Want to go camping?

Lisa and I are both campers. Some of the funnest memories I have when I was little are of riding in the old Jeep Cherokee with my parents as the car overheated every mile or two as we hauled our camp trailer up and down the mountians in the forest. WE would pull over and my dad would get out the water jug and refill the radiator. It was so fun (for the kids anyway)! I remember floating the rivers in our little raft, never being able to catch a fish (except once at a fish hatchery) and bawling my head off when it was time to go home. Now I get to decide when we go home! ;) Lisa and I got a camp trailer!

After weeks of checking Craigslist, we found the perfect trailer for us. It was however, in Weiser, Idaho. Ever heard of it? Neither had we. Anyway, We packed up the Explorer and headed there.

It was about an hour drive to get there from here. We were less than 10 miles from Oregon which is the closest either of us have ever been to the state.

The guy we bought it from was so nice. We walked us through everything from how to put it up and down to how to use the stove, furnace, and battery.

We spent all day yesterday cleaning it up and getting it ready to do some camping. We can't wait!


Go Broncos! Yes, you would think that Trace would be the biggest Boise State fan if you found him in these but actually I wore these when I was little (and I'm not sure the colors had anything to do with BSU at the time, they were just cool 70s colors ;-)

Despite what some may think, these are my favorite outfit for Trace for several reasons; not just because they used to be mine.

1) They are soft and warm

2) They fit well

3) Although I'm an Aggie, BSU actually wins some Football games

4) In one quick zip baby is dressed and ready to go!

Trace had a bath yesterday and it was the first time we saw the expression of cold on his little face so I quickly bundled him in this warm towell and he loved it.

I wonder what he was thinking?

UPDATE - Picture Taking Competion. On another note it appears that Picture A won our little competition. Lisa is really shocked that her mud puddle didn't get more votes. I told her that it was hard to tell what it was but she insisted that it was the best of them all! ;-) Thanks for voting!

Last update! Our dentist, Dr. Mark Smith gave Lisa this mold to make with Trace's foot and hand. I pushed too hard and what you see on the left is the consequence but Lisa still managed to make it look good. How does she do that? :) Anyway, we now have a foot and handprint of the little fellow.

Competition on!

One of the best things about spring is that you can get out and go somewhere! Lisa and I went to the Expo Center and decided to have a picture taking contest and put our best two each here. Which is the best? Let us know what you think... The winner gets to choose where we go for dinner next! Yep, the stakes are high so come on and help me out. I really could go for a burger! yummm!
A.

B.

C.



D.

Got paid 5 cents to take home Crescent rolls!

Above you will see a stash of goodies we picked up last night at Albertsons. I always hated Albertsons growing up because it was the only store that was close to our house so we always went there and everything always seemed expensive.

But, things were pretty different yesterday!
Lisa and I had just sat down to watch a movie with dinner when the phone rang. Sarah called us to tell us about these fantastic deals she had gotten at Albertsons.

We almost bagged it cuz we were already watching a movie but since Sarah was returning for another load we finally gave in and were glad we did!
I would have never figured out the system if it weren't for my sister Sarah (Accountant).

The thing was you had to buy certain things in groups of ten. For example, I had to buy 10 boxes of cake for 1.25 each. Then they would give me a coupon for 10.00 so in reality I only paid .25 per cake mix.

Then I would buy 10 cans of Progreso for 1.50 each and would get another 10.00 coupon so they would be .50 each.

To make a long story short, I went there expecting to pick up some granola bars and came home with a fort of cereal boxes, cakes, and brownie mixes! We paid under 75 bucks and saved over 200 smackers! Yay!

Two teethed Trace!

Trace's little teeth are coming up quite nicely.

So tonight Lisa is out cake decorating again which works out nicely cuz that means I get some cake later on but for now I'm bored... wait a second! I think The Office is on. Never mind, will blog later!

The Rainbow Cake

This little guy wanted cake and reached for it, but settled for the pillow!

Ok, cake decorating is not an easy job! We had to make two round cakes and level them with a wire and cut layers to add filling. That was a beast in and of itself! This is a picture of the base coat of frosting. Not as even as I would have liked but I ran out of frosting.

Here are all the cake supplies to bring to class. I carried this and the cake in at the same time. I am SO surprised I didn't drop the cake in the parking lot!

Here we are in class (15 minutes late!). We are getting the stuff together to start decorating. She had to check the consistency of our frosting that we made at home. She said mine shouldn't look like rocks and I had to fix it in class :)

We practiced on these papers and I forgot to put plastic over it so now my papers are all greasy.

Starting to frost the rainbow!

Here is the finished project.

This is mine and my sister in law, Sarah's cakes.

We managed to get them home without an unfortunate accident and without eating them in the car!

We just can't cut them!

I filled mine with Nutella and Vanilla pudding. Yummm!

Time to gorge...

I told Kody I would have put his name on it too but I ran out of room.

Well, definitely need A LOT more practice but it tasted good :)

We can't all be Julia Childs!!!

Grandy and Grandpa Duncan came to visit this weekend!

Trace was very excited as you can see. He got spoiled rotten the whole time.

We had so much fun having them in town. We went shopping, out to eat, and played games.

On Friday after work, Kody met us at Walmart and we piled into the same car to drive around. It wasn't until this morning (Sunday) that we realized we had left the Altima at Walmart. Luckily it was still there not towed and no ticket. At least it was the car and not the baby!

Does life get any better than this?

Sarah (Kody's sister) and I enrolled in a Cake Decorating class at Michaels. We went to the first class on Thursday and I am convinced it is going to be harder than my Bachelor's degree! My wonderful mom hooked me up with the supplies and we made the frosting today. This is harder than it looks!

This stuff is so thick it all got caught it the beaters and chunks started flying all over the kitchen. These look different because one of us used butter flavored shortening. Its supposed to be white ;)

Kade wasn't too impressed with my frosting.

But Kiera sure liked it!

Wish I could have some!!

Thats random!

We haven't posted anything for a while or at least it feels like a while anyway, so we decided to post an update on a few random things that we did over the past couple weeks. There is not really any rhyme or reason.

The first thing to tell is TRACE HAS TEETH! He has two tiny little teeth coming up from the bottom of his gums. If you looked super close you may be able to see them. They are tiny but there!

This one I title "A Good Dinner". I came home from work last Monday and Lisa said "We are going to have a good dinner and then a good family home evening". I was super excited... until I saw her slap this down on the plate.

Heyyy, wait a minute....

Normally Lisa makes fantastic meals, but this night we had a "good meal" of Raman, and no the lesson wasn't on being thankful for what you have although it probably should have been.
A few of you requested her recipe for cookies, maybe these pics will inspire you to request the recipe for this as well. It is the Creamy Chicken flavor and cooks in less than 5 minutes!
Wheres Waldo?? Can you find Lisa in this picture? We decided to have a photo-taking contest which quickly evolved.

Look closely and you just might find Lisa or her head anyway.....

Then Lisa got an idea... I took her idea and implimented a hair piece.

Jumping forward several days, we went on a family walk outside today. Poor little guy. I guess his ears were kept warm though.

Trace liked the front pack a lot this time. We are super excited for Spring and to get outside and have some fun out there! Even Trace is excited. You can see it in his eyes!

Strawberry Cake Cookie Recipe

Here is the cookie recipe for those of you who asked.
Ingredients:
1 box strawberry cake mix (or any flavor) [Remove 3 Tbls of the mix and trash it]
2 Eggs
1/3 C oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Combine ingredients. If mix is too wet add more of the mix you put to the side.
Bake for 7 minutes or until they are slightly golden brown. They don't look all the way done but they are.

Frost with any frosting. I like vanilla or rainbow chip.
I want to try German Chocolate cookies next. So easy and so good!

What is this song?

I came to our blog today and found this strange song Lisa has added. It seems like one from before I was born but she really likes it.

So I have learned a few things this week.

1) Lisa likes songs that I find humorous (what you are listening to now is only one of several humorous tunes).
2) When dad says not to let the gas get too low in the car he means it. (Thanks Sarah & Shawn for letting us borrow the gas container)
3)Even though i am trying to compete in a weight loss contest, I can't stay away from the strawberry cake cookies that Lisa makes. Why did she make these, they are soooo good!!
4)Use a nail when hanging items on the wall, yes a screw is easier to find sometimes but take the time and use a nail, you will have much smaller holes in the wall and be much better off. Thank goodness its covered, for now.
5) Don't blog about how delicious the cookies are when you know they are sitting only four feet away in a container and no one is there to stop you from eating them all.

Fun with Grandma & Grandpa Stimpson!!

We took a trip to see my parents this weekend. It was so fun! I wish we could have stayed longer.

My dad came up to Trace and held his arms out to him and Trace lifted his little arms out to him! He doesn't even do that to me so he must really love his grandpa!

Trace was spoiled rotten! Grandma and Grandpa are trained professionals in this area as they have 24 grandkids already!!

We picked a good weekend to come because Dan & Mel and their family were also visiting from Provo.

Here are just three of my cute nieces! Can you believe how much they have grown? and they are so stylish! I am realizing how much I am out of style and caught in the late 90s as that is when I graduated. It appears that the 80s style is coming back which is cool but will be even cooler when the mullets successfully make their re-appearance!!

Lisa and I clipped Kenya's fur because she was furring too much! However, when we brought Kenya with us to Idaho Falls we needed to wrap her up in this blanket to help keep her warm. She seemed to like it!

Yumm!!! My favorite place to eat. Iggys!! Sadly, there isn't one in Boise, but there is in Idaho Falls so thanks Mom & Dad and Wendy & Aaron for letting us all go here and eat. It was delicious, specifically the Aloha Burger and that Chili water sauce that you dip the bread in. Yumm! We even bought a bottle of it for yes, under 4 dollars, worth every cent!!

And here we have Wendy & Aaron at Iggys. Congratulations Aaron on your new calling in the Elder's quorum!!! You will do great!

After one of Trace's naps in the crib we found him all scratched up and bleeding. Sadly, his finger nail was the culprit. It scratched his cheek and his head, poor guy. But thanks to some cortizon it is already healing up quickly.

Here is Aunt Wendy & little Trace flying in the sky!

Grandma & Grandpa got Trace a new little jacket. It is not only hip but it will fit him for a long time. It was a great trip and we hope to make it again soon!!