Valley of the Sun Visitor!

We were so happy today to have a visit from Kassi and her family. They were in town this week and came by to see us, and show us their new puppy Roscoe.

Kassi was our babysitter in Gilbert, and she has watched the kids since Bella was a baby. We have had a hard time replacing her!

Dress Party!

A week from today is my Dress Party!

I have been doing this for a few years now, a couple times a year. There's a lady from California that brings hundreds of little girl dresses to your house. She does Easter and Christmas. They are from high end department stores and catalogs (like the Wooden Soldier).

These are last year's Easter dresses (above) and dresses we've gotten in the past (below)It's in my driveway (bundle up!) from 9-11 a.m. on Wednesday March 5th.

A princess tea

So I've been meaning to post this and haven't. A couple Saturdays ago Jeff and I were cleaning out the basement, getting ready to start construction. Meanwhile, the girls were upstairs playing with who know what. They would come in and out saying something about a tea party and lunch, but I really didn't pay much attention.

So finally I came upstairs to discover this:

I was cracking up at their sweatshirts and pioneer bonnets draped over their chairs. (When you live in Utah, your bonnet IS your fancy hat!) They set up the CD player with their princess tea music and everything.They apparently were out primping when I took the first photo. They reappeared and showed me their dessert (M&M's and tootsie pops). Then Bella announced she had made the lunch of apple juice and turkey lunch meat. MMMMmmm good!

The wrong side of the tracks

As you can see, my bad luck continues . . .

This is my house on this bright sunny morning

And this is my neighbor's house

I feel like the snowman in the Pixar "short" film about the snow globe. The neighbor found a way to get the hula dancers in his globe, but I'm stuck with the sled.

My newest niece

Dayna gave birth to a baby girl yesterday, Feb. 20th.

7 lbs. 7 oz.
20" long

It is her 2nd girl, and her last baby. Needless to say, I am so sad to not be able to be there to hold the little bundle.

Jane is so happy to have her own live baby doll. She is constantly calling her "adorable"!
Congratulations Abrahams on Baby Kate!

How does he do it?

How does my son get into these things?

I am still boggled as to how he crawled into this full laundry basket without flipping the whole thing over.

Another great restaurant

I must say I was very concerned about leaving the Phoenix cuisine behind. I love to eat!
There are more non-chain restaurants (would you call that a boutique restaurant) there than you can imagine. Jeff and I LOVED trying new restaurants for those special occasions.
After much searching on the internet to find a great new restaurant, we settled on a review that claimed this place was the Best Pizza in the Salt Lake area. Settebello was a fabulous restaurant. Of course our favorite is Pizzeria Bianco in Phoenix, but this was really good. We strongly recommend checking it out if you are in the Salt Lake or Las Vegas area.
My favorite was the Bianca Pizza, and Jeff's fav was the Capricciosa Pizza. We always love appetizers and had the Caprese & the Misto. They serve the best Gelato as well!
We loved it!
I loved my Valentine tulips as well!

For the Utah people

You have to check out "Food for Thought" in Draper. It is a cute little restaurant in an Old house. Susan, Jane & I went in January and loved it! They have a great menu - not too pricey, but great for a girls day out. They are known for their hot chocolate with HOMEMADE Marshmallows in all different flavors. It's great for this stinkin' cold weather we have here!

Try it - you'll LOVE it! They are located at 12640 South Fort Street (950 East) in Draper, Utah. Their phone number is 801/576-9161.

I first saw it on Lisa Bearnson's blog (the scrapbook lady), and if you tell them you read about it on her blog, they give you a free dessert! I love free. We did and it was great.

Our Valentine Dinner

Traditionally I make a heart pizza for Valentine's Day. We LOVE to make white pizza! It has ricotta, garlic, fresh basil and mozzarella - Yum!

We decorated sugar cookies for dessert - Sofie couldn't wait to bite into hers! (Bella's photo turned out fuzzy - technical difficulties!)

It was delicious! We hope you all had a happy Valentine's Day!

Another Valentine Surprise!

My sister Dianne sent us a Valentine box with candy for the kids & some candy for me (The See's kind!) Also, another super cute cupcake - this one is a photo holder.

Thanks Di - we LOVE our surprise!

Last Minute Valentine Gifts

If your sweetie hasn't purchased you a Valentine's Day present yet - look no further!

I just got my "Midnight Velvet" catalog in the mail and there are some stunning pieces in it.



My top 3:
You can tell when your guests have overstayed their welcome with this coffee table.






This ensemble looks like it's straight from
Joan Collins wardrobe on the set of Knots Landing

And wouldn't this impress your sweetie on your
Valentine's date tonight? A little walk on the wild side!




How do I get these catalogs!

Enough is ENOUGH!

I am just not feeling the love for the snow!
Jeff shoveled about 2 feet of snow off the driveway this morning. It was so bad that he left work at 5:15 yesterday, and arrived home at 8:40 last night!
Of course, everyone around here says "THIS NEVER HAPPENS". I've heard that a few too many times this winter. I've decided I have bad luck.

Thanks Dayna!

My favorite Valentine decoration this year came from my sister Dayna. Many of you may have seen Target's "cupcake" line this year for Valentine's Day. I am in love with all the cute divided trays and sippie cups for the kids.
Dayna told me about these and I had not seen them. I looked at my local Target and they were all out. I was totally bummed. Then she sent me some in the mail - I was so happy to have some. I have had these cute little stands in my cupboard for at LEAST 5 years and have never used them. I finally had something to put on them! I have them lined up on a little ledge.
It's all in the presentation - for those of you that are running out to your local Target to find them - look in the dog toy section.

House Arrest

Sofie is truly 2 1/2 and female. Therefore, it doesn't matter where you go, what you do, what you say - you NEVER know what will set her off! After too many temper tantrums outside of home, she is officially on house arrest. (If anyone knows where I can find a toddler size ankle bracelet - let me know!)

Her terms are somewhat like Martha's. A limited number of places she can go - church, Aunt Jane's, a few stores, etc. The only difference between her and Martha's is that she MUST be fully rested before venturing out.

It seems to be working better. Perhaps in a year the judge will have mercy on her and see fit to release her.

PJ Time

Sofie is our little comedian. Whenever you talk about something she always follows up "I wuv . . ." We saw a little boy in the post office yesterday wearing his jammies (at 5:00 p.m.) and Sofie could not understand why he had his jammies on. When I told her - "look he's cozy in his jammies", then she said "I wuv jammieson". She thinks this is one word because each night we say "Get your jammies on". So in the morning she says "I need to take my jammieson off". It gets a little confusing I know.

Oh Bella!

The other night Bella came up to me with her hands cupped together (obviously holding something), and said "Mommy, I have a surprise for you because I love Daddy more than I love you!" and handed me a penny. Then she looked at me like, Wasn't that the best present I could have ever given you?

Extreme Makeover - Foutz Edition

Every once in a while, we ALL need a makeover of sorts. A new haircut, a new outfit, a new car, etc. I got tired of seeing this entertainment center (Yes, it was a hand-me-down). And of course, as is generally the case, the money just wasn't in the budget for a new one. So, I gave it an overhaul. I must give a HUGE thankyou to Aaron for his assistance with the moulding and the use of his power tools - I couldn't have done it without them!

You know how whenever you see a makeover on Oprah or whatever - the person always looks like they haven't slept in days or they have no makeup and terrible clothes? And then afterwards they look like they are on their way to the Oscars? That's how I had to stage my entertainment center's before and after photos!

Baby Reed

My 9 month old is finally sitting up! He has always been too busy exploring and crawling around and never wanted to sit up. This is rare moment when I got him to do so, but he will sit for a little bit now. Of course at this moment, he is sick and that cute little smile hasn't come across his face in a while! We love him to bits!

The blood is thickening!

No one realizes how dramatic my husband is. And furthermore, no one believes me when I tell them how dramatic he is.

Finally! It's no longer snowing!

People around here keep telling me that it's uncommon for these parts of Utah to get so much snow. I don't know how much I believe. People own snowblowers and snowplows here like people own pools in Phoenix. It gets hot EVERY summer in Phoenix - hence the pools. If it doesn't snow EVERY winter in Salt Lake - why do so many people own the major snow removal equipment? I think they are just trying to make me believe it, so I'll be more willing to try another winter out here. Let me tell you, it's got to be a NICE warm summer to make me want even an ice cube in my lemonade!

I'm not into playing in the snow, and Jeff claims he doesn't know HOW to play in the snow (growing up in Phoenix). So, pretty much, we own the snow gear (snow bibs, hats, gloves, etc.), but don't really use it much!

So, our snow mounds are finally beginning to melt, and we can officially see some dirt in our backyard. The back gets the sun more than the front of our house. I still don't think the snow in our front yard will melt until June. Stay tuned for Easter photos in our snowsuits!