Happy Birthday Pepper!!

Our Puppy is 1 year old today!!! Awww... look how she's grown!

Labor Day Weekend Project-1

Friday night, after we put the kids to bed, Justin went to Home De Pot to get supplies for the quarter round for the front room, hallway and kids room! He'd been gone for about an hour when I got a text from him... that said...

"There is a White Unicorn in our driveway!"

Not really knowing what to expect, I came outside and could not stop laughing after seeing this...

Justin... you are one funny guy, thanks for always making me laugh!

Justin, (below) painting quarter round to match base trim in the house...

then he measured and cut, and nailed it all down... and I took the pictures!

Yippy!! Go Me!!

Before picture of base boards with out quarter round:

(please disregard all dust and dirt... and children finger prints...etc.)

J, displaying his super suburban handyman skills...

After pictures the finished base boards with quarter round... Picture really doesn't do any justice... but it makes a huge difference when looking at it in person! sorry, the picture is not really straight... my head was on crooked...

Corner... finished. Nice work, Honey!!

We still have to do a little more touch up work... like fill in nail holes and touch up paint! Justin's still working on the a/c vent things... we'll post pictures of that when they are done!

It's exciting to be able to check one more thing off our 'To Do' list!!

YoU haVe Got To TrY ThiS!!!

Ever wonder what Extreme Karaoke looks like??
Panda: performing Defying Gravity-from Wicked! Caitlin was NOT a fan of mommy's singing...

How To Play, U Ask?

Needed:

1. A (charged) iPod with endless tunage...

2. Anyone willing to make a complete fool of themselves!

Simply pick a song on the iPod, stick the earphones in, and crank up the volume so you can't hear yourself... and start singing!

It's simple. You sing. We laugh!

For Example:

A Red-Necked, Pretty Princess, Pre-Schooler?

RED-NECK?

This was Caitlin last Saturday... (umm, yes she dressed herself...) and I have NO idea how she got those boots... they were up high in a closet...(i don't even want to know!) but... i gota say... it's pretty cute... maybe she's been taking notes from Uncle Kevin's art work... on "how to be a red-neck..." Fine by me, as long as it's ONLY on Saturdays! That's your free day Caitles... and here she is... sipping on my free day splurge!

PRETTY PRINCESS?

Here's Caitlin on Sunday, with a new dress... a cute shop went out of business... so this was MORE than half off... (Thanks Yung for grabbing it for us!) What a great find. I didn't think it would fit her already because it's a 4T... but it fit's pretty good! She cleans up pretty nice huh?

Look how long her hair is getting!! (LOVE the bow, AMY... nice job!) PRE-SCHOOLER!!!????

Wow, J... our little baby is actually old enough to go to pre-school...? This is pretty exciting... she had a blast... loves her teacher, and her new friends... it's fun to hear her talk about it!

Survived first day!! "School is Cool!"

This is SO funny!

I do post other things besides food...

It would be wonderful if someone would come up with a way that i can 'think' of a post... and then suddenly...(Poof!) it just appears on my blog. Wow... I'd be pretty rich if I could stick that in a bottle and sell it... but since that is 'crazy talk' talken... a week later (and my lack of super powers...) I'm actually sitting down to my computer to blog what i did last week... here we go...

Number 1...

House Project... "Bye Bye 70's Brady Bunch Astro turf... that makes me want to break out my kids mini golf club set and start putting..."

Wow, it's such an improvement... Way to go J-Dawg... (PS... What a stud... back off, he's mine!)

N-E-WAY... you can't really see what that porch looks like in this picture... (My bad, just showing off my trophy husband!)... but you get the idea... I'll take a few more pics when this week's project is done... (coming soon!)

Here's the before pic...

Number 2...

We went to visit my Grandma for her 98th Birthday!!! We had a wonderful visit with her... she's so cute, and was THRILLED to see us!

(I love Caitlin, it's always a production with her! Will, showing off his better side again?)

Mom, These are the Flowers I picked up for Grandma... aren't they BEAUTIFUL?? She was happy that she'll be able to plant them!

Me and my dear Grandma!!

Will wanted Great Grandma to hold his 'Wall-e' toy... he showed her how his head comes off!

The kids went off to 'explore' Grandma's yard... they LOVED running around her little house... they did about 5 or 6 laps... and then suddenly they didn't come back... so Justin went after them... Here he found them swinging on Grandma and Grandpa's swing!!

Caitlin was determined to get into every nook on the property! thought this was so cute!

Number 3...

Next up, we went to Little Trevor's 1st birthday party!! It was SO great to see my cousins THAT I LOVE SO MUCH and really should see more often!! (This is mostly for my out-of-state family!)

(Above) Trevor eating his birthday cake... Heidi in White on his left... Daron on right in brown!

Kathy, Alea, Hannah sitting on the bench...

(Below)Here's Hannah and Abby watching Trevor eat his birthday cake... I honestly didn't recognize ANY of them... they are just growing WAY too fast! Justin and i were wondering if we had the right park... because when we showed up... we couldn't "see" any of my family.

(Below)Here's Kathy! (can you believe how much she's grown!!!) behind her to the Right is Alea... she fell off the swings last week and broke her collar bone!! so she's all wrapped up... (Clink and Sara are in the background too!)

I should have done better with getting more pictures of everyone... Like Jen, Devon and Grace where there... i should have gotten pictures of them... but i was too busy holding Grace... she's SO cute... and a MINI-DEVON, so smiley and sweet!! :)

Well that was last week... Oh we also helped cleaned the church Saturday morning with the kids... (that was fun!) and got Justin's Bike!! Fun Crazy weekend :)

TUESDAY! Caitlin starts Pre-School!

Ooey-Gooey Brownies... ahhh Heaven.

Ooey- Gooey Brownies

1 (13.7 oz) package fat-free fudge brownie mix (such as No Pudge!)
1 (6 oz) container vanilla low-fat yogurt
1/3 cup light butter, softened
1 t. Vanilla extract
½ t. fat-free milk
1 cup powdered sugar
½ cup semisweet chocolate chips, melted

1. preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. prepare brownie mix according to package directions, using yogurt. Spread batter into a foil-lined 8-inch square baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 28 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely in pan on wire rack.

3. place butter, vanilla, and milk in a medium bowl, and beat with a mixer at medium speed until smooth and creamy. Add powdered sugar, beating at low speed 1 minute or until spreading consistency. Gradually add melted chocolate, beating until smooth. Spread frosting evenly over brownies. Remove brownies from pan by lifting the foil. Cut into 16 squares.

Blenders are not just for Smoothies anymore...

Don't know what to do with those extra tomatoes from your garden??

Dude, make someone in your house/neighborhood super happy by mixing up this super 'yumm-o' recipe I got from my buddy Jodee... I think it tastes much better when she makes it... Humm...maybe she has that extra special 'touch'... (But let me tell you... there's nothing like watching super exciting-action-packed episode of 24, and when you can fast forward the commercials while using Tivo, and chowing down on Jodee's homemade Salsa... life just doesn't get any better than that!!!

Try it out, let me know what you think... I think the salsa is also better the next day after you make it... gives it time to marinate!

{BTW:Check out these gorgeous tomatoes from my garden! Waahh-hoooo! Tomatoes are such 'people please-ers'... they make anyone feel like they are seriously domestic and good at gardening...I mean LOOK at what I grew!}

Homemade Salsa
Recipe from the Kitchen of Jodee Egbert

Ingredients:

SAUCE BASE:
1 (28-oz.) can Whole Tomatoes*
1 Tablespoon Garlic Salt
3 teaspoon ground Cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground Oregano
1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne/red pepper
1 Tablespoon canned diced jalapeños
Dash sugar to taste

ADD-INS:
5-6 Diced Green Onions
1/3 c. Diced cilantro
1 – 1 ½ T. diced green chilies
3-4 Roma Tomatoes Cubed*

Instructions:

1. Open can of whole tomatoes and using lid, poor tomato juice** in blender.
2. Add other ingredients from sauce base. (Do not add the ADD-INS yet.)
3. Blend ingredients from sauce base on low to medium for 10 to 20 seconds until well blended.
4. Add the ADD-INS and whole tomatoes left in the can to the sauce base in the blender and blend on low until tomatoes reach the consistency desired. Less time for chunky, more for saucy.
Caution: Do not over-blend the ADD-INS.
5. Let sit overnight for better flavor.

* About 10-12 medium sized tomatoes

**If you are using fresh tomatoes... Cut tomatoes in half, and with your hands: squeeze the juice from ALL the tomatoes, reserving only about 1/2 cup of the juice... If you've never done this before... it can be a very liberating experience! place the juice in blender and continue with step 2 of the instructions! (if you don't juice all the tomatoes, the salsa will be really watery!)

(Think "Brady Bunch"): Here's a story, of a one car family!!

After a little bit of talk (we’d discussed it multiple times), we finally made some big changes in the lifestyle of our household. Here’s the Cliff’s Notes version:

1. We sold our Mazda

2. Justin bought a bus pass and a bike

3. It works!

I put the Mazda on craigslist and kslcars.com at 5:00 p.m. on a Tuesday evening, I had an e-mail a few hours later from a mother who brought her daughter to my office Wednesday morning at 9:30, and by 10:00 it was unofficially sold! They wanted dad to buy off on it, and he was expected home from a business trip that evening… the next day, I was taking the bus home!

So, to our Mazda now residing at Utah State University, thank you for 5 1/2 dutiful years, for helping me survive a rear-end collission, for only needing an alternator, a brake job or two and a couple of sets of tires! You were a good car for us.

So, I totally love taking public transport! I know that may sound goofy, but it’s darn true. Perhaps it is the element of structure that exists there… I have two chances each hour to catch a bus 50 yards from our front doorstep that will deliver me to the light rail train, which gets me to work in exactly 30 minutes. Or perhaps it’s the fact that people actually greet each other with, “Good morning!” Certainly, I smile because I know it’s saving us money, too.

With the proceeds from the sale of the Mazda-ratti, we were able to pay off what we owed on the Camry, so one payment GONE. Then we were able to discontinue the insurance, another huge savings. Of course, no more gas or oil changes for car #2, no annual registration, and the list goes on… Even accounting for a $67 monthly bus pass, we estimate our savings to be at least $400/month!

So yesterday, after lots of online looking and an afternoon of test riding Friday, I stopped in a bike shop in South Jordan on our way home from Utah County, and long-story short came out with my new ride! What an awesome bike it is… I even did a test ride down to the office (and rode the Trax back up ‘cuz I was exhausted) after getting it home.

In case you didn’t know, bikes have become so popular once again, each shop I visited told me the same thing about their ’09 models that just started hitting their shops: they’re 20% MORE expensive across the board! Ergo, my decision to nab the last ’08 of the model I wanted (last one in my size), was a simple one!

Anyhoo, it’s good to feel (and save) a little bit more green.

Private, Not Private?

Humph...

Our last minute decision to make our blog 'not private' was so spontaneous... (as was Justin's decision to make it private in the first place... or the whole blog for that matter...)

It all comes down to communication folks...

December 2007

J: Guess what?
A: What?
J: I made us a blog today!
A: you did? Oh, what's the address?
J: http://www.thecracrofts.blogspot.com/ Catchy, huh?
A: You used our last name? ohhh.

Last Month:

J: Guess what?
A: What?
J: I made our blog private today, there are a bunch of crazies running around out there...
A: Oh, I was wondering why I had to log in to view the blog today... Ok...

So, THE PROBLEM: We've found that we are much too popular to limit ourselves to only 100 viewers... (we'd have to start picking favorites... ) You know we could never decide between you all...

Last Night:

J: OK, I've had another request from someone who wants to be invited to our blog... who do we un-invite?

Well, it didn't exactly go down that way... we just decided it was better.... So, I'm going to do my best to keep "personals" to myself... and... I am going to have to use 'code' for everything...


For Example:


'Prudence' and 'Theodore' had a lovely time today at the zoo! We just can't get enough of the weather here in... 'Canada'... looking forward to our trip in October to the... 'Cayman Islands' where my family lives...

So, now my blog is not private BUT it will confuse the heck out of everyone who reads it and no one will be able to find us... not even myself!
Happy Bloggin' Y'all!

Yippee, a NEW camera!

Whaaw-Hooo! We got a new camera... and whoa, it's nice... we all took a turn getting our picture taken... LOVE IT!

Justin, laughing at a 'sand covered caitlin'...

Posing with the family dog... yeah... look at my garden in the background... love my tomato trees?Will, Nothing but boy... Dirt and Trains... :)

J. enjoying an after work strech on the grass...

"Twain!"

These next few pictures are of Caitlin modeling her 'bear' hair do, and her new $4.00 outfit from Sam's Club!

Caitlin REALLY wanted to take our picture with the new camera...

"NO WAY... you broke the last camera... you're not touching this one!"

but thanks for the good laugh...