A Few Pictures from England

This spring Maren and I took a trip to England. I had promised her (and Erik) a trip after their senior year of High School. Last summer, with getting Erik ready for his mission, and getting Maren ready for BYU, we didn't have time for this. So we went after she finished her first year of college. (Erik will get his trip when he gets home..I'm thinking he will want to go to Mexico.)

Here are some pictures, in no particular order.

On the ancient wall surrounding the city of York

At the ruins of St. Mary's in York

York Minster in the background

In Bronte country, at the Wuthering Heights pub

A friend I have known online for about 6 or 7 years. It was great to finally meet him in person!

At the Roman Baths in Bath

Outside the cathedral in Bath.

This is the car we rented and put 1200 miles on. 1200 scary miles.

Westminster

Hampton Court Palace

Buckingham Palace

The White Tower at the Tower of London

Winsdor castle

The Round Tower at Winsdor

A cat we found in  York. Maren named her Tulip

A cat we found in Haworth. This one got the name Apricot

Stonehenge. Windy both times I've been there

Maren at the big ring of rocks

This (and the next picture) is at a place called Lulworth Cove, along England's Jurassic coast.

Durdle Door

Snelsmore Common

Another picture of our little Ford Focus. At one point (day 1 or 2 of me trying to drive it...throw a (left-handed) stick shift on top of being on the wrong side of the car and on the wrong side of the road and you can understand the terror) Maren said to me "Why did we leave London? Why did we think this was going to be a good idea?" Once day 3 in the car hit, I was doing better and it was slightly less terrifying. I was so relieved when we turned it in and hadn't hit anything with my passenger-side wing mirror!

Baby A's Birthday

When Baby A arrived we couldn't wait to meet him! My three youngest came with me to the hospital to visit him...and his mom and dad.

Perfect little fingers and fingernails.

Precious pink feet

All 10 toes!

"It's so hard to wake up, Mom!"

Little baby grimace.

Sleeping peacefully

Mommy and Daddy + baby make three!

Their long-awaited little miracle.

Grandpa and Grandma V meet Baby A for the first time.

Grandpa checks for hair.

Grandma cuddles him close.

Grandpa checking out his sweet little face.

He looks like his daddy (I think).

Grandma having some grandbaby time.

Congratulations to my sister and her husband. They have waited for this little baby for many, many years!

Baby Shower!

Children's Book Theme

In February, I helped host a baby shower for my little sister, Kristin. We had so much fun, building around a children's book theme. We asked each of the guests to please bring a book in place of a card, to help build Baby A's library. Thank heaven for creative people whose ideas are posted on Pinterest, because I am good at copying ideas...not so good at coming up with them on my own.

I was in charge of all the food, so I made these little taco bites to go with the book Dragons Love Tacos. I used won-ton wrappers as the shell, and filled them with a small scoop of ground turkey, cheese, tomato, olive, and cilantro. I thought about doing beans, as well, but I was trying to simplify. They turned out quite yummy, and my catering partner (my 14-year-old son) probably ate about half of them!

We did fruit kababs for the book The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

We made little ham sandwiches and deviled eggs to go with Green Eggs and Ham. I thought about dyeing the egg filling green, to fit the theme...but, really, green eggs are unappetizing...and the point was made without the green food dye.

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie and The Duckling Gets a Cookie!? had chocolate chip cookies.

This little book is one of my favorites...little sister bunny wants to hear something happy before going to bed, so big brother takes her all around the house, showing her all the things waiting for her to wake up in the morning (one of which are the ingredients for breakfast and include oats, apples, honey, etc). So we made little apple crisps for the book Tell Me Something Happy Before I Go to Sleep.

Mini cupcakes for dessert. You don't need a book to go with cupcakes. Cupcakes are always appropriate. We had vanilla and chocolate. Yum!

The lady in charge of decorations did such a beautiful job! She made this cute diaper cake, decorated with books, bibs, toys, etc. We had a calendar with stickers, so people could put the sticker on the day they guessed the baby would be born on. The little pom poms on the lamp were made out of children's book pages.

More book decor.

This book "wreath" was made of pages from childrens' books t hat were rolled up and fanned out with a book in the center. It turned out so darling!

A book banner decorated the fireplace.

Our 3rd helper provided her beautiful home, a delicious green salad, and this very yummy punch!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars

Has anyone who frequents Facebook noticed that the recipe posts are getting a bit out of hand? It's like it is turning into a mash-up between Facebook and Pinterest. Pin-book, if you will. In any event, I have been bombarded with food porn on Facebook lately, as well as the normal amount of food porn that Pinterest contains. So, when Maren wanted to make a Sunday treat for the family, I knew the perfect friend's Facebook page to scroll through for some yummy looking recipes. We found this gem...Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars. 

 I confess, I have not tasted these. I am doing a nutrition challenge that forbids me from eating any of the ingredients in these, except the baking powder, soda, and butter (in moderation--which these are not). But they look delish, don't they? It seems to be a new take on the old fashioned Peanut Butter Fingers we used to get as a treat about once a month at the school cafeteria in elementary school. Anyway, they have enough butter and sugar in them, that they're bound to be good.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars

2 cups quick-cooking oats

1 3/4 cups firmly packed light brown sugar

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup butter

1/2 cup chopped peanuts (optional)

1 cup (6 oz. pkg.) semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 large egg, beaten

1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

Heat oven to 350*F. Combine oats, brown sugar, flour, baking powder and baking soda in a large bowl. Cut in butter with pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Stir in peanuts, if desired. 

Reserve 1 1/2 cups crumb mixture in separate bowl. Stir egg into remaining crumb mixture. Press onto bottom of a 13 x 9-inch baking pan. 

Bake 15 minutes.

Stir together sweetened condensed milk and peanut butter until well combined. Pour evenly over partially baked crust.

Stir together reserved crumb mixture and chocolate chips. Sprinkle evenly over peanut butter layer.
Bake an additional 15 minutes. Cool. Cut into bars.

Unfortunately, these recipes don't ever link to a website or give credit to anyone, so I apologize I don't know who to credit these yummy bars to. Maren has assured me they are wonderful, and the boys have gobbled up 2, each. So, like I said, you can't go wrong with a cup of butter and that much brown sugar. Enjoy!