Reasons to smile

I'm an optimistic person. I try and find the blessing in each event and moment. I throw the occasional (or frequent, I can't lie) pity party. BUT I can still find the joy in life. Tonight I'm thinking of a few reasons to smile.

*Healthy body
*I get to teach dance and create something new!
*indoor plumbing
*sweet children who love to snuggle with me
*a handsome hubby who kisses me 4x each night before bed
*family I can laugh with
*cash in my wallet
*chocolate dipped strawberries in my fridge
*a reuben sandwich in my tummy
*Michael Buble
*Fireman Sam tv show (no, its not my favorite to watch. But it is the ONLY show Max will sit and watch in its entirety, allowing me to take a 9 1/2 min shower each morning.)
*House hunting
*Clearance racks
*The Holy Ghost to comfort my troubled heart
*My Savior and Heavenly Father
*our dishwasher
*US postal service
*cars
*sunshine and playing outside
*rain clouds feel like a protective blanket. I know that sounds weird but I love the rain and feel calm even during storms.
*pancakes

Why waste time seeing all that's wrong with the world, instead find a reason to smile! Share yours in a comment if you like :)

Culinary Creations

If you know me well and/or lived with me in college you know I'm not an extravagant chef. My standard meals consisted of some kind of meat plus a side dish with instructions saying "just add water and butter". I'm still not amazing in the kitchen. I've always wanted the apron that said "I kiss better than I cook". But lately I've done some yummy things. I thought I'd share.

Stuffed Peppers
easy and built in portion control

chocolate dipped pretzels and strawberries for fun
*with chocolate sprinkles

Homemade pepperoni pizza

Homemade veggie delight pizza
spinach, fresh tomato, green pepper, & onion

Valentine's Pancake Breakfast

Lastly my specialty,

Stuffed Pork Chops
cut pocket in thick pork chop or
layer homemade stuffing on top
a great change of pace!

New....

New tricks. He's able to sit upright for a very short span of time. He prefers rolling around on the floor and jumping!
New room. He's had a room painted, re-carpeted, and re-furnished for him. Its an airplane theme with clouds on the walls. He loves his own space and we're all sleeping a little better this way.

New feats! Max is so close to crawling. He can shimmy his way across the floor. He just turned 5 months. He wants to be everywhere and see everything!New friend. Lily adores our homemade scarecrow.
New rash. Eczema has hit Max hard.
New food. This is while trying rice cereal for the first time. so far he's tried rice cereal, banana and potatoes. He isn't too thrilled with any of it. He's interested but nothing is as good as mama's milk.

New moves. Lily is suddenly all about dress-ups. You add dance lessons + dress-ups + music= Lilia's Star Performance. Her favorite song to dance to is "Honey, Honey" by Abba.New acting skillz. She totally loves watching herself in the mirror and making faces then trying them out on us. She loves to play a part. What a drama queen!

Exotic Food Night

We had an Exotic Food Night on Friday. Our friends Heather and Fredy Perez came and brought a Guatemalan dish and an Argentine dish. The missionaries brought Asian food and a gross dessert (photos at bottom). We provided Taiwanese fish dishes and sauerkraut. Lots of fun and interesting food. And lots of new foods I won't be eating again. David tried everything and liked just about everything.

I tried most things except the eggs and hated most things.

Here I am eating the Mondungo, cow stomach soup.
Good flavor, horrible texture.
It was a thin slice of meat covered
in fat (but it felt like snot). Nasty!

100 year old eggs.
They were black on the inside.

David said they tasted like egg,

but had the texture of jello and jam.

Fredy not liking the the eggs.

David- " Pass the stomach soup and that other stuff."

He liked it.

Liver and onions and tomatoes.
The hardest thing to choke down.
I practically swallowed it whole.
It wasn't the taste. It smelled wonderful.
The liver felt like it was coated in powder
and stuck to your tongue.
Tip- don't drink a flavored drink when trying'
to wash something yucky down it only
makes everything taste nasty and fruity.

The fertilized egg. I refused to eat either egg.
This one had a baby chick inside. I told them
I would not touch an aborted chicken. Elder Pena (he's from the Philipines and taught us how to peal the eggs.) with the chick.

Fish balls, dried "stinky" fish, wasabi dumplingsThe missionaries idea of a funny dessert. I refused to eat the tootsie rolls. It was super rich. It was 2 differnt cake mixes, pudding honey and some other things. too much.
We brought Hi Chews, basically an asian starburst they are delicious.