california cousins

Sheldon's brother and his family came up for a visit this month. Kalon had some work he needed to do up here in Orem, so luckily the whole fam decided to come along. We had tons of fun hanging out with the kids, Tucker always loves having other kids to play with. We went to the park, the aquarium, McDonald's :), and even swimming. It was a very fun-filled week, except for the part where Andrew got the flu and had to be quarantined for a few days.

Andrew showed Tucker how to climb in the Sandbox, or the 'beach' as Andrew liked to call it.

Soon everyone was climbing in the Sandbox.

I guess we usually just let Tucker play in the shallow end of the pool where he can walk around, I was so surprised that he could hang on to a floaty and swim around by himself. It was the cutest thing and he was so good at kicking! Swimming lessons next summer! Growing up, I was in swimming lessons every summer since I was 4 all the way up until I was probably 12. I consider myself a pretty good swimmer, although I never did perfect those dolphin kicks. My kids are going to carry on the tradition of swimming lessons.

We're so glad the Shmills came to visit! We hope to see them again soon!

It's a. . .

I kept it a secret as long as I could, but most people probably know that Sheldon and I are expecting another baby! The baby is due on February 10th, so I am about 20 weeks along, which means that we got to find out the gender last week! It's definitely a girl! Luckily, even though she was flipping all over the place in the ultrasound, the nurse was able to get a very clear shot. The nurse doing the ultrasound was pretty funny, she said you can tell if babies are cute or not in the womb and ours was definitely cute. Score! We're excited for our next little baby. Oh, and definitely have no idea on names yet.

Her hand was always up by her face, so it's not a totally clear shot of her profile.

Sweet Friday

I found this recipe in the September issue of Martha Stewart Living. It looked so delicious and it was gluten free I had to try it. It is definitely a winner, everybody liked it, my mom loved it and some of the neighbors we shared it with came back for seconds. I highly encourage everyone to try it and it is actually not too difficult. There are a few steps, but none of them are very difficult.

Blackberry Cloud Cake with Pistachios

Makes one 10-inch cake; serves 8

Ingredients

3 containers (6 ounces each) blackberries (about 4 1/3 cups)

1 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar

Vegetable oil cooking spray, for parchment

8 large egg whites, room temperature

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1 tablespoon white-wine vinegar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups cold heavy cream

1/4 cup confectioners' sugar, plus more for dusting

1/2 cup shelled salted pistachios, chopped*

Directions

1. Toss 2 containers blackberries (about 3 cups) with 2 tablespoons granulated sugar; let stand for at least 2 hours, tossing occasionally, until berries release juices. Refrigerate until ready to use.
2. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line a 10-by-15-inch rimmed baking sheet with parchment; coat with cooking spray. Whisk egg whites with a mixer on medium speed until soft peaks form, 2 to 3 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar. Raise speed to high, and whisk until stiff peaks form, about 5 minutes. Whisk in cornstarch, vinegar, and vanilla. Spread meringue evenly into sheet pan. Bake, rotating halfway through, until puffed and top is pale gold, 20 to 22 minutes. Let cool in sheet pan on a wire rack.
3. Puree remaining container blackberries (about 1 1/3 cups) in a food processor, and strain through a fine sieve; discard solids. Whisk cream and confectioners' sugar until soft peaks form. Add 1/3 cup puree, and whisk until stiff peaks form.
4. Run a knife along edge of cake to release. Generously dust top with confectioners' sugar, and top with another piece of parchment. Flip cake, and peel off original parchment. Working with shorter end of cake facing you, spread cream on cake, leaving a 1-inch border at bottom and a 2-inch border at top. Tightly roll cake into a 10-inch log, starting with bottom edge and using parchment as a guide. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Trim edges of cake, and slice. Serve topped with reserved berries and sprinkled with pistachios.

*Pistachios are optional if you don't like nuts. I liked the salty crunch it added to the dish, but it's still good without the pistachios.

Sheldon's California Trip

The very last weekend in August Sheldon went down to surprise his brother on his 30Th birthday. All of us would have liked to have gone, but now that Tucker is 2 we have to buy him a plane ticket, which is a little too expensive and we just didn't have the time to drive. So just Sheldon got to go down, but luckily my Mom and my sister were in town visiting me so I wasn't alone and going crazy. I made Sheldon promise to take lots of pictures and he definitely came through on his promise. I think he took so many cute pictures. This is probably the most pictures I have ever posted that don't have Tucker in them, but they have Tucker's cousins Andrew and Sammy in them to make up for it. Luckily I didn't miss out on seeing everybody since they were able to come up to Utah last week.

I think this was the first night Sheldon when they surprised his brother. Sammy is definitely my favorite niece ( I can say that because she is my only niece) I love her quirky personality.

Andrew is turning 3 tomorrow! Happy Birthday Andrew!

They went to the beach one day, I can't give many details since I wasn't actually there. I think the water was too cold for them to go swimming in.

Sheldon told me this was an awesome park they went to and it looks pretty cool from the pictures.

The San Diego Zoo!

Brothers! Sheldon looks a lot taller than Kalon in this picture, but I think he must be wearing tall shoes or something. In real life I don't think he is that much taller than his brother.

Happy birthday Kalon! I wish Tucker and I could have celebrated with you!

He he, this is my favorite picture because of Andrew. It's not really that funny but it makes me laugh.

Timpanogos Cave

As I mentioned earlier, we tried to pack as much fun stuff into August as we could. We decided to go to Timpanogos Cave, which it had been years since Sheldon had been there and I have never been there even though I have spent most of life in Utah! It was a really pretty hike and not too hot since we went in the morning.

Tucker did pretty good in the backpack as long as we let him get out and walk for a little bit. Of course he got very distracted by all the rocks. Hiking with kids definitely teaches you patience.

Geology lesson for the day: Those curly looking rocks are called helictites and scientists haven't figured out what makes them curly like that. Timpanogos Cave has one of the largest collections of helictites in the world, FYI ;)

Tucker did pretty good in the caves, especially considering the tour is about an hour long. He held onto his little flashlight and only got a little crazy towards the end when he was ready to be able to run around.

It's been a while since Tucker fell asleep in his backpack, but he was so exhausted he fell asleep and his poor little head was bouncing around so much Sheldon had to flip the backpack around to hold his head.

Next up, Sheldon's trip to Cali!