March Madness!

No...not college basketball bracket buster (though Quinn would approve if I blogged about that). I am talking babies!! In March alone Quinn and I became Auntie and Uncle to 3 new nieces and 1 new nephew! Please welcome to the world....

Aubrey Stott

February 26, 2008

8 lbs 2 oz

Proud parents: Marne' and Dave

Thayne Michael Millet

March 2, 2008

7 lbs 6 oz

Proud parents: Floyd and Jo

Reese Phillips

March 15, 2008

6 lbs 8 oz

Proud parents: Kristi and Scott

Chloe Alexis Bates

March 29, 2008

7 lbs 11 oz

Proud parents: Jenn and Cory

A special thanks goes out to all of our siblings. With them reproducing so often...Quinn and I don't need to contribute for at least 4 years!

Culinary Creations

As most of you know I love to cook, especially DESSERT! As of the past 4 months or so, I have really been focusing on presentation. I feel like I can make something taste good, but I was not the best at making it look good. Here are some of my most recent experiments...I think I have made some progress.

A carrot cake I made for Quinn and I one Sunday night.

This is my first effort in making a cake actually look like something. My mom always did this when I was little, my birthday being in April, I got A LOT of bunny cakes. I thought I would try to recreate history for my nephew Tyler at his birthday.

I am proud to say that the bunny cake was quite the hit, particularly with all the kids there. I ALMOST did not want to eat it because it was so cute...however, it tasted as good as it looked!

This last one was a personal creation and quite the experiment. Rob and Elaine threw Quinn and I a little birthday fiesta at their house and I thought to myself, who better to experiment on than the in-laws?? So I created a Black and Blue Berry Cheesecake Trifle. This was made in honor of my in-laws, Millet's do love their trifle.

Spontaneous Extreme Makeover

One Thursday night I was complaining to Quinn about how I thought our carpets were dirty and wanted to get them cleaned. I was in the middle of listing the pros of carpet cleaning and why he should support me in my desire to have clean carpet, when I had an idea; why PAY to clean the carpet...when you can rip it up for FREE?! Home improvement Project!!! That defiantly perked Quinn's interest. We spent the rest of the evening crawling around our nasty old carpet peeling back the corners to reveal the solid wood floor underneath (one of the benefits of owning an old home). Our only worry, was that the previous owner may have covered the wood floor for a reason, like major scratches or water damage. The only was for us to find out however, was to completely rip it up to see the whole floor. The next day, I came home from work to Quinn on his hands and knees and this is the sight that met my eyes. You can imagine my surprise, I saw a huge pile of carpet a a super dirty wood floor littered with carpet staples and other unrecognizables. Well, it being a Friday night, we already had plans with friends, so we left the mess and met up with our friends for the night. Saturday morning, we got up bright and early and worked all day. We ripped out staples, scrubbed off glue and paint stains and swept up all the leftover carpet pad bits. We then used a whole bottle of wood oil to moisturize the floor. After letting the oil soak in overnight, the image we saw before going to bed on Sunday night quite a sight. A drastically different sight than what I saw late Friday night. Not to shabby for a weekend project!!

CarJacker...Kind of

Has anyone seen the hilarious show that feature stupid criminals like the guy who robs a convenient store but leaves his cell phone on the counter with the clerk or the guy who walks out on his tab at a restaurant, but then comes back 20 minutes later to get the jacket he left on accident?? They should start recruiting for talent in Sugarhouse, because I have a fully written and already preformed script for the next episode of that show.

Quinn and I were enjoying an uplifting dose of spirituality at church one Sunday morning at our church (located on a very busy street in Salt Lake). Quinn and I had driven separately because I had to go early for choir practice. After church I head out to my car and drive home. Quinn also heads out to his car (which is parked on the other side of the parking lot). As he gets closer to his car, he hears that it is idling, which is weird because the keys were in his pocket and the car doors were locked. He walked around his car to the other side and found this...

Apparently, the stupid criminal had gone through all the trouble of prying off the side of the window, busting in the window, ripping off the steering wheel cover and starting the car with his screwdriver before he realized that the steering wheel was locked. I guess Quinn accidentally locked it when he pulled himself out of the car before church. Needless to say, a locked steering wheel deterred our criminal from stealing Quinn's car. Our criminal left in such a hurry that he did not even turn the car off. As a result of his hurried departure, Quinn and I are now the proud owners of a new screwdriver. If you found you have misplaced yours....don't call us to complain, we may send the cops after you!

See how far we have come!

I was scanning through some pictures the other day and came across a few from our first months of marraige....1 year and 9 months ago. Those first few months we had a A B and C list. The A list was stuff we could not live without such as a shower curtain, food, and a broom. The stuff on the c list was stuff that everyone else probably has and you probaly should not live without, but our budget could not quite afford such luxuries as a trashcan, a mop, or "real" dishes. I am glad to say that we now have everything on our A, B, and even our C list. These pictures truly show how much can change in such a short time. Please Note the use of coolers as chairs! A very practical use of coolers if I do say so myself!

Valentines Suprise

I am sure everyone can relate when I say that going out to a nice restaurant on Valentines is a joke! Did Saint Valentine set requirements that EVERYONE must go out to an OVERpiced and OVERcrowded meal, buy OVERpriced roses(that will be 75% off the next day) and eat OVERpriced chocolate (I wish he would have set the chocolate requirement...I would be more than happy to oblige.)

Due to the reasons mentioned above and because I had to work until 8:00, Quinn and I decided to spend valentines night in the comfort of our own home and to celebrate valentines day the following weekend when the prices and crowds had calmed down. That being the situation, when I got off work at 8:00 I was looking forward to getting home, putting on my sweats, and chowing down on a turkey avocado sandwich. Quinn, on the other hand, had other plans and this was what I saw when I walked in the door! My sweet amazing husband had been scheming behind my back and had cooked up a batch of amazingly aromatic coconut curry accompanied with a strawberry spinach and mushroom salad complete with candied walnuts (which he is very good at). The meal was eaten by candlelight backed with romantic music! Needless to say, I was speechless and felt very outdone (I thought we were celebrating later!). I am very thankful to have such a sweet amazing husband who will slave over the stove just to see a surprised look on my face. I love you big guy!

Snow Cave vs Snowshoe??

My cousin Natalie, whom I love so much, was willing to hang out with me for a weekend when Quinn ditched me. I was super offended that Quinn did not invite me to come along on his overnight excursion, I am his wife!, should he not want to spend every moment by my side? Then he told me he would be driving up to Heber and building snow caves with the scouts and sleeping in them. Wise choice not to invite the eternally cold wife not to sleep in snow caves with you, also...it is Feburary in Utah. I would much prefer the comfort of a warm bed and a thermostat reading a toasty 72.

I headed up to Logan to visit Natalie at Utah State. I forget how beauiful Sardine Canyon is...I think that's because I developed at deep loathing for it while communitng to USU from Salt Lake for a semester, it is not nearly as pretty when you have to drive it 2 times a day every day. The night in Logan was spent going out to dinner with some old girlfriends, making and eating entirely too many homeade pizzaookies, and staying up until 2:30 a.m. Being the married women that I am...I cannot remeber the last time my clock read later than 11:30 when my exhausted head hit the pillow!

I decided that I wanted to treat Natalie to a snowshoeing adventure. It is high time that I stop dragging poor Quinn up a freezing mountain early on a saturday (who only kind of likes snowshoeing and only goes with me becuase it is a great way to tire me out and guarantee the rare treat of nachos or something fatty afterwards!) Plus he is an amazing husband) Natalie and I decided on the Old Ephriam trail up Logan canyon and set off on our adventure. After a brutally grueling glute burning uphill climb (I was cursing the aforemention pizzaookies the whole time) we took a quick break to enjoy the view and play around in the snow for awhile. We hiked up a little bit farther before we decided to call it quits due to screaming muscles. Thankfully there were not too many people around to see how beautiful we looked during our sweaty snowshoe however, I do feel bad for the cross country skiers we hounded down to capture our adventure on film (thankfully they did not take a close up!)

USU Roomie Reuion

In Feburary my old USU roomie's and I had a rare chance to get together. I always love getting together with those girls, you forget how much fun it is to sit around, talk, and eat until you're sick (I think every girl can relate when I say that girls nights are a great excuse to over indulge in any food that in sinfully yummy).

Get togethers like this remind me how much truly can happen in 2 years. If this picture took place two years ago, everyone would be single, no one would be pregnant (Charlotte), we would all be living together in Logan, and all still be students. 2 years later however, 3 of us are married, 2 are graduated and have left Logan, and 1 is preganant and has a dog! Too bad I had to join the "real world", which FYI is definantly not as fun as the alternative...College.

Long Over Due...

I am guilty as charged! I am an inactive blogger and am fully willing to admit it. I swore to myself once I began blogging, I would take time once a week to post any interesting, funny, or enlightening things that happened in our lives...well we can all see how long that lasted. I blame it on technology. Not too long after my last post, my laptop got very sick and needed some major TLC. So, Circut City was contacted and my little laptop was sent off on an all expenses paid (thanks to insurance :) trip to the HP factory for some much needed R and R. Three long computer-less weeks later, the laptop returned fully recovered and ready for action...at least I hope!

Now is the task of back tracking the ever so interesting and entertaining life that we lead and telling everyone about it. If you are not ready for a long read, feel free to read this marathon update in shifts.