stuff

My kids FINALLY will play together

I saw my old roommate Shelly and she painted my toes. She just decided she was going to learn how to do it and taught herself. Pretty sweet huh? I had pretty toes for my anniversary! :) We had a great anniversary. We got our brand new king-sized bed the day of (couldn't have planned that better), went out to dinner at Outback while my father in law watched out kids, and had cupcakes for dessert. I also dropped my wedding rings off to get re-dipped. Its been a LONG time! It was the perfect day.

My poor sunflowers got beat up by the storm we had one night. I pushed them back up but I think it severely stunted their growth. I was so excited for gigantic sunflowers. Oh well. Maybe next year.

Easton saw his first-ever rainbow and was in awe! It was much more beautiful than in this picture

Easton loooooovvvvvesssss to go golfing with daddy and Uncle Charles. If he finds out daddy has gone without him  he is seriously crushed. His favorite thing to do is drive the golf cart. Oh boy, we're in trouble!

Went to the zoo again and this time we checked out the bird show. It was awesome! Lincoln LOVED the birds. Easton was in a terrible mood before the show started and was pretty scared. But then the birds came and he thought it was soooooo cool! The birds swoop down low over the heads of the audience so close you can feel their wings brush on your head! We sat in a great spot too.

An owl like the ones in Harry Potter getting ready to fly over the audience

Good ol' BYU

Definitely got better grades when I studied there!

Our Saturday Project

Well, Nathan's Saturday project! He did such a great job digging the holes and planting the 3 trees. I tried to help where I could but I'm pretty much a weakling. He's pretty beat today and said it would have been so worth paying someone to dig the holes for him, but its over! I love the yard now with our trees. Can't wait until they actually give us some privacy and shade 20 years from now! :)


Me and my boys were a great support team for daddy.

Oh and here's a cake I made for Sunday dinner today. It was pretty good.

Making Progress 2

I finished my piano and got it in the room with the couch and pillows and I love it! The only thing left is to paint an accent wall behind the couch (yellow) and we really want a picture of Christ above the couch. The one we want is a little out of our budget but we are willing to wait awhile to purchase it.

My Letter to RC Willey

To Whom It May Concern:

I am VERY displeased with your company. On April 17th I purchased a leather couch, love seat, and chair from the RC Willey Murray store along with a twin mattress and base. At the time of purchased, we were told by our salesman ( ) that it would be two weeks before the couch would come in because it was on back order. We were moving into a new house so it didn't seem like a big deal to wait two weeks.

Two weeks later, I called to see when our couch would be delivered and the customer service rep told us it would not be in until May 25th. FIVE WEEKS after we paid IN FULL for our order. There was NO CONTACT from your company to let us know it would take longer, and when we expressed how frustrated we were, we were told that they would be shipping a couch from the Vegas store and we would have it delivered the next Tuesday or Wednesday. We got a call Tuesday morning from the delivery guys and they delivered the love seat, chair, and bed, but no couch. I was floored that we STILL did not receive any contact telling us that the sofa would not be coming.

After calling the Murray store they then scheduled a delivery for the sofa and a pickup for the chair (because it did not fit in our room) for Friday, May 14th. On Friday morning at 7 AM the delivery men pounded on our door and rang the door bell 7 times, waking up my husband and I and our two young children. We never received a call about this. And 7 AM is WAY TOO EARLY for a pick up anyway. STILL NO COUCH. I was, yet again, SHOCKED that we, your customers, we left in the dark about our sofa. I called your customer service department absolutely LIVID. I felt that RC Willey has no integrity and they do not care about their customers at all. Is that how you run a business? All they could do was say "sorry" and that the couch MIGHT come in on May 25th. There was no guarantee at all and there was no compensation offered. So I CANCELLED my order. I will never order from RC Willey again. I went to John Paras Furniture in Sandy on Saturday, May 15th, and we were given great customer service, and our couch was delivered on Monday. That's $2000 you will never get from us.

Hopefully this letter gets to the right people and you can do something to fix you poor customer service. Its totally embarassing.

I've put this letter on my blog and facebook. Just so you know.

Sincerely,


Emily Judd

An update and a recipe

I know its been awhile since I've done my recipes of the week. Don't worry, I have the next two Mondays already scheduled with new recipe posts so I'm back in the game. In case you missed it :P

I just couldn't wait though to share this recipe because NATHAN LIKED IT. When I told him about it he kind of made a face but I'm so happy I tried it anyway. When I went to Harmons (my new grocery store) and asked the guy at the cheese counter if they had any Pecorino cheese he told me it was the best cheese there was. Whenever I go to the cheese counter it reminds me of my father in law, because he really wants to work behind the cheese counter someday. :)

Anyway, the cheese was pretty darn good and adds a TON of flavor, but if you can't find it or don't want to try it you could probably substitute parmesean. Nathan's only comment was that maybe next time I could make meatballs with it. A few meatballs would probably make it even better.

So here it is. Its a Giada recipe. YUM

WHOLE WHEAT SPAGHETTI WITH SWISS CHARD AND PECORINO CHEESE

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 onions, thinly sliced
2 bunches Swiss chard, trimmed and chopped (about 14 cups)
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 (14 1/2-ounce) can diced tomatoes with juices
1/4 cup dry white wine
1/4 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper flakes
Salt and pepper
8 ounces whole-wheat spaghetti
1/4 cup pitted kalamata olives, coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons freshly grated Pecorino cheese
2 tablespoons toasted pine nuts

Directions
Heat the oil in a heavy large frying pan over medium heat. Add the onions and saute until tender, about 8 minutes. Add the chard and saute until it wilts, about 2 minutes. Add the garlic and saute until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in the tomatoes with their juices, wine, and red pepper flakes. Bring to a simmer. Cover and simmer until the tomatoes begin to break down and the chard is very tender, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Season the chard mixture, to taste, with salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the spaghetti and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring frequently, about 8 to 10 minutes. Drain the spaghetti. Add the spaghetti to the chard mixture and toss to combine.

Transfer the pasta to serving bowls. Sprinkle the olives, cheese, and pine nuts and serve.

My notes: I didn't buy the pine nuts, and instead of wine I used water. I usually use chicken stock but I was out. I used about 13 ounces of spaghetti and I'm glad I did. And I had to wait for the chard to wilt longer than 2 minutes. I used Rainbow Chard. Not sure of the difference but it worked. Trust me when I tell you you can't really taste it. It soaks up the flavor of the sauce. Be sure to salt your pasta water.

The update:

Things have been going well here. Our ward seems nice and even though I've only been to our ward once I've made a friend. There are TONS of boys here. I'm so happy about that! This week I went running with her and another lady in the ward at 5:30 in the morning. Twice. It felt so great to be ready for the day by the time my kids needed breakfast but I was so tired by the time quiet time came around that both days I took a two hour nap! Thankfully Easton is so good. :) They go Monday, Wednesday, and Friday but I'm thinking I need to get up every day at that time so my body doesn't go into shock every other day. The neighborhood seems great! They have boutiques every once and a while where people come sell their stuff and I'm thinking about trying to advertise my cake skills or make some ruffly pillows or something. We'll see. I'd love to decorate cakes again!

It's really happening...

Last night I got together with some friends to say good bye. I hate goodbyes and I hate parties for me...I hate being the center of attention...but it was so great to see everyone (even though there are still people I want to see but I don't know if its going to happen). I have been blessed with so many amazing friends here and I will miss them so much. Hopefully I can find new friends that are at least half as awesome.



I bought these items for the piano room for our new house. I love the colors! Now if I could only figure out what else to do with the rest of the first floor!

Stuff

Well, since we are moving now life is probably going to get a little crazy. Thankfully Nathan's new job is hiring a moving company for us and we won't have to do much besides pack the boxes since I would feel weird having someone else pack my stuff. But there is still a ton that i want to get done before I go. Like see all our friends and hang out with family as much as we can, go to the beach, maybe go up to LA to get some fabric for the house that i have NO IDEA how to decorate. (I am going to need some major help so I'll definitely be asking for it!) I have some other sewing projects I want to get done before I'm away from my technical support group (i.e. cheryl and elizabeth), and I don't want to gain 10 pounds from all the stress eating I am doing right now. Oh, and I want to try and keep my house somewhat decent because for some reason all this stress and anxiousness to move makes me not want to clean as much)

Anyways...so there's a lot that happened last week. The day we found out that Nathan got the job, well the very moment, we were on a whale watching trip. We didn't see any whales but lots of dolphins and it was just fun to be on the water. I didn't really enjoy it as much as I would have since Nathan got the phone call ON the boat.





We left Easton with grandma Judd and all the cousins and we left for St. George that night. We got in at two in the morning and oh man. WE WERE TIRED! Lincoln sure was a trooper thats for sure. We spent the next few days looking at houses. It was fun yet tiring and hard to find the perfect house. We made an offer and we're supposed to find out more today but nothing so far. I took pictures of it but I'll show you more if it goes through I guess. I don't really want to get my hopes up too much. So here is what the front looks like. it has 4 bedrooms on the top floor with a large loft and it has a beautiful kitchen. BEAUTIFUL. It was a model home so it has all the bells and whistles. We really really love it.


It was really fun to just have Lincoln with us. We totally missed Easton and we talked about him every day, but it was fun to have one on one time with Linky. He is such a sweetheart and was so good. He's also a big cheese ball. Love him.


Oh, I finished the squares on the book of mormon quilt. Its not anywhere near done, but I feel like it was a big accomplishment. I actually really loved doing it and it was a great experience. I thought a lot about the story being depicted on the block as I was sewing and as crazy as it sounds it reaffirmed my testimony of the Book of Mormon. I know that it is true! Who knew sewing would do that to you? Now I am kind of lost when I am sitting watching TV with nothing to do! I hate just sitting there now! Kind of bad, but also really kind of good.

Oh and I love this picture of both of my kids playing with flour

Well, that's all for now. No guarantees on how much I'll be posting but hopefully we get some good house news this week!

just a lot of random stuff

Well it's been a little while since I've posted but not a whole lot has been happening! Nathan has been working A TON. But I can't complain since this busy season hasn't been bad at all this year. He got home at 11:30 last night and the night before last. Not a fan of that!

I'm feeling sick...not cool, since I am teaching preschool tomorrow and I have zero energy. I ran out of my precious echinacea last night and didn't get any until noon today. Hopefully I'll still be able to kick this cold before it gets the best of me.

I decorated 70 cupcakes in 7 different colors in the YW value colors for Young Women in Excellence or something like that. They wanted to do the olympic rings and I hope to get a picture of that so check my cake blog in a few days!

Lincoln is starting to play with cars, although he prefers balls, but he is making car sounds and it is just too cute. Lincoln also likes to watch Easton on the computer when he does his letters or watches his whale videos.


Easton is obsessed with everything whale. He checks out whale books from the library and then he'll take those books to the grocery store to look at while I shop. There is a whale skull on display at the grocery shopping center we go to and we had to take a detour to look at it. He wanted me to read the sign so he could know what it says and so I did (even though it had some pretty big words) and he's like "oh, that's what it says!". He is obsessed with whale videos on Youtube.

Easton has such a funny vocabulary from watching Thomas. His friend Nixon was over here today and I asked him if he had had fun with Nixon and he says "yes yes, I surely did". What 3 year old says stuff like that? I really had no idea I could fall so in love with my boys. They are just the best.

(here is an awesome tent daddy made this weekend)

Stuff

Wow, it was a RAINY and STORMY week! We had rain every day...and not just a little bit. There was crazy wind that toppled trees and hail and TORNADOES! Yes, tornadoes in Southern California. Irvine (where Nathan works) was in the path of it. Thankfully no one was injured (not that I know of) but it was kind of scary! I didn't go out AT ALL really. The one day I did go out I straightened my hair and came home looking like this:

Awesome. My favorite are the little sticky outey hairs on the side of my head. I wish my hair wouldn't fall out after having babies.

I made some more ties:

I love my little boys

And I made this flower using this tutorial. I made it so I could wear it as a corsage or a hair thing. Super easy!

Lincoln just loves this construction hat and will walk around with it like he is the coolest thing ever.

Easton lining his trains up. Man this kid has been giving me a run for my money. Nathan had to stay with him in his primary class today because he was misbehaving. Help!

this is how I shop

All of the below = FREE


Um I couldn't resist. I don't think Nathan would really ever be caught dead wearing this with his kids. He usually doesn't care about things but I think this wouldn't fly.

I signed up for an Old Navy credit card and they gave me $20 to spend in their store. This is one of those store credit cards that has huge rewards. Of course we pay it completely off as soon as we get the bill, so it's really just a way to earn more money to shop there! I shop old navy ALL THE TIME for clothes for my boys. They have amazing half of clearance sales. They had one starting today and almost everything pictured above was less than $2. My sweetest find were shorts for Easton that weren't marked as clearance but rang up at $2.24. If you have a girl, you are SO LUCKY as their racks are loaded with girl clothes. Usually there are not very many boy clothes. Oh well.

Being a girl I think its natural to LOVE new clothes. Now I may not be the most fashionable person on the planet but I still love to shop and wear new things. I have a very small clothing budget and thankfully I have found a way to stretch my dollar to the max. I like Old Navy clearance sales (although it's getting really old), Charlotte Russe clearance sales and then my absolute favorite, Tulle clearance sales. Every first tuesday of the month they have anywhere from a couple items to many items on sale for under $7. Most of the things I bought below were under $4. Can you believe that? I've seen this brand at Nordstrom Rack and it's super high quality stuff. Everything I've purchased from them I love! Sign up for their email list so you don't forget and check it out next month!

The black shirt below on the bottom right has a ton of cute detail. Love it. Oh, and the dress was $2.99

I also love 6pm.com. It's basically a shoe website that has a different deal every day or week. Sometimes they have entire lines of shoes for $6.95!!! Man, all these deals have got me crazy for clothes. But how could you not be??

Recipe of the Week?

Well, after it took 8 1/2 hours for us to get home yesterday (it usually takes 6 1/2) I am not really in the mood to search my recipe binder for a new recipe to share. We had some good eatin' over our vacation in Boise and I definitely have some new recipes...but I can't do it right now. Especially since my kids woke up at 4:30 AM this morning. UUUUUGGGGG. I'm a zombie.

Anyway, I have lots to blog about thats for sure. Like how one of my closest friends moved away (which means one of Easton's closest friends moved away too), and Thanksgiving, and how much sugar I ate over the break, and how we finally got a new computer (!!!!!), so stay tuned...

I need to go on a run

Joy School didn't go as well today! We only had 3 kids (we normally have 5) and they just weren't as attentive. Easton was the worst! I'm glad I have a 3 week break to rejuvenate and be ready for the next time.

I'm getting so excited for Easton's birthday! I can't believe my baby will be 3. It seems like forever ago that we welcomed him into our family, but yet it seems like it has gone so fast. We are going to go to Sea World on Saturday for him (since it's the last time we can take him for free) and then on Sunday I'm making a special cake for him. I'm excited! One of the biggest reasons why I want to take all of the cake classes is so that I can make special cakes for my kids, friends, family, and maybe even wedding cakes for my sisters if I am good enough. It's been such a fun skill to learn and I'm super obsessed with it right now. I am constantly googling different decorating ideas and decorating tips.

I want to learn how to make things like this:



And Easton's birthday cake will look something like this:

And we're back!

Wow it's been a long long time. Nathan was out of town from Friday until yesterday, and he took the camera. I didn't exactly want to write on this blog that he was gone and that I was all by myself, who knows what creepies there are out there!

Easton and I had a great weekend. We watched conference and took naps! On Sunday we went over to Scott and Cheryl's for dinner. It was delicious!!

Nathan had a blast in San Antonio with his dad. They went to the Final Four, went golfing, and ate a lot of food. I'll do my best to document their trip!

Nathan and his dad. They had second row seats behind the basket on the right side of the court. I tried to look for them on TV, but couldn't pick them out. They only showed it once.

I think the road ends here for UNC


Some famous basketball player(s). Who knows who they are, but they must be someone cool because Nathan took a picture!


The players


This was how close they were


View from hotel room


The end! Nathan had a blast! and we won 2nd and 3rd place in his family's bracket contest!