Book Club = Great Conversation, Food, Friends.....oh yeah & books too!

Last night was our bi monthly book club. Books up for discussion were "Pope Joan" and "The Goose Girl." Both are great books for different reasons. Book club is always such fun! Us girls gab until midnight (ask Abbie about the sasquatch on her cruise or for one of her impersonations - she's great!) & enjoy great snacks (last night was my artichoke dip.) We'll admit we don't spend a lot of time reviewing the books (since we rarely have all read BOTH books & just enjoy chatting about other things.) Since a lot of the book club gals see my blog here are the details for next time: book club is at Jamie's in May - we will be reading "My Sister's Keeper" by Jodi Picoult & "The Traveler's Gift" by Andy Andrews.

I don't believe we decided who would help bring refreshments for that night. Also here is my artichoke dip recipe which will appear on this Sunday's RS newsletter. You either love this dip or hate it (only my mom hates it though.)

Artichoke Dip

8 ounce cream cheese – softened
1 cup miracle whip
7 ounce can green chiles – diced
1 can artichoke bottoms or hearts – drained & chopped
1 can waterchesnuts – drained & chopped
1/3 cup parmesan cheese (you will use half of this in the mixture & save the rest for on top)

Hand mix ingredients together.
Pour into pie plate – sprinkle remaining parmesan cheese on top.

Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes or until golden brown.

Egg-citing Weekend

Easter weekend is always fun! The boys enjoyed coloring easter eggs with their cousins at granny's house (Aunt Amber is such a great helper with the kids while I sit & be lazy.)

Then we had a delicious Easter dinner followed up by a fun easter egg hunt! HAPPY EASTER!

One of the Boys

Over the Easter weekend I took this picture of all the boys on my side of the family and thought it was cute - we definitely are male dominant in this family. My dad does come from a family of 8 (or was it 9) brothers and only 1 sister so what do you expect? I have one darling niece (who is not pictured since I was doing a boy's only picture.) These guys range from 12 yrs down to 4 months old.

Parker & Paxton are really enjoying the newest addition to our family - 4 month old Maxwell Peter (for all my S.F. friends, remember Mr. Clark the basketball coach in middle school? This is his grandson since my brother married his oldest daughter, who me and Susie used to baby sit when we were back in middle school and she was like 2 or 3 yrs old, small world! :) The boys had to take turns holding him, at least Max was a good sport while they played musical baby & passed him around.

What Will He Ask Me Next?

Paxton cracks me up with the comments he makes & questions he asks. The other day he called me a doofus and that was quickly followed up by "Mom, what's a doofus?" (You can tell his older brother has called him that once or twice.) Yesterday Paxton spilled something & I said "look what you did" & he said all dramatic like "Forgive me." Then he follows that up with "Mom, what is forgive me?" I thought, geez for not knowing what that is you sure used it in the right context. So I explained it's like "I'm sorry." Now he says it all the time after he does something that warrants a sorry. Paxton was asking where the Easter Bunny gets all the stuff he brings to everyone & then the other night Paxton asked how babies get in your tummy. I haven't had to worry about that question from my 9 yr old & here it comes from my 4 yr old. I skirted around the issue & he kept asking "but how does the baby get in your tummy?" I said something about how a baby starts out real small like a little seed in your tummy & grows little by little. That got him thinking for a bit & then he said "Oh, I know....a baby grows from a piece of candy & when you drink water it goes into your tummy & grows." Hey, I'll let him think that if it gets me off the hook with "the question" for several years.

The Annual Pinewood Derby

Well tonight was the scout's annual pinewood derby. Last year Parker took 2nd place overall and received a trophy and everything. This year was not to be a repeat of last year. Every kid gets a ribbon though and he got the "Most Inventive Entry" award. I think this was a nice way of saying "we don't know what else to call your car so we will find a nice roundabout way to say that." This year for some reason the bottom of the car dragged on the track because of the weight underneath. So we had to remove the weight from the bottom and stick it on the top - it did look pretty dumb but luckily there were a few other boys in the same predicament. Parker was a great sport though - didn't pout or get upset with not winning and enjoyed himself regardless. Afterward our ward had their 1st annual Powder Puff Pinewood Derby for the 8-11 yr old Achievement Day girls so we had to stick around and watch them too which was fun. (For all you who have upcoming scout boys that do not have all the saws and tools to cut your block of wood into a car shape, head over to Roberts Craft with your 40% coupon - they have a selection of precut cars & all your kid needs to do is sand them a bit, paint them & put on the wheels & weight. It's the way to go unless you have a husband that enjoys making these things.)

Sidenote: Parker is convinced he needs to grow out his hair so he's on the shaggy side right now, We aren't sure what to do with it, (maybe the sides need to be thinned out) so it looks funny in the pictures.

Look Ma, No Wheels

I had a knock at my door this afternoon. My friend Heather was there and told me "I got you a blog moment, get your camera." Her son has been learning to ride a 2 wheel bike & her hubby let Paxton try it out too. I took a quick picture, (not a close up like I wanted because once again my batteries were dying - a new set are in the mail on the way.) They said "did you know he could do this?" And it reminded me in the fall Eric did have him riding a bit on 2 wheels (see pic below) but then I made him put the training wheels back on since when the training wheels come off they think they can ride in the road since we taught them how to ride with 2 wheels in the road. Next thing I know Paxton is bringing me the wrench to get his training wheels off but it's not the right size. Heather we may be coming over tomorrow to borrow the wrench to get the training wheels off.

Bobby's Tender Roni's

Hillarie & Susie will appreciate this post. I was in the shower this morning & when I got out discovered Paxton & the neighbor had gone under the house & unpacked all my barbies and things from my past. In one of the boxes was this picture we had gotten taken somewhere in University Mall. Since I recently posted the thing about Bobby Brown & spin class I thought I'd take a pic of this so everyone could remember how we looked back then - I'm thinking this was 9th grade or the summer before 10th. We even have Susie's friend Eva on there. Yes, that is my hair about 4 inches off my head. (That look can be achieved by taking your hair dryer & blowing the bangs directly up while spraying with a bunch of Aqua Net hairspray. ) We thought we were "da bomb". I doubt we realized really what a "tender Roni" of Bobby Brown's would entail or we probably wouldn't have put that on the poster. Oh to be young again!!!

New Book out Today

This post is really just for cousin Lori and Debby. I'm sure Lori is already aware of it (since she's a bigger Jodi Picoult fan), but Jodi Picoult just came out with a new book released today! Debby and I were talking over the weekend wondering when she'd have a new one so I'm hoping Debby goes and buys it (I'm too cheap) and then I call dibs first when she's done with it. It's called "Change of Heart" and from the summary on Amazon it sounds good (her books always are though.)

What's in a Name?

Someone sent me this so I thought I'd post the results (my "names" are in italics.) It was fun to do:

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car) Princess Camry
2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fav ice cream flavor, favorite cookie) Mint Choc Chip Sugar Cookie
3. YOUR “FLY Guy/Girl” NAME: (first initial of first name, first three (or four) letters of your last name) R Fed (Does this make me related to K Fed – ex hubby to Brittney?)
4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal) Red Dolphin (I know technically dolphins aren’t animals but I'm not an animal lover but always liked dolphins…..)
5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born) Louise Provo
6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first) Fedre
7. SUPERHERO NAME: (”The” + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink) The Brown Lemonade
8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers) Jean Don (Jean is french for John)
9. WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names) Antoinette Leon
10. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (Your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter) Dutson Denver
11. SPY NAME/BOND GIRL: (your favorite season/holiday, flower) Summer Orchid
12. CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now + “ie” or “y”) Pineapple Jeansy
13. HIPPY NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree) Honey Bunches of Oats Japanese Maple
14. YOUR ROCKSTAR TOUR NAME: (”The” + Your fave hobby/craft, fave weather element + “Tour”) The Reading Rain Tour

Enjoyable Weekend

I had a nice weekend. On Friday I got together with 2 high school friends - Kris and Susie. At the last minute Kris came down from Kaysville so we went and saw "The Other Boleyn Girl"

(I enjoyed it, could have used a little more passion in the beginning, and done w/out a few uncomfortable parts further into the show though) and had a yummy Green Chile Chicken salad at Bajio.

I always have such a good time catching up with high school friends. I just don't feel like we are as old as we are when I'm with them. :) Fun stuff! We have a girl's night overnighter planned for a handful of us at the beginning of May. We plan to run the "Race for the Cure" 5K up at the Gateway the next day. That will be my first race ever, I'm excited! I've only been running for about 3 1/2 weeks & am currently running 2.5 miles 3 days a week (I do spin class the other 3 days.) I'm hoping to bump it up to 3.1 or whatever a 5K is soon. I have to admit it's boring on the treadmill. Hopefully that will change as soon as I get my IPOD shuffle. They had a killer deal on Apple.com (and in Walmart) where you can get them for $49 and free shipping so I ordered one (in red) this weekend.

On Sunday my brother Sam & his wife Karisa blessed their baby - Maxwell Peter. He's a cutie & looks like Karisa (she's beautiful) although he does have Sam's blonde hair & blue eyes. Then we got together for a brunch at Jerry & Amber's house. Shirley's (in Provo) makes the BEST cinnamon rolls & dinner rolls, all kinds of rolls. I ate way too many!!!! I enjoy hanging out with my family so much (although John was absent - he was traveling on tour in California with the BYU Ambassadors.) We just have great conversation & enjoyable times when we are hanging out as a family. I'm blessed to have the wonderful, supportive family I have. They have always been a source of great strength and help to me!!!

Rebecca Loves ROSS

Yep, that's right - I love ROSS and I'm not going to hide it........the ROSS store that is! It's my favorite store to shop at. I always end up spending at least 2 hrs there because there is so much to look through. Yes they have some junk but if you have time to browse around you can find some great deals (see below for my throw pillow find for only $5.99.), there are several things I buy for my house from there (that cute orchid plant you can see in that same pic below was only $7.99) and great shoe finds, kitchen stuff, the list goes on. I recently found a cute pair of dark trouser jeans for $8.49 to add to my wardrobe. My next favorite place to shop is TJ Maxx - the have slightly higher prices due to some better quality items but still great deals there too.

Out with the Old, In with the New

I needed something new in the bedroom area. So out with the old and in with the new - duvet that is. I got new sheets and my mom got me this nice new duvet for my bed for Christmas. My room was already painted green & I just have too many other projects "to be done" around the house that I didn't want to repaint the bedroom. So I found that cool shiny, funky green pillow at Ross for $5.99 so I thought "green & brown works right?" And it did. I have since gotten another cool funky green shiny pillow (in a smaller size) since this pic was taken to add to the bed.