Our first (mostly) successful Thanksgiving dinner!

Matt and I decided not to go home for Thanksgiving this year - it's too expensive, plus it's hard for Matt to get work off. So we made Thanksgiving dinner all by ourselves. We even bought and roasted a turkey! Everything turned out really well... there were a few mishaps, but for the most part, it tasted just like being home. Lexie helped cook, and we had both Lexie and Jason over for dinner. Here are some pictures and the tales to go with them:

Lexie came over the night before to make pies and some of the other things that could be done the night before. Here is a picture of the pie crust that I was very proud of. It turned out so good!


So this pie is going to be a lemon meringue pie. I'll paraphrase the conversation we had as we made the pie so you can see what happened (and I'm going to do it without putting names by what was said, because Lexie and I are equally at fault for the outcome of the pie):
-Ok, the recipe says we can add some yellow food coloring to make it more yellow.
-Ooh, food coloring! Let's make it a different color!
-Ok, add some red. That mixes well with yellow!

-Hey, red and blue make purple. Do you want to make it purple?
-Yeah, add some blue.
(Note, orange and blue do not make purple. At all.)

-Eww. This looks like snot.
-Darn. How can we fix it? More yellow?
(That was unsuccessful... it just looked even more like snot)
-I don't think we're going to be able to make it anything but green. Add some green food coloring so that at least it's an edible green.

-This recipe says stir until think. What's thick?
-Mom says it should coat the spoon.
-Well, it is, but it's really runny.
-Alright, well, let's add some more cornstarch.

-This doesn't look quite right.
-Hmm. Well... just pour it in the crust.

-Maybe the meringue will make it look better??

-Fluff it up a lot so at least it looks good from the outside.
-Do these count as "stiff peaks"?
-Hmm....

-Well, let's stick it in the oven and see what happens. At least it looks good from the outside.

-It looks great! No one will know!
-Until they cut into it....

-Wait a minute, it looks like the green melted out the bottom of the pie.
-Eww. It looks moldy.
-Well, it'll be really funny the first time Jason sees this "lemon" pie.
-I don't know if I can eat that.

This is the finished product. The pie crust was great, the meringue mediocre, and the filling pretty darn bad. The green was bad enough, but we also cooked it too long or added too much cornstarch (we haven't figured out which one), and it was more like Jello than it was like pudding... It was pretty bad. The pumpkin chocolate chip cheesecake next to it turned out fantastic, though. Luckily.



That was an adventure. I don't think we'll be trying the food coloring again any time soon. Here are pictures of Thanksgiving day:

We watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in the morning. This was Owen's first time seeing Santa Clause.

He wasn't super excited...


Matt stuffed and prepared the turkey while I told him what to do. I don't really like touching and sticking my hands inside half-frozen whole raw dead animals... so I directed, and he followed. We put sage butter between the skin and the meat of the turkey... yummy. And yes, those are chopsticks he used to season the turkey. Long story.


This was Owen's job during the preparation: look cute and stay happy.

Taking a break while I continued cooking. This was Owen's Thanksgiving dinner.

Taking the turkey out of the roasting pan. It looked so good!

Matt carving the turkey as the man of the house. He was pretty proud. And he did a very good job.

Lexie and me waiting for one more thing to come out of the oven and get added to the food table.

Eating Thanksgiving dinner!


Well, that's it for our first Thanksgiving dinner that we made by ourselves. After dinner, we watched "Night at the Museum" and then ate pie. We were all wiped out. I have cute pictures from earlier in the week and from Owen's first trip to Salt Lake City, but I'm too tired to post those right now. Maybe tomorrow. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone, and here's to a great Christmas season!

PS for Marissa - Matt and I talked about all the things we were thankful for. That had actually been our FHE earlier this week, so we just had a recap today. Thanks for the great idea. We miss you! Hope you had a great Thanksgiving!

Zoolander baby

Check out Owen's Blue Steel face:

Soggy.

Soggy (adjective): Soaked; thoroughly wet; damp and heavy; saturated with moisture; soaked; sodden; wet.

Synonyms: Sodden; sopping; damp; heavy; limp; mushy; saturated; soaked.


This is the new theme of my life, courtesy of Owen. He is the king of soggy. Between spitting up, crying, drooling, peeing, pooping, and his runny nose, my clothes, everything in our house, and all of Owen's clothes are in a constant state of soggy. For a kid who can't sit up, can't move around, and hasn't even figured out yet how to control his limbs, that's a lot of laundry, not to mention a lot of garbage (his diapers make our trash weigh sooo much more). Matt and I looked around at our house the other day (which is a complete disaster right now), and noticed that besides a few clothes in our bedroom, absolutely none of the mess came from things belonging to us. It was all Owen's stuff. It's amazing how much this kid has taken over every aspect of our lives. We couldn't be happier, though. :)

Here are some recent pictures of our soggy boy:

You can see all Owen's stuff in the back of this one: stroller, carseat, playmat, swing, bouncer... and that's just the beginning...


funny face


Matt loves playing with Owen.


Stealing Owen's pluggy.


All ready for bed.


Haha, we were trying to get a picture of his hair in this one. Sometimes it just sticks up really funny after a bath or after we take his hat off. I love his face in this one, too, though. It's as if he knows we're laughing at him.


This one is a little blurry, but I love the face he's making.


Sometimes when he squirms around, his ears escape from his hat. I think he looks like an elf when that happens.


These next three are attempts at catching his smile... all a bit late, but they're cute anyway. His smile is huge!! He's started responding with smiles when we talk to him, but they're tough to catch on camera.




This is how Owen looks a lot when we're holding him - he just loves to look around.


These next two are Owen sleeping in his favorite place - the baby carrier. Matt often does his homework like this if we can't get Owen to calm down. I love how Owen is just hanging out.



And finally, a video. I've been trying to catch Owen's sounds on video, because they're so cute. He's just learning that he can use his mouth for things other than eating and crying. The video isn't very high quality - our camera has issues - and it will probably be boring for most people. I put this on here mainly for Owen's grandmas, who can't get enough. :)

Have you ever...?

Sarah posted this on her blog, and we thought it looked like fun. What you do is copy it to your own blog and then bold the ones that you have done. Matt and I added our initials after the things we've done, so you can tell which of us have done what. Here's the list:

1. Started your own blog - N
2. Slept under the stars – N&M
3. Played in a band – N&M
4. Visited Hawaii - M
5. Watched a meteor shower - N
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland – N&M
8. Climbed a mountain – N&M
9. Held a praying mantis – N&M
10. Sang a solo – N&M
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris - N
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea - M
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning - M
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables - N
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France - N
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight – N&M
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort - N
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon - M
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse – N&M
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset – N&M
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise - M
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person - M
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors - N
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied - M
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing – N&M
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke – N&M
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt - N
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight – N&M
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris - N
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling – N&M
52. Kissed in the rain – N&M
53. Played in the mud – N&M
54. Gone to a drive-in theater - M
55. Been in a movie – N&M
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class - M
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen – N&M
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies - N
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason - N
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma - M
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy – N&M
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial – N&M
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt - N
73. Stood in Times Square - M
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London - N
77. Broken a bone - M
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle – N&M
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person – N
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper – N&M
85. Read the entire Bible - M
86. Visited the White House – N&M
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating - M
88. Had chickenpox – N&M
89. Saved someone’s life - M
90. Sat on a jury - M
91. Met someone famous - M
92. Joined a book club - N
93. Lost a loved one - M
94. Had a baby - N
95. Seen the Alamo in person - M
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone – N&M
99. Been stung by a bee – N&M

Lots and lots of pictures...

Alright, so I know every single post lately has been all Owen pictures... but really, that's all I do all day long now, and who wants to see pictures of me or Matt when you could see pictures of a cute baby??

Anyway... yesterday Grandma Bromley was here visiting. My aunt Dorothy had her new baby girl last week and grandma is helping them out, so she came down to Provo for a day to meet Owen and to see all the Bromley cousins. We went out to dinner at Cafe Rio and had a great time catching up (and I forgot to take pictures of the cousin dinner... oops). Here's a great picture, though - Grandma Bromley with her first great-grandson.


Owen ran out of clothes this week - he had spit up or had his diaper explode over all of his size newborn clothes, so I put him in one of his 3 month outfits. The overalls turned out to be way too big, so I took them off and put on some little stretch pants instead. This was the end result:



We think he looked like Smee, from Peter Pan:


Owen loves the baby carrier that we have. He can be wide awake, and we put him in there and start walking around, and within five minutes he's out cold. Here are pictures of Matt carrying Owen when we were delivering fliers for a ward activity.

Looking up at daddy.

Guess where Owen is??

All cozy.

Matt calls this 'skydiving'. :)


Here's a picture of one of the things I love about Owen: his huuuuuge stretches! This is what he does right after we pick him up after he's been sleeping for a while:


Here's a picture Matt took of Owen sleeping next to me on the couch. I love his little tiny hand:


After Owen's early morning feeding (usually at 5:30 or 6:00), I keep him in bed with me. Matt's usually up by then, so there's plenty of space. He sleeps on his back when he's in his crib, but whenever he's in our bed, he rolls over to his side. I love how he sleeps curled up into a little ball:


After the last post, you may think that Owen is incapable of taking a normal picture... but I found at least one cute one, amid some other crazy ones. :)


This one cracks me up every time:


And finally, I have a sad sad story. A couple days before Owen was born, Matt and I bought a pumpkin, intending to carve it for Halloween. I made sure that it was the roundest, most perfectly shaped pumpkin I had ever seen so that it would be easy to carve. I was pretty darn proud of the one we got. Well, we took it home and put it in our apartment, but we didn't get around to carving it, because I went into labor just a few days later. The pumpkin was forgotten. When we had to put Owen in the bilirubin light box, we turned our heater up to 80 degrees, since he couldn't wear any clothes - we didn't want him getting too cold. Well, we discovered a few days later that the 80 degree weather had absolutely destroyed our perfect pumpkin. Alas, we never got to carve it. Here is our Halloween pumpkin 2008... or what remains of it:

Poor pumpkin.