Some Randomness

So Lizzy is already getting on my case because it's been a whole 4 days since I posted. Glad to see she's keeping up with her job duties as a pesky little sister. Hehehe!! :) Anyway, I thought I just post about some random thoughts I've had lately...

Fall
I think I am ready for fall, though I like the word Autumn so much better. I wasn't ready a week ago. I was praying that summer would hold on just a little longer as I tried to think of everything I had wanted us to do, but didn't. Particularly camping. I really want to take Ethan out for his first overnight camping experience. I guess we still have time... if the weather holds out. And also a nice, healthy glow to my skin. It's pretty sad when you don't have to worry about getting sunburned because your pasty, white skin is stuck inside at work all day. I had high hopes for having to nurse my lobster red arms, shoulders and back to a nice shade of bronze but alas, that never worked out for me. But anyway, something clicked and now I am ready. The leaves changing colors (I vow to go out with my camera and capture this beautiful time of the year - and maybe get some family pics too), the spicy aroma from baking pumpkin bread, our annual trip to the farm for pumpkins... I love it all!! And have you seen little kids' clothes for fall?!? Hello, cuteness! Whoever said dressing little boys was not fun must've been trying to do it in the Spring - it's hard to compete with all those darling Easter dresses for girls. But in the fall... love, love, love little boys in fall colors and lots of layers. Long-sleeve tee under a short-sleeve tee and a vest paired with some jeans or cords... ADORABLE!! Yeah, Ethan pretty much could be a Gap model (but with a cheaper Old Navy last year's fall clearance wardrobe)!

Tomatoes
I told you this was a random post. I'm not sure how I'm going to go back to buying tomatoes (other than grape tomatoes) from the grocery store. We have been dining on the rich, luscious redness of our garden-fresh tomatoes and there is a HUGE taste difference. I just can't get over how much better they are. No comparison. And now the season is ending and I am dreading going back to the blandness of tomatoes picked while they were still green and ripened in-transport. Yuck.

Ethan quotes
With the July Recap post I added some of Ethan's most recent and common phrases. Well, there are some new ones and some that I missed and the other night he said one of them and I thought, "Oh! That's one I forgot... I need to remember that for the August Recap." and then I forgot it again. So the other night I thought I'd try going straight to the source and asked Ethan what some of his cute phrases are..."Poo!" he said.. Toddler boys. [imagine me shaking my head, sighing and rolling my eyes as you read that]

Eternal Families
One of our long-time employees at work had his last day on Monday. He came in to say goodbye and we chatted a little about our futures. He has one daughter (grown and married and living out-of-state) and we talked a little about how Sean and I are hoping he will get a good job so I can be a stay-at-home mom to Ethan. And we both agreed how important it is to raise children - how it's one of the greatest joys and challenges and, really, your most important job. And then he said something that I didn't quite follow or make sense of until after he left. Going along with the importance of raising your children, he made the point that it is because we are just borrowing these children... they are just on loan to us and this life is all we have with them so we need to do our best to help them learn and grow. And I understood what he meant. But at the same time realized how blessed I am to know that because Sean and I were sealed together, our children are sealed to us and if we "keep the commandments and endure to the end" [D&C 14:7] we will have an eternal family. Kinda makes you all happy and warm and tingly inside, doesn't it? :)

Moving/Jobs
Nope, no plans to do this yet. Still waiting for the job offer. Anxious to find out and get this show on the road! Will we be moving at all? How soon? Before Christmas?? Next year?? Am I close to finally being a stay-at-home mom? That will be WeiRd. I've been working and/or going to school full-time since I was 17. It's a very different thought that I could wake up in the morning and have nowhere to be but right at home with our little guy. But here's the debate... If we are going to move, but not anytime too soon, do I hold off until after the new year when my 3 weeks (instead of just 2) paid vacation kicks in?!?

And thus concludes my random thoughts. Stay tuned for the August Recap post, ie more randomness but with pictures!!

UP!

Last night we took Ethan to see his first movie in a movie theater (well, post-infancy that is!). We really tried to hype it up before we left: new movie, big screen, popcorn, etc. Tory and Lizzy came with us too. We went to go see...
What a great movie! We laughed, we cried and all decided it deserved two thumbs up! And Ethan did very well. He sat in his own seat most of the time and LOVED munching on popcorn. In fact, while the popcorn bag was still fairly full, he would stick his face down into the bag and eat the popcorn that way. Silly kid. He especially liked the balloons, the dog (Dug) and the kid and "his grandpa".I especially liked the beginning and seeing Mr. Fredricksen's history - what a sweet story! And then the ending got to me too. Adventure is in the journey. Southworth family recommendation: Go see this movie!!

Ethan's New 'Do

For church on Sunday, Ethan sported a new hair 'do - little spikes in the front. Not too bad, pretty cute actually. And he received lots of compliments on it.

Now for the story behind this updated look of his...

Roughly 5 minutes before we were to leave for church I was in the bathroom finishing getting ready while Ethan sat on the bathroom floor playing and examining the contents of a cupboard below the sink. I noticed a couple times that he was rubbing his eyes, but didn't pay too much attention because it was just about nap-time (oh the joys of afternoon church with a toddler!) and I figured he was getting tired.

Then, just as I'm finishing up (about 2 minutes before we're supposed to leave) I tell Ethan it's time to pick up and get his shoes on and go.
And then I look down...
And I see it...
The reason why he'd been "rubbing his eyes"...

THIS!!


He had been digging his little toddler fingers into our tub of petroleum jelly and smearing it all over his face and up through his hair.
Gross.
I admit it. I yelled. But only a little.
Actually, I think I just yelled, "Are you kidding me?!" and then I was pretty much over it and trying to decide in a matter of seconds whether or not it was bad enough to warrant stripping him of his tie, dress shirt, under shirt and khakis to throw him in the tub for a quick shower. I decided against it and just rubbed his face dry with a towel, got what I could out of his hair and then mixed the remaining goop with a little water so I could run my fingers through his hair and spike it up like we had meant for his hair to be like that today! Thank goodness he's a boy and can get away with stuff like that!

This new 'do got such a positive response, though, that I'm wondering if we shouldn't just mix in a couple of spiky-hair days every once in a while.
Using hair gel, of course.

Job Situation Update

Or as Tory would say... "Where are we at with the j-o-bizzle?"So here's the latest:

• Sean had an interview with the Woodburn school district last Thursday for a teaching assistant position working with special needs kids at the high school. The interview went well and they especially liked all of his experience with special needs kids (ranging from high-functioning to non-verbal, very low-functioning students). It also didn't hurt that the job was within the performing arts section of the high school and Sean just happened to attend a performing arts high school. Hopefully we hear back from this one soon as it is likely he would start by Monday of next week when the students come back.
• Tomorrow he has an interview with Willamette ESD - another school district in the Salem area.
• Several other school district jobs (most as teaching assistants with special needs kids) he applied for just closed or will be closing soon. With those type of jobs (that have a closing date) you don't hear anything from them until after the closing date.
• His unemployment comp has officially kicked in. Hallelujah! This will help fill in the gaps for the time being. He didn't qualify for any in June due to a mandatory week-long waiting period and then the fact that he was back at work all of July. So we had to have another mandatory week-long waiting period and now he'll start getting his weekly compensation. Hopefully this will not be necessary for long.
• To answer the Salem question I'm sure is on everyone's minds. Yes. If Sean gets a job in that area, it is very likely we will move if we can also get an assistant apartment managing position. So if you hear of any in the area, let us know!!

That's about it. Hopefully we'll have more answers soon!

Biff paj and Fri-jos

Biff paj: Sour cream pastry turnover filled with sautéed ground beef, shredded red potatoes, onions and Tillamook cheddar cheese.
Fri-jo: Yeast-raised deep fried Swedish pastry, rolled in cinnamon and sugar.Yep, we ate BOTH of those items at this year's annual Scandinavian Festival!
Friday night we picked up Lizzy and then met up with our good friends Tim and Danae (and their cute little boy, Sam) to take to the downtown streets of Junction City, enjoy the people-watching, dancing, various craft booths and, of course, the tasty food. Tim, Sean and I opted for the Swedish meat pies while Danae went with a corn dog and french fries. Yeah, we made fun of her too!! ;) Who picks fair food when you're surrounded by Danish, Swedish and Norwegian goodness?! We also snacked on some Danish shaved ice (so much better than sno-cones) while Tim and Danae had Tippaleipa, aka Finnish Funnel Cake.

We stayed long enough to see the evening processional of dancers, which is led by vikings, and also ran in to Christine and her friend. They had opted to eat Frikadeller, Rarakor and Rod Kale - a Danish dish translated to chicken patty, lacy fried potatoes and sweet and sour cabbage. Very good.By about 9:30pm we decided it was about time to head out, but our little party wasn't over! So Tim and Danae met us back at our house where we put the kids to bed (Sam slept in our pack-n-play) and then played a round of Ticket to Ride!! Of course, we didn't get started until almost 11pm so it was about midnight by the time we wrapped things up. Oh yeah, we're a couple of real party animals!!

Here are some pictures from the rest of the night (I need to steal one of Danae's family shots too)...

Well Saturday night we ended up going back to the Festival. A lady in our ward was in a musical group that was performing that night so Sean convinced Tory to go with him while I went to Jenni Jolley's wedding reception and then we met up later after I bummed a ride with Christine and Lizzy. First stop: Lizzy at the climbing wall. Nice bum shots, wouldn't you say?

She made it almost all the way to the top... twice!And this is just us being silly with our "blue steel" looks!

We also couldn't resist one last treat for the road (which we inhaled Monday night) - a

Vandbakkelser: chocolate glazed cream puff filled with vanilla creame.

The fam in front of the famous red Scandinavian dala horse.

Summer evening daddy/son moment

Location: Backyard patio

Date: Summer '09

The catch: A grasshopper

Daddy/son moment on random summer evening... priceless.

Garden Veggie Spaghetti

This recipe is sooo, sooo good and sooo easy! I've adapted it over the years from just "broccoli spaghetti" using that dry parmesan stuff in the green can (blech!) to the garden veggie pasta delight that it is today! Just to give credit where credit is due, this originates from Betty Crocker's Working Woman's Cookbook.

What you need:
* Pasta - 10oz to 1lb... I usually just eyeball it or throw in a whole box of the desired shape, it also depends on how many you're cooking for.
[note: spaghetti, fettuccine, linguine, bowtie all work great and tube-shaped pasta would be my last choice because I don't think it holds everything together very well.]
* Veggies - broccoli florets, zucchini, squash and halved grape tomatoes are all good (especially in the summer when these veggies are super fresh and yummy... I usually do at least the broccoli and tomatoes for a nice pop of color against the paleness of the pasta)
* 1/4 cup butter or margarine (less if you're trying to be healthy... olive oil could also be used, but I've never tried it)
* 1/4 cup (or so) lemon juice (adds great flavor... I'm sure fresh squeezed would be even better, but I always just use the bottled stuff in my fridge)
*About 1 cup Shredded or Grated parmesan cheese or a combo of shredded italian cheeses like asiago, romano, etc. (this is really a texture thing... the shredded melts a little more into the hot pasta - either is good and I usually buy those tubs of pre-shredded in the deli section)
* Pepper to taste (1/4+ tsp. or so)
* Fresh chopped italian parsley, basil or oregano if desired (this sorta fancies it up... using the fresh herbage and all)

So here's the deal, this all goes together super quick so be ready!
1. In a large pot, get your water boiling for the pasta and be sure to generously salt it.
2. Meanwhile, wash and chop your fresh veggies so they're ready to go.
3. Add your pasta to the boiling water and cook to package directions.
4. About half-way through the pasta cooking time blanch your veggies in another, smaller pot of boiling salted water - except for the tomatoes.
5. Cook pasta to al dente and drain well. Return to pan and immediately add the butter to the hot pasta.
6. When butter is melted, add 1/2 of the cheese, pepper and fresh herbs and thoroughly toss.
7. Add veggies, lemon juice and remaining cheese and toss to combine.
8. Serve right away and be sure to scoop up any veggies that have fallen to the bottom of the pan.
Note: this also goes great will some grilled lemon/herb chicken.

Bon appetit!

Oh, to be a BOY!!

Recently I read this on a shirt I saw on strawberrypearl studios (which I linked to from my favorite food blog, Our Best Bites)...

boy (noun): dirt that wiggles
This is so true of our little Ethan!
This summer he has discovered a love for the great outdoors!
We have been loving our backyard ever since we took that one Saturday to really clean it up: lots of weeding, planting a garden and some flowers, mowing the lawn, clearing the patio, etc. etc. Ethan just loves to be outside, especially when we let him dig and play in the dirt. He has his favorite dump truck that he likes to fill up with all sorts of rocks, pinecones and other "treasures".The other night he went to town collecting all of his treasures and pushing his dump truck all around the yard. It wasn't until a little later that I realized just how dirty he was! Oh, to be so carefree!
I even got a little video of him... thought the grandparents would get a kick out of it!



Anyone else's little boys (or girls!) like to play in the dirt so much??

July Recap

Holy moly, what a jam-packed month!! I'm not even sure where to begin, so in no particular order here is our month of July in a nutshell...

* A visit from Kermit.
Sean spotted this little fella in our house late one Sunday night just before bed. He was hopping around our dining room! Sean caught him and built a make-shift home for him for the night because we knew Ethan would want to see it (you do weird stuff like that when you have kids). We're pretty sure it was a Pacific Tree Frog and we set him free the following evening. A couple weeks later I spotted him (or one of his brothers) keeping cool in the shade of our cucumber plant.

* Lizzy donates to Locks of Love.

Before.

10+ inches later.

* Tengans (my aunt/uncle/cousins) visit from Utah over 4th of July weekend. Spend part of the 4th with them for our annual BBQ. Have cousins game night on Sunday to play Clue and hang out. Big family get-together for dinner at Hometown Buffet on Monday and then my cousin Niki and I finally got a "girls night out" their last night. We went to go see...
I love a good Sandra Bullock romantic comedy!

* Speaking of movies, Sean and I's date-night-movie-of-the-month was Harry Potter. I have now officially seen every movie for every HP book I have read. Yes, still need to read the final and at this point would like to start over and re-read the entire series before I even think about starting the seventh book. There's just too much I have forgetten over the years.
Anyway, it was a good movie... though I missed the "epic" battle at the end. Compared to the book, the ending was pretty low-key.

* Chocolate chip cookies and pancakes. Kinda random, but I have some cute pictures...
I made chocolate chip cookies one Sunday morning before church and Ethan decided to be my little helper at the end. He stirred in the chocolate chips and then did a taste-test for me.
And then, personally, I was pretty impressed with my mickey mouse pancake. Thank you very much!

* Ethan lovin' him some watermelon. He's already eaten most of one by himself and I've got another one on the counter that needs to be sliced. But don't try cutting it into cubes and giving it to him... he prefers to eat his slices straight from the rind!

This is the remains after a typical lunchtime watermelon binge!

* Garden Update: We enjoyed 2 huge cucumbers from our garden toward the end of the month and have tomatoes and even more cucumbers ripening up for August. Yum, yum - can't wait! Our jalapeno pepper is also sloooowly coming in.

* Christine's 21st Birthday on July 6th!

* Tory gets his mission call to.... Paraguay! He reports to the MTC in November.
* Some current Ethan phrases we love to hear:
"Yeah, take a look!"
"That's Ethan's cucumber." (when in our garden)
"You look nice, mommy!" (a personal favorite)
"How come?"(ok, this one is actually pretty annoying)
"Captain Ethan!" (when wearing his Capt. Hook hat from Disneyland)

I think everything else I have pretty much already covered...
* 4th of July celebrations
* Girls Camp for me the last week of July
* Our anniversary (though we technically haven't really celebrated, so I still need to post once we get our date night)
* Mt. Pisgah hike