' part of the fridge.  Jane has been delighted with this since she was about 9 months old.  It is amazing to watch her awkwardly cram the little shapes into the hole with her chubby little hands and then push the button to make them come out. 

When she turns the light on in her bedroom, she will look up at the light and say "Mwa ha ha ha ha".  Okay, we have been teaching her to say that because her Uncle David taught the older boys to say it when he was living with us when they were a few years old.  It is just entertaining to see when she chooses to say it!

When we leave the pantry door open, Jane will get something to eat.  She has been really good about not making too big of a mess.  Usually she will grab a box of cereal or crackers, sit on the floor and eat.  She has been known to take the box of animal crackers downstairs with her and leave a Hanzel and Grettle-like trail to the basement.  I am so much calmer now than I was 11 years ago.  I think that it is cute and enjoy the moment instead of getting irritated.  I had her help clean up the 'trail' and she loved it! 

Jane with a box of cereal.  She sometimes gives us this silly smile that scrunches up her little face and it looks so funny!

I love to listen to her talk.  She will go on and on just jabbering away.  I really wish that I knew what she was trying to say.  It is seriously so much fun to listen to her.  She is so animated. 

Jane is really observant.  She has been helping the boys empty the dishwasher in the mornings.  She will grab things out of the dishwasher and put them away.  She knows where to put her bowls, the tupperware and the lids.  We were all taken back when she put things away, but she loves to be involved and to help out! 

Yesterday while I was eating my lunch, I had to blow on the rice because it was really hot.  I noticed that Jane was blowing everytime I would blow.  I had some rice on a fork ready to share with her and she blew on it before putting it into her mouth! 

It has just been me and Jane at home during the day (Daniel is home, but is working)and it has been strange.  I have been anticipating Seth to come home for lunch, but he is at school all day now.  (He has been loving 1st grade)  Jane has been a pretty good shopping companion, so I am glad for that!  I honestly don't remember having so much fun with a baby before.  I am so glad that I am able to stay home with my little Jane and watch her grow up!

I signed up for a block-of-the-month group with a local quilt shop in Riverton.  The way it works is that you buy the first kit of material for one block and if you bring the finished block to the next class, you get a new kit for the next block for free.  The last class was the weekend of the family camp out, so I had to go buy the new kit.  The lady at the quilt shop told me that they weren't able to get enough of the main fabric in, so we had to make the blocks again using a new main fabric.  Luckily this group started in May, so we only had two completed blocks when this happened.  We have been asked to return the other squares that we made to the store (but personally I'd love to keep them and put them on the back of the quilt)

I got home and started to cut the new fabric to remake the squares.  I'm not loving it.  I really like the original batik print, but I am learning to love the new batik.   Here is the original square with the 'replacement' square.

Original

New square- I wish it had more contrast like the first one

Side by side, I still like the first, but I don't mind the second.  I'm thinking about unpicking it and replacing the purple with green.  Or should I just let it be?

 I opened the kit for July's square and died.  The fabric choice is a bit uncomfortable for me.  They picked a peach batik to go with this and I'm afraid that it doesn't match well at all. 

I really like the new batik, I am adjusting to the change, but the peach?  Really?

A little trip to the fabric store revealed that they are going to add a lighter green in to help balance the peach.  Ewwww.  I haven't finished my June square because I made a wrong cut and I need to wait to buy some more fabric.  It is the mulit-color batik with emerald green and black.  It is really pretty.  I was rather discouraged that the peach was here to stay, so I bought some yellow/orange material and replaced the peach. 

Ahh... that is much better.  See the peach on the left- it just doesn't match the colorway of the rest of the quilt.

I feel really good about the change and I am glad that I have the confidence to change it around to be what I want.  I will use the yellow/orange for the peach and the emerald green for the light green. This is my first time to do a block-of-the-month group and it is a good challenge for me.  I am already making plans for piecing the back together with the scraps from the squares.

My beautiful niece Marci with Jane (my mom in the background).

Mark, Seth, Me and Paul

Seth climbing the rocks

Mark and Cooper

Klayre, Denise and Debbie

Wendy and Randy