Best Wife Ever...

I am so proud of myself! Joe has been talking about and dreaming about and searching for Gnocchi ever since he came home from Argentina. For five years he has conducted a vain search for his favorite potato pasta. Well, I was searching for recipes online in preperation for a culture night, and found a really easy authentic gnocchi recipe and made it for my husband. He was so happy! Granted, he decided that my skills with his gnocchi paddle were insufficient, so he formed every one of the pastas, but still, I made it and the sauce, and he was one happy, happy gaucho!

Product Recognition or My Kid Watches Too Much TV

Kids pick up on the weirdest things.
Joe and I were sitting outside the Quizno's deciding what we wanted to get, and Jake starts asking for a burger. We asked him to wait patiently, because we knew he was hungry. He said, "OK. I hungry sandwhich. MMMMM...Toasty!"
It may be time to turn off the TV.

More Walking...

While on our walk this morning, right at the end, (we only had about 3/4 of a mile to go) Jake began to be desperate for Gwen's attention.
"Gwen! Gwen!"
"Yes, Jacob?"
"Um, we need our car. We need to ride car."
Maybe he's getting tired of his hour long stroller ride. Maybe he thinks I'm too slow. Maybe he knows that deep down I'm really to lazy to be doing all this work...

Walking

Why is it that most of the things you are supposed to do for your health are unpleasant? You can't have a lot of cake, and I really like cake! You shouldn't eat a lot of meat, and I love steak! (PS-you really should eat a lot of beef, because it pays my bills and if you are my friend, you would hate to see me in the poorhouse.) You should excercise, and that hurts! You have to submit yourself yearly to an uncomfortable and vaguely degrading physical exam. I want to take care of my body, I just wish it didn't take so very much maintenance. Man, am I looking forward to the ressurection.
I mention all of this because I am a captain of a walking team. It worked out that way because Gwen only registered herself for the Family Circle walking challenge, and couldn't go back. So now I am the boss of logging our miles, which are, I must say, very impressive. So far we have logged 39 miles this week. Walking is the only thing I do to take care of my body that I really enjoy. It does hurt, but mostly I like it because it garuantees me a good hour of adult conversation and a captive audience to vent to. I like having friends so close. When I got married, there was no one my age around, and even the girls in my ward I never really felt like I could get close to. That's the best thing about moving into 2nd ward. Now we have friends! Walking buddies, movie buddies, game night buddies, and inappropriate-yet-still-funny-joke buddies. We have been so blessed to get to know all of these people. They make a lot of things a lot easier.
Anyway, our walking goal is to log 75 miles by mid-July. Clearly that will be no real challenge, but making 75 miles individually will. I may need to get a pedometer to help me with that. Also, walking myself on mornings when Gwen can't make it will help. But its not as much fun. I like Jake, but he's not much for conversation.

After all the family has gone

The hordes have come and gone, and what an adventure it was! Kory's blessing coincided with Kiera's graduation, so there was much to celebrate. Thankfully, because I have a tiny baby and a demon preschooler, we were excused from attending graduation. However, there didn't seem to be any plans for after the ceremony Friday, so Joe and I had the whole family out for a BBQ at the last moment. It was a lot of fun to see Nik's family, as they live in Vegas and can't make it up much. Joe often says they are the branch of the family you can laugh the most with. An example: Aunt Rissy has a really tiny, really cute nose ring. Jake was passing by and caught sight of it. He stopped short, and said,"Excuse me. I have to poke you," and went to work trying to figure out what was in her nose. She thought it was the funniest thing, and everyone got a big kick out of it.
Saturday night I was expecting my brother and sister to come up, but my brother got really sick early Saturday morning and couldn't come up. So it was just my sister and her fiance. They were very concerned that they couldn't make it 188 miles on one tank of gas, but I managed to assure them that their Alero would do just fine. There were also concerns about my dog. Richard (that's my future brother-in-law) refused to get out of his car until I put the dog in my room. He is a security guard at Becca's apartment complex, and just so we wouldn't forget, he wore his badge. The whole time. A lovely, official looking shield with the words "Security Guard" right on the front. Very impressive, I must say. He wasn't really interested in conversation, and so he quickly got bored. He wanted to go play laser tag. Sadly, we lack the facilities to accomodate such a request, so my dad took him and Becca so see the resevoir. As it transpired, he had failed to bring clothes appropriate for church, so I found some to lend him. He did not wind up using them, as he stayed in the parking lot for the entire meeting. There is so much more to this story. If you are intrigued, let me know and I will post something solely in honor of Richard, and maybe we can all come to a greater understanding of why I can not believe my sister is going to allow this person to father her children.
Joe did a wonderful job blessing little Kory, and the rest of the family was a delight to have around. My uncle and his daughters and their husbands all came up for the day. They left at 5am in Bountiful to be here, and left so they could get home by early evening. That's love, right there. They are my favorites. You shouldn't have favorites in family, but I do. We were also so happy to have Alison come. And of course our other good friends are in our ward, and really couldn't avoid missing it
The best guests were Kory and Amy. Kory was Joe's trainer on the the mission, and one of his best friends. You'll note that he and my tiny baby have the same name. We named our son for him. He gives my tiny face a lot to live up to. He's one of the best men we know. He is so genuine and kind and giving. We just love him, and his wife. We wish they lived closer, and we could see them more.
Soon, I'll have to get Gwen to teach me how to post pictures, and then you can see how cute my kids are. Just so you know, they are the cutest kids in the world, so you should be looking forward to pictures with wild anticipation.