The Zoo: Part 573

We hadn't been to the zoo for a while. A couple months ago, we were hitting it up weekly. Today was the perfect day. Breezy, sunny, with a few clouds.

Every zoo visit we make seems to get easier and better than the last. I just swing on a backpack and let Jaiden roam free. It's so much nicer now that he is older.

He will even pose for a picture. Cheese!

On the "choo choo." We got an awesome look at the cougar this time.

Jaiden almost had a too-close encounter with a random peacock. He just wouldn't let it be. It's funny, they kind of have the same walk.

Jaiden was really excited to see the nasty bugs and snakes in the reptile house. It was pretty stinky in there.

For some reason, Jaiden is slightly scared of all the bronze sculptures in the zoo. He finally touched this tiger one. We had a blast. It was nice to be just the two of us. We took our time and made it home for naps.

What a Guy!

We love our little helper! Jaiden will be 2 this month and I still can't believe it. He is getting so big and so smart. I'm so proud of this boy even when he's crazy(which is all day, everyday). We are so thankful for the laughter and hapiness he brings our little family. We are truly blessed.

Pickles and Pizza

Today was an awesome Saturday. It was my first attempt to can. Canning bread and butter pickles has been one of those things that I've been wanting to do since I saw it at a Relief Society enrichment night a year ago. This last week I had the opportunity to go the farmer's market downtown with family. I'm glad I did because they had these little gherkins right out in front calling my name. Other than taking all day, this canning project was easy... something I wasn't expecting. Thanks to my awesome mother-in-law, Shirley, for letting me use another one of her kitchen gadgets! I now have the confidence to can anything. They turned out so good... next project: dill pickles.
I finally discovered a way to manipulate photos through my photo gallery app. It's fun to mess with color and contrast.

Our day ended with, what I think is, the best pizza I've ever made. Margherita. Thanks to my brother-in-law, Travis, for hinting to use fresh mozzarella cheese. I'll never go back to cheap shredded. Jaiden ate about 2 pieces... which is a big deal. He's finally starting to eat again. It's been fun to be home and have the time to try all these things. I love cooking and I'm glad cooking loves me.

Mommy's Little Helper

I found a fun new recipe in hope that I could get Jaiden to eat more veggies. These carrot cookies were too delicious to be healthy. I couldn't put them down, especially the ones we frosted. Jaiden decided to cut out ducks and footballs. Nice combo. He definitely showed me that he's growin' up. Jaiden had a couple and we saved the rest for Dad. He cleaned plate. This green plate. Guess who liked them the most?

Blueberry Yogurt Scones

I found this recipe on a blog I follow, For the Love of Cooking. I changed the recipe a bit and I love how they turned out. These are a great breakfast treat!

Scones:

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon baking powder

2 tablespoons sugar

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into chunks

1/2 cup non-fat vanilla yogurt

1/3 cup milk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Wisk all dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Cut in butter until mixture looks like coarse crumbs. Fold in yogurt and milk just until combined. Do not over work dough. Grease and flour a baking sheet. Form dough into a rectangle and make horizontal, vertical, and 2 diagonal cuts. Bake 15-20 minutes.

Lemon drizzle:

2 cups powdered sugar

1/2 cup lemon juice

1 lemon, zest finely grated

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted

Wisk all ingredients together in a microvawable bowl. Cook in microwave for 30 seconds. Wisk again until smooth and drizzle over each scone. Enjoy!

Breakfast

Today Jaiden decided to invite a few of his friends to breakfast. I asked him to get in his seat and he ran straight to his room. Moments later he had all of the above on top of his tray. I tried to move his elephant and giraffe off to give him more room but he wasn't having any of it. So, in order to get "skinny bones" to eat, I organized his animals and basketballs so that his plate would fit right in the middle.
Speaking of animals... This is a funny story. So, last night we had to stop downtown for a minute so Dal could help his buddy. We took Jaiden in to say hello to a few friends. Dal took him in to the party and they just happened to have a guy with a snake there. It was a circus party. The guy held the snake in front of him so Jaiden could feel it. Jaiden screamed, "Nope..nope!" He wanted nothing to do with it. Dal came out with him and we got into the car. Immediately Jaiden piped up, "I touch the snake!" "No you didn't," Dal snapped back. I had no clue what had happened. "I touch the snake!" Every five minutes, the whole way home, he would tell us what he didn't do. We just laughed because he acted like he was so cool. He tried to trick me but, thanks to Dal, I got the true story.

Short sentences...

Jaiden is almost two and has been talking pretty good for a while. We are so excited to start posting our favorite Jaiden quotes. Thanks to cousin "Jacers," we now want to start the weekly ritual. It has been fun watching Jaiden grow and develop. He makes us laugh constantly.

This week:

This is more like every morning. Jaiden loves to help give his fish, Herbert, "nums." After, he gets real close to the opening of the tank and sweetly says, "Hey fish. How doin'?"

The other day Dal was sitting on our bed. Jaiden walked in almost naked and said, "Hey Bob."

We were a little confused to where Bob came from.

My favorite was when I was getting Jaiden ready for bed one night. We said prayers, then I told him that I loved him and to have a good night. He looked at me with a sleepy cheeser and said, "I lub you mom. Night, night." I got close and said, "I love you more." That's when he put his hand on my mouth and said, "Bye, bye."