restaurant review

Ten points to Grandma for watching the little one tonight so McKay and I could have a {much needed} date night. We tried out a new restaurant downtown, called Faustina. Two thumbs way up!

The rosemary foccacia bread with olive oil and balsamic was delish. And the appetizer - olives, cheeses and meats - mmmmm mmmm! My entree was decent, though I'll be choosing something other than the ultra-fish-dish next time {don't get me wrong, I love sea food, just not in the right mood}. The dessert, vanilla bean creme brulee, topped off the meal perfectly. We'll definitely be going back!

The next time you're on the look out for a special meal and great service, head down to Broadway street and give Faustina a try.   

{weekend sundries}

- kick off your weekend with this article on mormon mommy blogs {featured on salon.com}. Peruse the hyperlinks and infuse your blog curriculum with some fun and fresh hipster bloggers.

- spending your Valentine's day with a geek? {lego earbuds, geekstuff4u.com}

- new best blogging tool ever. How hard is it to get pictures right on blogger? FotoFlexer.com is the discovery of the day {thanks to Monta and Wendy!}

- can you believe Angry Birds? If you haven't played this game - on a smartphone or otherwise - you're missing out on one of the hottest hits of 2010. Anyway, I thought these iPhone covers were fun, and just reaffirmed the world's obsession with these feisty little fowl.

- just discovered this website. eye candy from A-Z

picture this

Last night McKay's mom was over for a bit with Jack and wanted to get some pictures of her with her two grandkids. As you can see, Harper was not in the mood for a photo shoot. 

She's sure a cute little grump!

Fortunately, a couple weeks ago she was in a great mood for photos and I was able to capture some fun little gems.

On a final note, Harper rolled over today from her tummy to her back - hooray! She's only done it once but she's been getting so strong and wiggly that I think it's only a matter of time til she's cruising! I'm also seeing early teething signs from her - what? Drool city, sucking her bottom lip, her hands, frozen pacifiers, and being generally more fussy during the day. I think I'll look into some teething tablets or something. Any tips from veteran moms?

pineapple glazed chicken

I've made this recipe twice now, and it is so delicious (+ easy and inexpensive) that I had to share it.

Pineapple Glazed Chicken with Jalapeno Salsa

ingredients

• 1/4 cup pineapple juice
• 2 tablespoons (packed) brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon yellow mustard
• 3/4 cup 1/4-inch cubes fresh pineapple
• 3 tablespoons finely diced red bell pepper
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 1/2 tablespoons finely chopped red onion
• 1 1/2 tablespoons canned sliced jalapeño chiles, drained, coarsely chopped
• 4 boneless chicken breasts

preparation

Preheat oven to 400°F. Bring pineapple juice, brown sugar, and mustard to boil in small saucepan, stirring to dissolve sugar. Boil until glaze has thickened slightly, about 1 minute. Season with salt and pepper.

Mix pineapple, red pepper, cilantro, onion, and chiles in medium bowl. Season with salt and pepper.

Line baking sheet with foil. Place chicken on sheet and brush with glaze. Bake 15 minutes. Brush again with glaze, then broil until cooked through and golden, watching closely to avoid burning, about 5 minutes longer. Let rest 5 minutes.

Spoon salsa over chicken and serve.

Sadly, I didn't think to take a picture of my own cooking tonight, so the one I yanked from epicurious.com will have to do. 

I haven't measured the salsa ingredients either time I've made it and it has turned out great. Just eyeball the onions, peppers, etc. The ingredients are so great together that you almost can't go wrong. This last time I did a bit of red, yellow and orange bell pepper to make it colorful and exciting! Fresh pineapple makes it so juicy and delicious. I double the sugar/juice mixture and add what's left of it (after the basting) to the salsa. Mmmm mmmm! Grab a couple chicken breasts out of the freezer and give this one a go- you won't be disappointed! And if your'e like us, you'll gobble up the remaining salsa with tortilla chips and may suffer from pineapple-overload-stingy-tongue. Worth it. 

the Harper post

Harper is peacefully snoozing on me right now, which gives me the perfect opportunity to blog.

To start with, here's what Harper is up to at eleven weeks old:

-smiling lots, with the occasional laugh. She has about 45-minutes of alert, awake time right after she eats (or wakes up from a nap) where we play and interact. She smiles and makes eye contact and babbles a bit. When we're lucky, we can get a little laugh out of her. Here's a little clip of one of her first laughs:

(because I was holding the phone and trying to get her to laugh, it's not the best filming job, but you get the idea!)

-sleeping from about 10pm-5am on average. I'm so grateful she's gotten a night routine down so quickly! I'm still waiting for her to take good naps in her crib, but when it comes to night time, she loves going to bed! I nurse her around 9 or 9:30 and then put her down. She goes to sleep without a fuss, sucking on her fingers (melts my heart!) She wakes up around 4 or 5am, eats, and then goes right back down for another three hours or so. It's really nice having some time with McKay before bed, knowing she'll be happily asleep for most of the night. 

-growing! At her 2 month appointment she weighed in at 14.1 lbs (97th percentile) and was 24 1/4 inches long (95th percentile). Her head is measuring in the 50th percentile, which means she'll probably end up in the 50th percentile after a year or two of growing and adjusting. She's a chunk and we love her chubby cheeks, big round belly and leg rolls. She gives us a good workout, too - she just loves being held and carted around the house!

-her head/neck control is getting better and better and I don't think we are too far away from some tummy to back rolling. We think she's just great!

blessing

Yesterday was a wonderful day. We blessed Harper and had lots of family and friends to share our special day with. After church was over we enjoyed a delicious mexican meal at our house. We had shredded chicken, pork, or beef tacos - with all the fixins - and tasty cheese cake and peppermint brownie desserts (thanks to the sisters-in-law). Here are some photos from the big day:

I love Harper's annoyed face in this picture!

The men

close-up of our little sweetheart

Harper with Grandma Monta - the beautiful dressmaker!

Harper loves the attention from Abbie and little Lira

Thomas Twenty-Ten Highlights

Harper has sure kept me busy today. It's been one of those I-get-why-showers-are-like-gold-to-moms mornings. But at last, I am dressed, dinner is in the crock pot, the kitchen is clean and one load of laundry made it from the washer to the dryer. Harper is snoozing in her Baby K'tan (a godsend!). With Modern Family on and a diet coke by my side, it's blogging time!

I just love celebrating a new year and looking back on the past one. 2010 was definitely the most eventful year of our lives thus far! To recap the adventures, here's a monthly look at the biggest and best of 2010.

January: New Year, New York

We rang in the  new year in Times Square! 

I planned a big secret birthday/Christmas trip for McKay and me last year. I kept it a secret from August to Christmas night! My parents made up a fake trip to Oregon to get us to "drop them off" at the airport. When we got there and got out their luggage (which was really ours that had been secretly packed and planted in the trunk earlier that day) I whipped out our tickets from SLC to JFK and officially won the best surprise gift ever contest! McKay was blown away and we had the most amazing time together. It was my first trip to NYC and I fell in love with the big apple.

February: Homeowners, and soon-to-be-parents  

This was one of the biggest - despite being the shortest - months of the year. We bought a house, moved in, and found out we were expecting our first baby. Wow!

March: Play time

Thanks to some  generous family members we became the grateful owners of a baby grand piano this month. Watching the two burley men haul the thing upstairs was quite a spectacle!

April: Pomp and Circumstance

This was another very important month - I graduated!!!! After five years of full time schooling, I got my Bachelors of Arts degree from BYU. It was an incredible experience that I wouldn't trade . . . and I'm so glad to be done with!

May: Here comes the bride

McKay's baby sister, Rachel got married this month. The wedding and reception went beautifully and the happy couple took off to Paris . . . Texas where they spent the next 8 months doing an internship.

June: It's a girl!

We celebrated our first anniversary this month, and later found out that we would be having a baby girl!

 

July: Hit the road, Jack

This was road trip month. For the 4th of July we spontaneously decided to drive to San Francisco to visit Kimball, Wendy, and Jack. Monta was in DC for a wedding so Rob came along with us and we had a grand old time! Later in July I went with McKay on a quick little business trip to Vegas. I relaxed, swam, napped and window-shopped while he went to meetings and then we had the evenings to ourselves. We saw Cirque du soleil and enjoyed the sights, heat, and good food.

August: You've had a birthday, shout hooray!

I turned 24 this month and got in my first traffic accident (read about it here)

McKay decorated the living room and made crepes for my birthday breakfast!

September: wilderness explorer badge

We celebrated Labor Day by going on a 3 day campout in the Uintas. At 7 months pregnant I was both uncomfortable and proud of myself for being so hard core! More details here.

October: Oh baby!!

Arriving 11 days early, our sweet baby girl was born on October 23, 2010. Harper Olene made her debut at 2:32 pm and weighed in at 7 lbs, 12 oz, 21 inches long. She was born with dark hair, chubby cheeks and bright eyes. We fell in love with her right away!

November: I will survive

Aside from the usual Thanksgiving food and fun, November's highlight was simply surviving our first month of parenthood, learning more about our little cutie and being a bit sleepy.

December: We are family

Christmas and McKay's birthday are always highlights of December. This year was great because Kimball, Wendy and Jack were in town to celebrate. We were excited that they got to meet Harper. Jack was especially cute with her!

All in all, it's been a fabulous and eventful year! Here's to an equally great 2011.