July Recap

I'm hoping people aren't getting too sick of my monthly recaps, but I'm actually beginning to appreciate the recaps picking up on little things I may have missed... especially for journaling purposes.

* Date-night-movie-of-the-month… barely!: We got our movie night in on Friday, July 30th. And I’m not entirely sure it can really count as a date because my mom was with us! Well, not like we’re sitting in the back making out like a couple of teenagers – the point is, we were childless! So what did we go see?? The intense, high-action [and high body count] spy thriller:Yeah, holy intense! Sean is a lucky to have a woman who loves action movies!! Our ratio of action movies to romantic comedies is at least 3:1! And I totally guessed the “bad guy” in the beginning, though my mom had her doubts. Evelyn Salt is like a female Jason Bourne. Not sure who I’d put my money on in a fight, though. Anyway, it was good and there will totally be a sequel and did I mention it was intense?

* Afternoon w/ Maddy: Every once in a while, I do a baby-sitting trade with a family in our ward and I watch their youngest, Maddy. Ethan and Maddy are already good buddies and play well together most of the time. There’s usually at least one handful of sand thrown by Ethan and a smack to the arm from Maddy, but other than that, it’s all good! They had great fun with one of the boxes still left over from the move. And lunch-time was spent outside intermingled with tricycle rides and playing in the sandbox.Left: The kiddos enjoying some afternoon freezer pops. Maddy was ignoring my picture request! Right: Maddy giving Ethan a ride in the box.

* Strawberry cupcakes w/ “perfect” frosting:
Holy pain in the pa-tooty! I'm not sure these cupcakes are worth making again. They were good... had a very authentic strawberry flavor to them - due largely to the 1lb. of pureed strawberries mixed in the batter. But they had little rise to them and you have to add red food coloring to your batter otherwise you get gray cupcakes. And who wants to eat gray cupcakes?! The frosting is another story. Even though it took me FOUR attempts to do the first part of the process correctly, it is a recipe I will likely use again. You see, it starts with a basic white "sauce" of milk and flour cooked until just barely thick on the stovetop. Well, I overcooked it and messed it up three times [though I think my 1st attempt would've work ok, I was just too chicken to use it] before finally getting it right. After that, you just add a little softened butter, sugar [not powdered sugar] and vanilla and then whip the holy living heck out of it!! We're talking on high speed for 8-12 minutes!! But that's when the magic happens and makes this frosting light and fluffy. Get the frosting recipe here and cupcake recipe here.

* Elizabeth Kylinn is born!! My good friend, Danae, had her baby girl on July 27th. At 11:06am I got a text from Danae while Ethan and I were on our walk saying she'd had her epidural and was 6cm dilated... Ellie was born at 11:37am!! I got to go visit Danae and Ellie in the hospital Wednesday night - completely uninterrupted for almost an hour. I was in newborn-baby-holding heaven! This is a picture of Elisabeth holding Elizabeth. :)
* Events already covered or still to come:
- Utah trip [this is a 3-part post in the works!]
- 5th Anniversary date night
- Pioneer Day
- Weekend in Oregon
- Independence Day

* Random pictures:

Chilling and eating his snack. I just can't get over those long legs!

Ethan took this picture... Not too bad for first thing in the morning and no make-up!

Sunday evening naps. Ethan actually went straight to bed after this.

Ethan packed up the mini cooler one afternoon with all the essentials... pudding cups, apple, juice, ice packs and cars. Then he said he was off to Christine's birthday party!

Getting one more summer out of the baby pool. I love the contrast in his face between the top and bottom pictures!