Update

Bryant's preschool class went to the Bean Museum at BYU this week. He had a blast! This is what he had to say about it in a letter to Grandma and Grandpa Hanks, I thought you all would enjoy it too. " It was good and was sooo fun. I got to touch a snake and it felt like a basketball. I felt a lizard and a tortoise." He has improved a lot over the year. He is excited to go to school everyday now and no longer needs coaxing. His teacher said he doesn't hesitate to participate in the activities anymore and is doing much better at writing. Although, he often has to be reminded that he does actually know how to write the letters.

I met with Kaylee's teacher this week and was told that she is doing great, of course. She is very good with math and memorization. She's the champion in our house at playing memory match. She is learning to read and is gaining confidence in that. She and Rachel have both started soccer this week. We'll post game schedules and pictures when we have them. She and Bryant are at the age that they either play very well together, or are fighting a lot depending on the day. It's a lot of fun to hear them play Star Wars or guys, because usually Bryant will not play with the barbies. ;)

Rachel has lost her second tooth and was so excited to put it under her pillow. It took the tooth fairy two and a half nights to come though. (It finally came while we were flying kites.) We think it got confused because Rachel was sleeping in Bryant's room and changed where she put her tooth from one night to the next. She was very excited to finally get a dollar after checking under her pillow frequently. Rachel is also doing very well in school. She is reading above grade level and has now had two perfect scores on her word tests (spelling).

Sara is growing so fast. She can now roll from stomach to back and back to stomach. She has really started reaching for anything and everything she can touch. She is becoming more content to play by herself for longer and usually enjoys tummy time. She still smiles at everyone who will smile back and loves to be around her siblings. She is such a joy to our lives. The kids still like to hold her and play with her. Rachel and Kaylee are especially happy that she now sleeps in their room at night. (Although I think Kaylee is tiring of being woken up in the mornings.)

We are all enjoying the warmer weather and can't wait for it to stick around. The kids rode bikes and have walked home from school a couple of times. I've been out rollerblading a bit too. We've also had a couple of picnic lunches out on the grass. It's so nice to have sunshine and warmth after several months of cold. I am getting anxious for school to end and hoping to have a little more time for crafting and scrapbooking, maybe.
We are so thankful to be in our home and enjoying this time in our lives. We are especially thankful that Caleb has such a good job during this tough economic time and are glad that he works so hard to provide for us and allow me to be at home to take care of kids and help things run smoother.

Recipe Friday

Pork Spare Ribs

2 (8-oz) cans tomato sauce
1/2 C onion, chopped
1 C water
1/2 C brown sugar
1/2 C lemon juice
2 T Worcestershire sauce
1 t mustard
1 t salt
1/4 t pepper

Cook in crock pot on low for 6 hours.
OR
Broil pork until brown, place in pan on stove with remaining ingredients until meat is cooked through.

Let's go fly a kite!

We've had a nice week of weather. While not as warm as some parts of the country, we were close to 70 degrees this week. We have a storm coming in this weekend and the wind was picking up on Saturday. After all the errands were done we decided to go to the park close to our house and fly kites with the kids. The wind was steady which made for perfect flying conditions.

Each of the kids flew their own kite for about 5 minutes before they let us know they were tired. I think they really just wanted to play on the playground equipment. Heather and I wound up untangling and wrapping up the kite strings while the kids went off to play. Oh well - at least we got out for a change, right?

Happy St. Patrick's Day from Sara

Sara decided that it was time to laugh today - her first real laughs! Hope you get a kick out of it!

A few pictures to enjoy. (by Heather)

I wasn't feeling too great last week so I didn't do much with the blog. Here's some pictures from the last few weeks for you to enjoy. :)

We gave Sara some rice cereal today for the first time. She wasn't quite sure what to think of it at first. She grabbed the spoon during the first bite and I had to pry her fingers off of it. I was reminded pretty quickly that it's a good idea to hold their hands out of the way... Oh the things you forget.


After she decided it didn't taste too bad she had to try to figure out how to keep it in her mouth.

She didn't make too much of a mess, but didn't eat very much this time around.

Sara found her toes a few weeks ago and has constantly got a good grip on them or is trying to put them in her mouth. I finally quit putting her Robeez on her because she was soaking them through.

Ohhh to be so flexible.

Don't Worry, she's not radio active.

She's just been eating some Fun Dip candy.

I've had several questions about Sara's hair and if it's still curly... It still is, and here's the proof.

If you look close you can probably see some of the wisps of hair that she kept after she was born. They're a good 2-3 inches longer than the rest of her hair.


Well, there you go. Now you're a little more updated.

Pictures from last post

I'm not sure how to change previous posts so I'll just post again the pictures that I think Caleb was posting.




I'm not sure how to change previous posts so I'll just post again the pictures that I think Caleb was posting.

Happy Birthday Heather!

As many of you may know, Heather turned 30 this past week on March 12. We haven't had any parties yet, so her pictures will come in a future post. However, I was able to surprise her. I took the day off, helped with breakfast and getting the kids off to school, and took her out to lunch and shopping for the afternoon. Our neighbor watched Sara and the other kids when they got home from school.

Knowing that she was wanting to dress up our bedroom, I took Heather to the RC Willey outlet store in Provo to see what they might have at a good deal. I half expected it, but was surprised to walk out of the store having purchased several pieces of furniture - and at a pretty good deal!

We're looking for a theme of blues, tans, browns and silver/nickel accents for the bedroom. A relaxing, modern feel. The bed frame fit the bill - we really like the straight lines and the clean look it adds to the room.

Heather really wanted nightstands, so we found some that weren't with the bed set, but were close in color. Heather likes having the drawers and chose this style over another one there because the pulls matched the color scheme.

Finally, the dresser we plan to serve two purposes: first - to use as a dresser, and second, it was the perfect size for the piece of furniture that should go under the panel TV (not purchased) that we plan to eventually mount on the wall.

They delivered and set up the furniture in the bedroom for us this past Friday and it's amazing how much it has transformed the look of the room. We're still waiting for the curtains that we ordered from JCPenney to complete the room, and of course the flat panel TV that will eventually hang on the wall... we'll see when that happens.

Recipe Friday

This is one I stole from one of my mother-in-law's posts. I made it last week and the whole family liked it. The kids especially ate it up, which is always nice. Thanks Tia! :)

Chicken Chowder

1 pkg bacon
1 onion chopped
1 C water
10-12 potatoes
3 lbs chicken tenders
2 cans corn (undrained)
2 cans evaporated milk
2 cans water
4 cans cream of potato soup
2% milk
salt and pepper


Cut bacon into 1-2 inch strips and fry in a stock pan until crisp. Meanwhile, put chicken tenders in pot and cover with water adding salt, pepper and garlic- cook until done. Also, cook potatoes while in pan of water ( like with funeral potatoes but I peeled them first). When bacon is crisp drain off most of the grease but cook chopped onions and 1 cup water in same stock pot with crisp bacon and drippings. Stir in 2 cans evaporated milk and rinse the cans with water for the 2 cans of water listed above. Add 4 cans cream of potato soup and rinse each can out with water, adding a little more water to the soup base. Stir in chicken tenders cut into chunks with broth. Chop up the precooked potatoes and add to chowder. Add corn. Add 2% milk for chowder consistency with parsley and salt and pepper. Note: this makes lots! It filled the pot I use to cook corn on the cob in. Probably want to 1/2 the recipe for family use.

My Amazing New Camera

For most of you this will be old news, but I need to post about it anyway. I've got a sweet new camera - a Canon EOS 50D - a digital SLR camera. Special thanks go to Circuit City for going out of business! I picked it up last month and have had lots of fun being able to take some higher quality pictures.

I've only scratched the surface on testing what it can do. If you're interested in the details you can find them here on the Canon website.

Utah Jazz vs. Sacramento Kings

Thanks to my new role (and a lot of recent work) Heather and I were able to go to our first Jazz game last weekend. Omniture hosted a party for the finalists of this semester's Omniture Web Analytics Competition (OWAC for short). Omniture purchased 36 tickets to one of the suites and I was in charge of hosting the event. Really all this meant was getting up in front of about 50 people in the suite at halftime, giving a quick speech, and raffling off some prizes.

Our tickets...

The suite box was overlooking the goal post on the side of the court where the Jazz bench was. A steak dinner was served and they had snacks throughout the game. Here are a few pictures from our evening...

The camera did a pretty good job at getting pics of action on the floor. I really wanted to have a better telephoto lens for even closer shots...

One of the people in our suite noticed that President Thomas S. Monson was in attendance. I caught this picture of him during a halftime stretch.

Overall it was a great evening and everyone in attendance had fun. The Jazz won this game 102-89 over the Kings.

On the way out they were handing out a special edition newspaper focused on Larry H. Miller who passed away recently. Scott Hiatt - Knowing the Jazz fan that you are, I picked up an extra for you in case you want it.

Thanks Nate and Kirsta for watching the kids for us! :0)

Recipe Friday (on Saturday)

Crunchy Garlic Chicken

2 T butter or margarine, melted
1 1/2 tsp chopped fresh chives (or parsley)
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 C crushed cornflakes
1 1/2 tsp chopped fresh parsley
1/4 tsp paprika
3 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (1 3/4 lbs)2
2 T butter or margarine, melted
1 T milk

1. Heat oven to 425. Grease 13x9x2 in. pan.
2. Mix 2 tablespoons butter, the milk, chives, salt and garlic powder. Mix cornflakes, parsley and paprika. Dip chicken into milk mixture, then coat lightly and evenly with cornflakes mixture. Place in pan. Drizzle with 2 tablespoons butter.
3. Bake uncovered 20-25 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink when centers of thickest pieces are cut.

I put about half the amount of parsley called for. I don't like it as much with the full amount.