mega bites

It's been a tasty weekend.

My first experience with a pomelo. Can't get over the size of the peel! It's thick stuff. I learned how to open it from a cute Thai woman on YouTube.

I'm working on mastering my {mom's} cookie recipe. Rather than small chocolate chips, I've been using these bad boys. giant. chocolate. disks.

Delish, and oh so fattening. Good for breakfast. Good for dessert. Good for my soul.

We enjoyed having my parents and Randy over for dinner, banana grams and my favorite episode of The Office tonight. My dad learned the ins and outs of Facebook {newbie!} and took McKay's iPhone for a spin - his Verizon account is due for an upgrade, lucky guy! We're so blessed to have both our families close - for a few more months. Harper has awesome grandparents and we'll sure miss them when we're in Brazil. Thank goodness for Skype and FaceTime!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend, friends.

Asian sensation

Thanks to those of you who suggested OurBestBites.com for recipes - dinner swap went great last night! I tried out a few new recipes {found here, here and here} and aside from scrambling at the last minute to get everything together - amidst an ever growing pile of measuring cups, produce peels, and scattered spices - it was a huge success! And bonus points for leftovers.

In other news, I'm pleased to report that Harper has been napping {in her crib} for 45 minutes now. She's an absolute champ at bedtime. We're up to almost 11 hours a night now! But, naps are another story. The typical nap run-around goes something like this: I sing/pat/bounce/pace her to sleep around 9 am {this process can take anywhere from 10 to 45 minutes}. I hold her for a bit while I catch up on my facebook news feed from my phone to make sure she's really asleep. I gently put her in her crib and creep out of her room. 5 or 10 minutes later she wakes up, cries, and it's back to the soothing to sleep routine.

However, things may be turning a corner. A couple days ago my awesome sister-in-law took her for a few hours and sent me out for some me-time. And get this - Harper took a 2 hour nap for her! Later that afternoon she took a 1-hour nap for me. Yesterday was a crazy day with errands and lots of car time, but today I'm back on the nap train. So far so good! Hopefully this is the beginning of a new and beautiful thing!

ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

Exhibit A:

What? You think this looks kind of like a passport photo? What with the plain white background and straight-on face shot and lack of cutesy head accessories?

Well. It is. Harper is getting her first passport. And after that we'll get visa papers processing.

We're moving to Brazil.

what?!

McKay has an exciting business opportunity there with his brother and cousin and we're taking it! I know, it's crazy! But it will be an adventure and we're really excited about it.

Since we found out we were for sure going {about 48 hours ago} my mind has been racing with questions, concerns, excitement, and lengthy to-do lists. I've been listening to Portuguese podcasts and downloading free vocabulary apps. I found a discovery channel Brazil feature on Netflix and I've been all over Wikipedia learning about our new home!

There are still lots of undecideds and unknowns, but here are the dirty deets so far:

We'll be leaving sometime between April and June

We'll be there for 2-4 years {ish}

We'll be living in an apartment complex in a nice and safe part of São Paulo {with McKay's brother, cousin and another mutual friend - hooray for family!}

And that's about all we know at this point! When we first began contemplating the prospect of moving to a far and distant land I had mixed emotions. I was definitely intrigued and excited, but also a bit scared and apprehensive. I've never lived more than 30 minutes from my immediate family {minus my summer in the Philippines}. We want more kids in the next 2-4 years - could I have a baby in Brazil? I wondered about our house and our car and all our junk in the basement. How would Harper do on a 20 hour flight? How would she do in a new country? I really like our ward and our neighborhood, am I ready to just leave? What about my piano students? etc. etc. etc.

But since making the decision, the dominant feeling has been excitement. We know this is the right next step for us. There are still a billion questions to answer and preparations to be made. And it will definitely still have its challenges. But, thanks to Skype we'll be able to stay in contact with our families. And we'll hopefully be able to make some trips home, as well as enjoy visitors during our stay. I'm super excited to learn Portuguese, and depending on how long we are there, little Harper might just end up bilingual! It will be really great having K and D and their wives and kids along for the adventure. 

I thought 2010 was a year of changes, but 2011 is definitely a heavy competitor! 

Desejem-nos sorte! 

yaaaaaankee swap!

Okay, it's really dinner swap {Office, anyone?}. 


We really like good food - who doesn't? And like most of you, we love finishing off a busy day with a nice, hot meal before we curl up with a couple Netflix faves. But cooking for two, {while carting around a small one} can be tricky, tiring and wasteful {hard to use up all that bok choy on two people!}.

After sharing dinner with two foodie friends last week we hatched a plan to have a dinner swap every week or two between three families. Tonight we enjoyed the first meal of dinner swap 1.0.

It's really a win-win situation. It doesn't take much more time, or money to double a recipe and feed six adults and a smattering of kids once a week. And the real homerun of the whole situation is the two nights of kitchen-free tasty dinners!

There are new recipes to be tried, new meals to be enjoyed and new friendships to be strengthened over that great unifier . . . food!


{Thanks for the delicious linguini, Kim. If you're reading maybe you should share the recipe . . . and for the brownies too!}


Thursday night is my night. Any winning ideas? I've got some food-lovers to impress!

black skirt blues

This post brought to you by 11 o' clock church: where you can have a crazy morning and still be in your seat early!

When I was in high school I got my first dressy skirt suit. The jacket doesn't fit like it used to, but the skirt has been a staple in my wardrobe . . . for the past 6 years. Every girl needs a go-to black skirt. But after six years of going to it, it gets old.

In those years since high school I have gradually added to my wardrobe, but somehow, when faced with getting ready on Sunday several outfits end up on me, and then on the floor, and then I resort back to the black skirt. Today was one such morning.

First it was the cute coral jumper with bolero shrug. Scratch that. I'm nursing. Tops + skirts only.

Next it was the hip grey skirt I picked up at Nordy's rack in Spokane. Perfect if there was something to wear on top. Tried some black tops - spit up smudges. Dark sweater vest? ugly (and maternity, so kind of an awkward fit right now).

A few more things went on, and then off, and so the black skirt it was. And she delivered like an old, true friend.

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