Aunt Tessa

Travis' sister Tessa left two weeks ago for a mission. In Mormon culture, it's very common (and getting even more common) for men and women to take one and a half to two years and serve a mission trip when they're 18 or 19.
The age requirements were recently lowered, and it seems like every Mormon teenager we know is leaving home and heading out into the world to preach the gospel of Christ and serve the people of their assigned area.

When missionaries leave, they are assigned an area, often overseas, usually somewhere that they don't have friends or family. They're asked not to call home (except on special occasions, like Mother's Day or Christmas) but to email and write letters only, to help them devote their entire selves to serving others and ultimately serving Christ.

Travis served for two years in Argentina (and learned Spanish), but I never served, because the age requirement used to be that women couldn't go until they were 21 (now they can go at 19) and I got married at 20. Ah well. Travis and I will go together when our kids are grown up.

But now the boys have two aunts on missions!
It was nice to spend one last day with their Aunt Tessa before she left this month, even if we did just play "This little Piggy" for about an hour...

And I thought the picture below was so funny! Ever since Micah was three weeks old, he's loved snuggling with his Grandma Carol more than anyone else. He always lies his head on her shoulder and she scratches his back. Look at that goofy face of contentment!

A note: There are probably missionaries in your home town! If you see them walking down the street, go say hi, and if they knock on your door - invite them in for some lemonade. They literally spend 100% of their time trying to meet and help the people in their area.
If you live in Indiana or Georgia, you might even meet one of Travis' sisters. (You'll recognize them by their long legs and big smiles.)

If you'd like to learn more about Mormons, or meet with the missionaries, {Click here} for more information. (Even if you just have a few questions. I cannot emphasize enough how much missionaries love answering your questions.)

They climbin' in yo windows.

Yesterday we were robbed.
Okay. We were only robbed a little.
As you can see, I still have a computer to type from.

We were at a neighbor's house, a few blocks away. When we got home, I hurried through the house and put the boys down to nap, and then came back to sit at the computer and type up yesterday's blog post.
That's how I managed to avoid noticing my bedroom had been ransacked.
The boys room was untouched (leaving me to believe that the best place to hide valuables is in my children's room), and the living room where I sat was mostly untouched.
I did notice some things had been strewn about a little, but with two year old twins, I thought "Man, my kids are messy," and not "Someone snuck into my house and dumped out the contents of our church bag on to the floor."
Through our large front window, I saw our downstairs neighbors get home. A few minutes later Elizabeth came upstairs, and said, "I think we've been robbed."
Immediately, my heart started beating like crazy. But we haven't been robbed, I thought. I can see my Wii and laptop from here.  I've been typing at the desktop computer. 
And then I walked back to my bedroom.
And we had been robbed.

Our bedroom window was wide open, every drawer in two end tables, a dresser, and a sewing dresser were open and all our things were strewn across the room.
Elizabeth told me that most of their movies had been stolen, but the shelves of movies in our room were mostly untouched. (Luckily, foreign films, documentaries, and weird Indie movies don't get a lot at Pawn Shops.)
We were missing the boxset of the Harry Potter movies, but I didn't notice right away.
What I noticed was that the beautiful, priceless change bowl (hand carved for us in Kenya) was empty, but still there, and the iPad. The iPad was gone.
I called Travis, and then the Police.
Five minutes later, when I realized what the robber had taken that I loved, I finally started freaking out.
My camera.
MY CAMERA.

My most valued material possession.

Soon the Police were at our house, and they quickly pieced together what had happened. The burglar had gone in the Laurent's back door, and cleaned them out. Then ransacked the shed a little, gathering all our tools (and Tyler's underwater spear gun) into a bag (which he was thankfully forced to leave behind, along with our bike trailer, which he'd unattached from our bike, probably to load up with his goods).
Then he climbed on to our roof, and in the bedroom window. He'd ransacked the bedroom, and headed out towards the living room, at which point in time, he'd seen the boys and I get home from our play date through the same big windows I'd seen Elizabeth pull up to.
He escaped the way he came, running through the backyard and climbing over our fence into the alley, where he hopefully fell into a very prickly bush.
He actually left his own bike parked outside our house.
Luckily, the boys and I played in the front yard for a few minutes before heading into the house. Since the robber had by then stolen Tyler's underwater fishing knife, he could have been quite dangerous when cornered.

Part of me feels guilty for even being upset.
I mean, look at the families in Oklahoma who lost everything this week. Some of them even lost their children. Or look at the people who already have nothing, and thus nothing to steal.
My perfect children, however, we nestled snug in their beds and most of our material goods were safe and sound while the police stomped around dusting for prints.

I went into their room to watch the boys sleep, to be grateful and awed that I have them and they are safe.

And then I noticed that the lighting was just perfect, and I could grab the picture of them asleep in their beds that I'd been wanting all week.

I snuck out of their room to get my camera and then. 
I got really upset. 

How dare someone come into my home?
This place where my perfect children sleep safely.
This fortress and solitude from the grief and danger of the outside world has been breached by someone that thinks our hard-earned, and heart-held possessions are just theirs for the taking.
By someone who isn't even brave enough to come in the front door that I left unlocked, but slinks in the back window like a coward to destroy and defile my bedroom.
How dare they?

This is not nearly as bad as tornado, it's true, but a tornado that destroys and steals is an act of weather not an act of humanity.

A warning to anyone who comes in my home without my permission, with malice or ill intent:
Don't you freaking dare.
You will regret it.

That is all.

Tomato Basil Pasta

This pasta is cooked up in the length of time it takes to boil noodles (so like 20 minutes?) It is extremely easy and has very few ingredients. My kids love it, and it is a really fast, last-minute meal. Especially if you have a garden full of tomatoes and basil!
I started making it over a year ago based on a Jamie Oliver recipe, but it is quickly memorized and easily tweaked, and I'm not sure how much it resembles the original recipe now.

To Feed 4 (this recipe is really easily increased.)

1 carton cherry tomatoes
1 handful of basil, chopped
1 handful of freshly-grated parmesan
3-4 cloves garlic
butter and olive oil
1-3 tbls balsamic vinegar
noodles (I usually use and love bowtie noodles, but pictured here is linguine. It tastes good with everything, even broken up lasagna noodles!)

Start a large pot of salted water boiling, add the noodles, etc.

Meanwhile, Dice the garlic, and slice the cherry tomatos in half.
Sautee the garlic and tomatoes in a few tablespoons of olive oil and butter, combined (this makes everything taste dreamy.)

Splash in some vinegar, more or less depending on preference. This is what makes the meal so good, and I usually add 2-3 tbls. (I think. I mean, I don't measure, and neither should you. I will make you feel like a fancy chef if you don't measure.)

**Don't simmer your tomatoes and vinegar for a while to make it saucy.  I find it tastes best when it's cooked minimally. If your noodles aren't done yet, remove the tomato pan from heat and chop up your basil.

When the noodles are done, scoop them directly from the pot of water to the tomato pan. Don't pour in any of the starchy water that you boiled the noodles in, but as much as a quarter cup or so of water will probably come with your noodles, and that's okay. It will help the parmesan get a little saucy.
Pile the parmesan into your pot also, and toss everything a few times. Cook over medium heat for another few minutes, just to get everything combined.
Pull from the heat, and dump in all your basil.
Serve and enjoy.

**Another note: Unlike most herbs, the flavor of basil does not intensify with cooking or simmering, so add it at the very end after your pasta has been taken off the heat. I learned this the hard way.

Photo a Day: May 19-25

Happy Memorial Day! A year ago on Memorial Day is when I started doing photo a day, and I am so delighted that I've been able to do it for so long. I want to do it every day for the rest of my life, but that seems unlikely.
Nonetheless, taking a "good" (or pretty good) picture with my camera every single day for a year is a pretty great accomplishment, so I'll take it.
In fact, I should be getting a book of my photos from 2012 this week and I am really excited. I love having "Family Albums" on my "coffee table."
(Yes, I'm pretty sure all those things belong in quotation marks.)

I actually love all of the pictures this week, especially that last one of Grey. Framer! It looks like he's posing, but I happened to be taking a picture of him laughing at his brother, and he turned and looked at me, inviting me to share in the glee, just as I clicked my button. It was less than a fraction of a second.
And I snagged it.
Oh, I love my camera.
I love the ability to grab these little seconds, that I can hold to my heart years after they have passed.
I love my little boys.
And I love that little girl downstairs.
I kind of hate putting pictures of friends in our Photo a Day pictures, because some part of me is like, "But we're going to print these and keep them and in 30 years we'll look at it and go, 'Who's this? Why is her picture in here?'"
But you know what? We play with her every single day. She ought to be in here, because the pictures capture our day. And someday, even if we can't remember her name (though I suspect we will), at least we can see her cute picture and say, "Remember this little girl? You used to play with her from breakfast to bedtime almost every single day."
These pictures are preserving memories, and I want to remember the way these three kids absolutely adore each other.

That's all. That was a little soapbox speech, but it was only aimed at me.
Anyway, here are this weeks pictures. I hope you love them.

Sun May 19: Micah thinks it tickles to play airplanes and squirms and laughs like a crazy person. // Mon May 20: Driving home from Nevada. It was a long, miserable drive.

Tues May 21: Kisses for Aunt Tessa. She left the next day for a year and a half long mission to Atlanta, Georgia. We'll miss her! To find out what she's teaching and preaching, visit {here.}

 Wed May 22: Elanor and Grey. She's a pretty tight hugger. // Thurs May 23: Popsicles and heat. It must finally be summer!

Fri May 24: Our favorite, fast pasta. (Recipe up this week, I think.) // Sat May 25: Be still my beating heart.

Our first night with Toddler Beds

Well, I was half-way through editing all the pictures for this post when someone unplugged my computer and just... grr. I don't want to do it again right now, okay? I got stuff to do today.
Foremost on my list is the 45 minute drive to Provo to drop off cribs to my uncle and then play with his babies. Because, you read that right:
My kids are no longer in cribs.



Yesterday morning, as Travis and I lay in bed contemplating getting the boys out of their cribs, there came a little creak at the door. And into our room tiptoed two crazy-haired boys with gigantic, proud smiles on their little faces.
They had figured it out.
And at naptime they kept on having it figured out. They climbed out of their beds three times before I gave them a stern talking to (which may have included the word spanking) and then they stayed in their beds.
During that naptime, I figured I might as well spray paint the toddler bed that's been sitting in our shed, since it seemed like we were nearing the end of cribs.

At 5pm, I decided on a whim, to just take apart the cribs and put the boys in beds.
No plan. Just a screwdriver.

So I did that.
By 6pm, the boys' room was emptied of cribs and vacuumed and my kids were eating dinner on the couch watching "Woody Movie." (Which, FYI, is ToyStory 3)
About 1 minute after I triumphantly carried my two barely dried, freshly-painted toddler beds upstairs, I regretted disassembling the cribs. About 15 minutes later, when I could still not figure out how to build those freaking beds, my downstairs neighbors came to the rescue.
And somehow three adults were able to build two beds in only like... an hour and a half.
(They were ridiculously difficult to build.)

Micah was in full-blown tantrum mode, and didn't want jammies or a cup of milk, or anything to do with sleep and Grey was stupid with excitement.
He kept piling all the pillows on to his new bed, and climbing up, pretending to sleep, and then laughing hysterically and flailing around so all the pillows fell off.

Finally Micah was interested enough in his bed that he agreed to sit in it while we read bedtime stories.

We read stories and said a prayer, and I gave the boys kisses and milk and left, just like always.
I could hear them laughing, talking, and inevitably getting out of their beds, but I didn't mind too much.
They usually talk for 30 minutes to an hour before going to sleep anyway.
After about 15 minutes Micah started crying as though he were hurt, and assuming he had jumped off his new bed and crashed into something, I went in their room. They had piled all their bedding in between the two beds and were snuggling together. Micah was crying because Grey was lying on his leg.

"You need to get back in your beds right now," I said. "It's ni-night time."
"Mama, this mine bed," said Micah, motioning to the pile of pillows and blankets. (I mean, how cute is that?)

We moved all their bedding back, and I retucked the boys in. New kisses. New milk in their cups. A reminder to stay in their beds.

The second time they were pretty quiet, and after a half hour I was quite certain they'd fallen asleep. I even went outside to try to clean the cribs before bringing them back to my uncle.
Then from my open window I heard a little whimper. "Mama? Mama?"
The boys had left their room, trailing their snuggle blankies, and were looking for me.

We went back into their room.
"It is not okay to leave your rooms. You need to get in your beds," I told them. We piled up all their bedding together.
"If you get out of your beds again, I'm going to give you a spanking."
They've each only been spanked once. But man. They don't want to make it twice.
15 minutes later they were both asleep, sprawled out in their new beds.



In the middle of the night, Grey fell out of his bed, and cried a little. Travis helped him back to bed. But when I snuck in to peek at them at 7am, Grey was on the floor again.
They woke up at about 7:20am, and I could hear them playing and talking for ten minutes before there was a loud knock on their door.
"Mama? Daddy?"

They weren't supposed to come out, and they knew it.
But this morning, they were giddy with excitement from sleeping in their "big beds."
I guess we'll deal with naps today, and I'll let you know how things go over the next few weeks, but all in all, it was a very encouraging night to begin sleeping in beds.
My little boys.
They're practically all grown up.



*A note about spanking: I always feel it necessary to say: I don't beat my kids. I don't pull down their pants and throw them over my knee. I don't smack them with a wooden spoon. It's just a smart smack on their diaper-padded butts. And only if they've had many, many warnings or it's something like this.
I give them warnings, so they always know when they're doing something that might get them a spanking. They are smart enough to choose whether it's worth a spanking or not. 
That's all. 

**Another note, about their beds: We got the beds for about $30 each off Craigslist and KSL, and gave them each a coat of spray paint. They're mismatched and not really well-painted. But I like them.

My familia

It was so fun to see so much of our family last week! Here are some pictures from our trip to Nevada. I'll share some more tomorrow of all Travis' family here.

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday - Photo a Day

My Photo a Day is one of my favorite projects throughout the year. I never want to repost an entire year though.
But today I ordered a book of all our Photo-A-Day pictures from 2012. I didn't actually start until May, so the beginning isn't as complete as the rest of the book. But here you go.

A picture of our day. Every day. 2012

Click here to view this photo book larger

Click here to create your own Shutterfly photo book.

Photo a Day: May 12-18

We're here! We spent all day yesterday driving but finally we're home! I love all the pictures of our family from this week. We saw Travis' family this week for a wedding, and my family for a baptism. Hurray for family!

Sun May 12: Happy Mother's Day to me! The best picture I could get of both the boys and me. // Mon May 13: Grey and Micah are silly willy.

Tues May 14: Travis' Dad and Grandpa with the boys. Four generations of tall, skinny handsome Pitcher boys.

Wed May 15: Two pictures from our visit on Temple Square. I couldn't choose a favorite, since the one of Micah crying is hilarious, and I love the one of our little family in front of the temple.

Thurs May 16: My brother Jack and my sister Kathryn and I. We made it to Nevada. // Fri May 17: Grey loves swinging!

Sat May 18: My cute parents and my sister Kathryn before her baptism this weekend.

Happy Friday!

These two ridiculous children would like to wish you a happy weekend.

In case you're wondering what's happening in these extremely silly pictures:
The boys woke up early in the morning and put on their swimsuits. Without letting me comb their hair in any way, they ran outside and filled a bucket with water.
Micah then dunked the top of his head in the water and then patted it down.
So the top of his head is a soggy old man's combover and the back is a crazy rat's nest of bedhead.

They sat down together and started laughing and giggling.
"Can you make a goofy face?" I asked.
This glorious mess was my reward.

Oh, these goofy boys.
They are my favorite and my best.

On the road again

I am seriously lucky that my husband appreciates my need to see my mother at least every other month. 

Because once again, we have loaded up in the car, left well before the crack of dawn, and are now on our way to Nevada! 

Okay, can someone clarify: Do some children SLEEP in cars? 

Are there children that you can move from one sleeping-location to another without waking? 

We snuck into the boys' room this morning three hours before their normal wake up time. We moved them, without even a whisper, through a dark house to a warm car. They were each given a sippy cup of milk, and we left in a dark, noiseless hustle. 

So WHY are my children in the back seat occasionally shouting, "Truck! Choo-choo! Bus, Mama! BUS!" 

No, dang it! Sleep! We have a nine hour drive ahead of us, lets start it off with a good four hours of driving before you wake up and want breakfast! 

Oh! The boys just figured out where we're going and started chanting "Grandpa! Grandpa!" In the back seat. 

They're pretty much in love with all their grandparents.

(Which is another good excuse to have visits every other month.) 

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday - Baby Birds

Sun Babies

I grew up loving the winter, and day dreaming of spending cozy snuggly winters with my future family. We'd do things like pop corn over the fire, and read aloud together whilst snuggled up in homemade quilts, and drink cocoa and eat hot cookies fresh out of the oven while the snow fell down around our little cabin in the woods.

I seriously thought that's how winter with my future children would be.

I did not imagine that winter would be the time of puking-every-week and slipping on the ice whilst holding two children, and being unable to leave the house due to the freezing cold- forcing us to watch ridiculous amounts of television every day.
Although, to be fair, we did eat a lot of homemade cookies this winter.



But it turns out that my ambivalent feelings towards summertime weather were unfounded. Summertime, simply put, is the best time of the year with children.
We have hardly watched any television in the last three weeks. We haven't been sick. (Nope. I forgot, Grey did throw up yesterday and the boys both had double ear infections a week ago...)
We spend all of our time outside. Running around with friends. Eating all our meals as backyard picnics. Singing with the windows down in the car. Putting the boys to bed when it's still light out!
The boys get so worn out from being in the hot sunshine that they take a four hour nap and still sleep for 12 hours at night! The buzzing of the fans in their room lulls them to sleep and drowns out all the noise in the rest of the house.



The only down-side that I've found is that the mud and popsicles create a sticky grime and my children need to be bathed constantly.
Since this can be done just as effectively (and with much more delight) by either the hose or the rain, baths are no big deal, and since I try to keep my kids shirtless as much as possible, even the popsicle/mud laundry isn't overwhelming.

Hello, summertime. You are welcome to stay as long as you please.



Seriously. I love looking through these pictures from last summer.