Darth and Gecko

Got some good pics of the jokers this week, guys.

 This is Darth on a morning drive to drop off Daddy. Look at this smiley fella.

 Gecko recently loves slides.

When he wakes up from naps, his hair is just crazy.

Running Bib-Palooza

I have many running bibs from over the years. Since I started racing in 2009, I have done around 7 races a year. Some years more, some less. I originally had then on a cork board, but I have since outgrown two of those, and needed to find a new way to display them. Luckily, I found an idea on the internet.

It involves getting a wire and clips from IKEA, and then I had to have Husband help me. This is where it took a long time. Because I needed his help, it took me an ENTIRE YEAR to get this up. Yeah, I'm serious. But finally, we got it up, and then this is what it looked like:

It looks so good! I really like how it turned out. I also redid my medals, but I forgot to take a pic of those, and I am just too lazy to go do that right now. Maybe I'll save that for a later blog post, that's good enough. But I am just so happy about how it turned out, and I have so much room for new bibs!

Raspberry Chocolate Chip Cookies

I wanted some raspberry chocolate chip cookies recently. But the only recipe I could find online only made 12 cookies, and were a "healthy" cookie and to be honest, those cookies aren't always that good, they taste just as healthy as they're supposed to be, so ugh. So instead, I decided to make up my own recipe. And guess what? They actually worked out! They are delicious! Here's the recipe:

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 3/4 cups quick oats
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/3 cups packed light-brown sugar
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
   
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup canned raspberry pie filling
• 1 3/4 cup chocolate chips
• 
  

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a mixing bowl whisk together flour, oats, baking soda, salt, set aside.
• In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, whip together butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar until creamy.  Blend in egg then blend in vanilla extract and raspberry filling. With mixer set on low speed, slowly add in dry ingredients and mix until combined. Mix in chocolate chips. I then put the dough into the fridge for about 15 minutes, so the oats can absorb some of the liquid. It will be a little sticky! 
• Scoop dough out, I used a cookie scoop that is about a tablespoon, and drop onto parchment paper lined baking sheets, spacing cookies 2-inches apart. Bake in preheated oven 12 - 14 minutes. I did 13 for each, and then when I took them out of the oven, I left them on the sheet on the top of the stove for another 10 minutes, because they were still pretty soft. 

And that's it. So then I was nervous, because even though they were smelling tasty, I was nervous they wouldn't taste that good. But! They did! They were actually really yummy and soft and delicious. 

Of course the batter was pink from the raspberries, but these were really delicious and I totally recommend them. 

Last Day

Today is the last day of vacation, I flew back to Utah tonight on a late flight. So during the day, Darth fell asleep for a nap super early, and Gecko had no interest in sleeping. So he and I went on a small walk, while their mom cleaned up the mess from lunch. I kept setting him up in positions to take pictures. Here he is, waiting for a bus.

Basically, this kid is so emotionless. You can set him up in any position and he doesn't more or make any kind of face about it. He's like a small mannequin. After we got about a quarter mile from the house, he snuggled into me and then fell asleep. Of course. So I headed back into the house, but luckily it had started raining, I got back just a minute or so after the water fell. Then we had an afternoon of the boys napping, and I just packed up everything. I had such a fun time, but it wasn't long enough, I would like a longer vacation! But with school, there's just never any time, hopefully this summer we can see each other.

Failed Expeditions

Today, we had such plans to go to the Children's Museum of Tacoma. But when we got to Tacoma, we drove around for about 10 minutes, trying to find a single place to park. There were many lots around, but they were private lots, and you couldn't park there. Finally, my sister had a meltdown about it, and we decided not to go. So instead, we went to a park, and had a fun day of doing just fun stuff. Darth and I took a pic together to celebrate.

 Then later, I realized I hadn't seen Darth in a while, so I wandered around the house trying to find him. I went to my room, and I heard some giggling. I said his name, and then:

He thought it was so funny to hide in there. Of course, when I zipped it up so that he couldn't get out, he didn't like it, but I laughed. Ha ha. That night, their parents went on a date, and I babysat the boys. We ate some pizza and played pew-pews (guns) and nobody cried about the parents being gone wooo I consider this a success!

Seattle and Birthday Celebrations

This morning, we headed into actual Seattle for the day. We hit up Pike's Market, getting some fruit and delicious treats. It started to rain pretty heavily, so we found a cupcake place, got some delicious treats and headed back to my sisters house. We had a fun afternoon of playing toys and being children.

Then that night after dinner, we celebrated Gecko's birthday. We made him a small smash cake, with it being his 1st birthday and all. It didn't turn out super well, but we tried.

Then, we took off his shirt so it wouldn't get super dirty. We tried our hardest to get him to eat it, but he just wanted to cry instead. 

It was just about the funniest thing I've ever seen, and my video of it is about 3 minutes of him having a scream-fest over not wanting to touch the cake. What a weirdo, but I am glad I was here for this.

Vacation Time

This week is my Spring Break, and last week was Husband's Spring Break, of course they wouldn't overlap! So I decided to take mine and go visit Sister and babies in Seattle. When they picked me up at the airport, Darth was excited to see me (ok, he was actually excited too see airplanes)

Later, we were walking through a parking lot, and he kept trying to escape me. I figured out how to slow him down.

Of course, as he was trying to run away from me, he kept yelling "help help" so I was worried someone would think I was kidnapping him haha. What a great kid. We had a fun day together, and I can't wait for our adventures!

Card-a-palooza

I haven't posted my cards on here, because we've delayed card swap a while these last few months. So here I post them all at once, for your viewing pleasure.

I like how they all turned out, thank goodness!

Darth and Gecko

 He looks sad, but it's because he's trying to get some food and using his most pathetic face for it.

 He just gets so sleepy while playing with his "big phone" (tablet"

I just die at his nostril flare here.

Six Years!

You guys, today marks 6 years of marriage for the Husband and I. I almost can't believe how fast the time has gone! Since today is a Sunday, we celebrated yesterday. We went up to Park City and got massages and then ate dinner at a swank Italian place that was super delicious. It's been a great 6 years, and I look forward to many, many more!

Darth and Gecko

I just love these little fellas so much.

 There's an emoji my family and I use that we call St Pizzalicious. It's a person in front of a pizza, with their hands clasped in what looks to be prayer. Darth was attempting to recreate it and I love it so.

 This smiley guy is just so great.

Both of these guys are just so smiley in pics now, I just love it.