Bacon Bits: May 2013

Very young love

This is a picture that Ava wanted to give to her friend Elliot. Luckily I am good friends with Elliot's mom and so we talked about it before it was given. I think it is sweet and cute. He's a very nice boy...she has good taste...she's just about 15 years too early!

A Record Breaking Winter

I know Minnesota is known for winter, but this winter was literally one for the record books! I have been delaying this post because I wanted to write it after winter was over and it just hasn't been! We have even had snow a few times in May, but nothing that has accumulated...I think it is finally over!

This was a very common look this winter...snow piles that were taller than me! And white...everywhere you looked, white.

Greg took this shift!

We got past snowmen and into the world of snow animals...this is a favorite that Zach made!

My Minnesota kids wanted to still be outside playing, but the net was so frozen that the ball couldn't pass through! Hmmm...new game?

Sure, why not? How many basketballs can you get to stay in the net?

Run out of basketballs? Not a problem! Now that is a frozen net!!

I really did get some beautiful pictures this winter. Too many to post here...but these are some favorites.

This is a video I made of the snow falling to a Prince song called, 'Sometimes is snows in April'. Spoken like the Minnesotan he is! In fact, this was the snowiest April ever on record in Minnesota. We got 51 inches of snow in APRIL!!! That's the most snow of ANY month on record EVER for Minnesota. It beat out the 2nd snowiest April by over 20 inches. Crazy. We had the 3rd snowiest winter on record for Minnesota as well. This winter was not for the faint of heart or cold blooded!

And just to give you a good idea of what happens when there is that much snow...here are the kids at scouts 2 weeks ago...50 degrees outside, but still plenty of parking lot snow!

I like winter just fine and I love how a fresh snow fall looks. I have to admit though that this winter tested my limits! I'm looking forward to spring in a way that I don't think I ever have before. Can't wait for the green!

Wacky Wednesday

The kindergarten class had Wacky Wednesday last week and Ava was very excited to participate! It was really cute because in the morning she asked me if I thought it was still happening. She was excited, but also wanted to make sure she wasn't going solo on the wackiness! This is her in her full wacky glory!

A close up of what she chose for wacky footwear...

And her wacky smiley face! So fun!!

State DI Competition

Andrew's team went to the state finals for DI and since it was down in the cities, we all went down the night before and stayed at a hotel. The kids had a blast playing in the pool and having a pizza party and then they had to get up bright and early for the competition on Saturday morning!

Here are the kids watching some of the other teams from above...

And doing their favorite relaxation train before heading in to compete!

Their set up usually takes them about 1 minute, but they were so excited and hyped up that they did it in 34 seconds!! They were literally out of breath when they started talking!

Here they are right in the middle of their play. They are watching the light on their windmill and Andrew is explaining wind energy as Dr. Bacon of Bacon Laboratories!

After a long day of competition, all of the kids came together for a dance party while the scores were being tallied!

Our group joined right into the fun...

Fun...

And even some YMCA fun!! They did a great job at state and came in 5th place!!! We couldn't have been any more proud of them...

Okay...now this is the side note of the whole thing. The shirt on the left is the shirt that I designed for the team. They needed them for the competition and one of the kids forgot theirs! There was no one coming down from Duluth and we were stuck. Their mom went to Michael's and bought a yellow t-shirt and I spent 3 hours drawing on the design with a fine point sharpie marker! Greg almost had me talked out of trying to draw it (in the worry that what if it got messed up and then we didn't even have a yellow shirt again - a valid worry!!!), but I went for it! I was really happy with how it turned out...you honestly couldn't tell the difference!

And here is the back...the tedious nature of me pays off again!

Sharpie Baby

I posted this picture on Facebook with this caption...

Mental note to self...sharpie does not allow for subtle enough shading to give the appearance of natural makeup...Ava has taught me that.

I thought that was the end of my story until my friend Tammy sent me a question about it and linked this picture to a post on her blog. She was looking at Facebook while her daughter was in the room and apparently she saw this picture and the next day Tammy had a sharpie baby of her very own! Even thousands of miles away, Ava managed to influence her friends! Here's the link!

http://u-hall.blogspot.com/2013/04/thanks-bacon.html

Be careful who sees you looking at this post!!

Bacon Bowls

I've seen these before and have always wanted to try them, but this was my first time! I LOVE how they turned out! Here's my own little tutorial...

I used this mini bundt cake pan, but a jumbo muffin pan would work well too. A regular muffin pan would be too small, but anything like this would work just fine.

I cut a strip of bacon in half and started with what will be the bottom of the bowl...

Then I carefully weaved the bacon around - being careful to overlap the bacon so there wouldn't be large gaps when the bacon cooks and shrinks - and secured the bacon with toothpicks so it wouldn't curl while baking. Each bowl took 4 pieces of bacon.

Into the oven it went at 375 degrees for about 50 - 60 minutes...you'd just have to watch your oven and adjust for how done you like your bacon!

Once they were out of the oven and removed from the pan, they looked like the top bowl. The inside of the bacon bowl was still pretty soft and so I decided to put it in the microwave for 1 minute. PERFECT!!! The bottom bowl is the end result...crispy and without any big gaps!

As each one came out of the microwave, I put a paper towel inside the bowl to soak up any remaining grease and let them cool.

When it was time to serve...I scrambled eggs and filled our bowls! This is 2 eggs...just for perspective.

I also experimented with making hash browns on my large George Foreman grill...and it worked great! I brushed the grill with a little oil, put on a whole bag of hash brown potatoes, salted, peppered, closed the grill and about 9 minutes later we had perfect hash browns!

Breakfast is served!!!

Crafting for Marisa

It has been so much fun to be able to sell things in Marisa's store! She put in another big order and I worked every spare minute for a little over a week to finish it for her. I brought in all kinds of goodies!

She asked me to do another one of these beaded necklaces. They are time consuming, but I always love how they turn out!

She also had me do more birch bark pendants and then do these Duluth ones - the color map is on one side and the picture of the bridge and depo is on the other side. I really like how they turned out and I think they will be good sellers during tourist season! I would wear one and I'm local!!

Marisa has a bunch of vinyl animals and other fun things for sale in the store too. This bear takes the "weeding" process of the vinyl to a whole new level...it takes me about 30 minutes to get one bear done!

And you are looking at the lone porcupine! After 1 hour of weeding to get this little baby done, I told Marisa that even though I think it is very cute and fun, it just isn't worth the time at this size. If it was way bigger, it would be much easier to weed! Whoever buys this one, has an original!!

Along with these things, more vinyl, and earrings, I also did a bunch of hair accessories for her! It was quite a little stash that I brought in to her. It's been a mutually beneficial, fun thing for both of us!

Exodus on the History Channel and CAT's big release

There was a show on the History Channel and it featured an Exodus Machine! This is a still shot from the show and the black machine in the middle is ours!!!

At the trade show a few weeks ago, CAT released their new material handler (built by us) and here is the you tube promo video they had before the release at the big ISRI show. It's fun to see this kind of stuff out there!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SBlCf1tcbg

The District Pinewood Derby

This was Zach's first year as a participant in the District Pinewood Derby. There were about 85 cars that competed and Zach came in the top 10! He did an excellent job!

This was the first year that our district did an open class division as well. Since we had made cars for our ward Pinewood Derby, we brought our cars and entered them! I was surprised at how many people brought cars for the open division. When it was all said and done, this was the final scoreboard! Andrew took 1st in the open and I took 3rd...too funny! Who ever thought I would be a District Pinewood Derby finalist...not me!

They had made a mistake when ordering the trophies and so they had to get them fixed and mail us ours. This is Andrew's 1st place...mine looks just like this, but a little shorter! We had a really fun time going and racing as a family and Zach already has ideas for what he wants to do next year!

General Conference Bonus Benefits

There are a lot of really great things about General Conference. Of course the spiritual benefits and messages are really what it is all about...but watching from your own couch in your sweat pants makes it all the better!

Then, add in a little snack while watching...and all is good in the world!

Jr. Great Books

Another year of volunteering in Jr. Great Books has come to a close! This year I volunteered in both Andrew and Zach's classes. I really do enjoy the stories and listening to the kids and what they come up with for answers and ideas. The stories are unique and really cause them to come up with some great thoughts.

I didn't think to get a picture of Zach's group on the last day, but this is Andrew's group! In both classes we learned a lot, read a bunch of great stories, had interesting discussions and had fun!!!

Is everything really better with bacon?

Bacon Air Freshener - Your car and/or house will smell like bacon heaven. If you know your bacon lover lives with a vegetarian this is a must have.

Bacon Bandages - If your Bacon lover is like me and is accident prone they will love you forever if you got them some of these. Unfortunately they do not smell or taste like bacon.

Bacon Wallet - It’s a wallet that looks like bacon. Do I need to say anything else?

Bacon Lunch Box - If your Bacon lover is a worker bee then get him/her this. They will be the envy of all the other bees in the hive.

Out of the mouths of babes...

This is a change for this area, but here is a conversation that my kids wanted documented:

Me: What are some good games to play?

Andrew: (Some shooting game)

Zach: Fortnite

Ava: Halo

(All kids laughing because they know how much I dislike those kinds of games)

Me: You guys are the worst children!

Zach: I'm gonna quote you on that!

It's been a long time again since adding to this, but I am happy to add this one! The song 'One Way or Another' was on the radio. The lyrics say, "one way or another, I'm gonna find ya', I'm gonna get ya', get ya', get ya', get ya'..." We were singing along and then Zach said, "I don't understand why Ghandi would sing this." It was so funny to me - I could barely tell him that it was Blondie who sings the song - not Ghandi! The thought of it being Ghandi has brought me a lot of joy though!!

It's been a very long time since I added something to this line - that's what happens when your kids get bigger. But the other day Ava had a priceless conversation with me...She has been studying the solar system at school and had a big project due. She has been really interested in everything and has been coming home and sharing all kinds of facts. She came home and was so excited to tell me about a dwarf planet. She said, "can you believe there is really a dwarf planet?" I acknowledged her interest and she said, "I was talking to my friends and we just can't believe that there is actually a planet with dwarfs living on it!". I was so amused...so amused. I explained to her that it wasn't that kind of dwarf...she was a little bummed out, but it definitely made more sense to her. I loved having an "out of the mouths of babes" moment!

I was in the kitchen making cookies with the kids and was talking to Ava. She asked me if I had big parties when I was a kid. I told her that I didn't, but that I always wished I could have a big party with all of my friends. I told her that I dreamed about growing up and having parties with all of the people I cared about and having great treats and doing fun things at the parties...She looked up at me and said, "all of your dreams have come true"! It was so cute to me...and all I could do was look at her and agree.

Ava was cutting snow flakes out of paper yesterday and then putting glitter glue on them. She was very proud of what she had done and was showing them to me. I told her how much I liked them and she said, "I could teach you how to make it - and, I think you could do it because you are pretty crafty". It's good to have the confidence of my 5 year old!

Ava gave me a mother's day card from school and on it was written (in the teacher's handwriting) "I like my mom because she gives me agates". I read it and didn't really understand the reference, but we do live near the lake and everyone is always searching for agates...I thought it was maybe just something someone else said. This week she came downstairs and asked me if I would make her an "egglette". I didn't know what she meant and she said it again, "egglette". I finally caught on and asked her if she meant an omelet. "Yes!" Then she said, "I call them egglettes, just like I did on your mother's day card." She likes me because I make her omelets...now that's my girl!!

Yesterday I was doing some bead work and Ava came and asked me if she could help me. I told her that it was kind of hard and I wasn't sure if she could help with this kind of project. She quickly told me that she could if I would just let her try. I agreed and she excitedly told me, "Thank you Mom, I've been waiting for years for you to teach me how to do this!"

I was talking to the kids yesterday and was trying to explain that Greg and someone were having trouble seeing eye to eye on the future direction of the company. Zach said, "yeah, like he said (Greg) that they should make a machine with two cranes on it and then the other guy interrupted and said, no, we should make a machine with tank wheels on it".

Today Andrew came up to Greg and was rubbing his shoulders and said, "Why are you so dense Mr. Bacon?". I looked at Andrew and said, "I think you mean tense - dense means that you aren't very smart". Andrew laughed so hard that he literally fell over!

Yesterday I was telling Ava a story and I mentioned Beth. Ava asked who Beth was and I told her that Beth is my sister and her aunt. She looked at me with her eyes wide and said, "you have a sister who is an ant??". Not that kind of ant...

Ava just got upset with Zach and told him, "I don't like you anymore". I had her go to time out and then after she got out, I asked her to apologize to Zach. She did. She said, "Zach, I'm sorry that I don't like you anymore". Nice.

Last night we were eating some cheese and crackers and Andrew asked Greg and I if we liked goat cheese and maggot bread. At first I thought he was being gross, but then realized he was totally serious...so I asked again...thinking I misunderstood. Nope, the question was about goat cheese and maggot bread. He followed up his question by informing us that it was french...that's when Greg figured out he meant "baguette" bread...there is a little difference between goat cheese and maggot bread and goat cheese and baguette bread!

The kids were playing in the toy room in the basement and Ava was bothering the boys and wouldn't stop. I called her upstairs and told her that if she didn't stop, she wouldn't be able to go back down and play. She looked at me and with tears in her eyes said, "but I will miss the basement - and all of my toys". I had to assure her that I meant she couldn't go back down right now...but that it wasn't a permanent punishment!

Today Zach was looking through a toy magazine and saw something he thought was a hand held video game. He commented that he wanted it and I told him it was only for school programs and he said, "I want any kind of a video game even if it is good for my brain!"

When we went to the alpine coaster, Ava said that riding the coaster made her stomach "have the wiggles"...what a great description!

Zach came home from the 3rd day of 1st grade and said, "Tests are a lot more fun than they seem like they are going to be - especially when you show your mom and she's really proud of you"...he's cute.

Today the kids were telling stories about places we have been and they were wondering if Ava had been born for one of the vacations. I said, no, that Ava had still been in heaven with Heavenly Father. Then Ava said, "then I turned into an alien. That's why I would live in outer space." Hmmm, guess we need a little more explanation on that concept!

When we pulled up at the Taco Bell drive thru, there is a new ad campaign with a girl who lost weight eating Taco Bell (the Jared of Taco Bell). When Zach saw her he said, "look at that hot fashion girl with a taco". I had to ask twice just to make sure that's what he said...it was. I guess in his eyes, Taco Bell had been good to her!

Tonight as the family was playing t-ball, Ava was holding the bat and was very proud to tell us that she was, "choking on it" instead of choking up. She also was happy to be wearing her baseball "mitten". Baseball lingo is still relatively new!

The other day at ECFE they were getting ready for the big transportation night and asked the kids what they would like to ride on. Ava said, "a cloud". One of the other little boys told her that it sounded scary. The teacher asked her if she thought it would be scary and how would she get up on the cloud. Ava said, "you would need a very, very tall ladder and you would have to be very careful and have someone hold it". OSHA would be proud.

On the night before Easter I was putting the kids to bed and Zach was so excited about the next morning. He was asking about eggs and the hunt and I told him that Easter was really about Jesus and the resurrection. We had a little chat and then as I turned the lights out and walked out, Zach said, "Jesus on the cross". I said, "what did you say?". He said, "Jesus on the cross". When I asked him why he was saying that, he said, "you know, like how you say Merry Christmas or Happy Birthday". Not exactly the same...let's try Happy Easter!

We were talking to the kids about college and working really hard so that you can get into a good school and Zach said, "I'm going to work really, really hard - like I'm going to try to always color in the lines."

Andrew told Ava that she looked pretty yesterday morning and Ava told Andrew, "You look cool - like rock and roll". Where in the world did she get that one?

Tonight Ava was telling us that her Daddy's name was "Daddy". I asked her what his other name was and she said, "Greg". I asked her what my name was and she said, "Momma". I asked her what my other name was and she just sat there and thought about it. I tried to give her a hint by saying, "Saaannnd", and she proudly said, "Sandbox". Close, very close.

I was eating breakfast and Zach was standing in the doorway talking to me. When we were done he said, "Mom, I know you love me. I'll be in the other room if you need me." He smiled and walked out...it really warmed my heart! This morning I was dancing for Ava while she was eating breakfast (she is usually very happy to have me twirling and shaking). When I turned around and did a little "rump shaking", Ava said, "No, not your booty - not your booty - it scares me". Lovely.

Today Ava came into the room and was whispering and said, "Do you hear that? What is it? It's a musk ox, the baby Moses and Swiper the Fox"! I thought it was quite the trio!

When Ava wants to put her money in her bank, she calls it the "piggy bank ride" like a piggy back ride...very cute!

The other morning Ava was in her bed yelling for Andrew - this is what she said, "Andrew...come here...right now...because...right now...Andrew...please". I thought it was so cute that she tried every tactic she knew - with no response from Andrew in between.

Ava just wrote on the wall with a marker and when I tried to get her to say, "I will not draw on the walls", she said, "I will be nice" instead. It did kind of warm my heart - which she needed in that moment!

I was frustrated today and said to Zach, "How many times do I have to tell you something before you'll do it?" and Zach very correctly answered, "2 times".

Andrew was telling us how excited he was to ride his favorite ride again, "Zach Smith". It took us a minute to realize that he was talking about the "Aerosmith" roller coaster - Zach Smith is our home teacher!

After waking up from a nap on vacation and trying to remember something, Zach said, "That nap made my brain not so smart".

This afternoon Ava was in a "no" mode - answering "no" to any and every question - "are you daddy's girl?", "are you pretty?", "do you love shoes?"...you get the idea. When I asked her if she liked ice cream, she said, "n" and then quickly realized what she was about to do! She happily said, "ICE CREAM" instead! If there was ever any doubt that she is a Bacon - there is the proof!!

This morning Zach was under Ava's bed and was pretending to wonder if he should come out. He kept saying, "is the ghost clear?" - I tried to tell him that the saying is, "is the coast clear?", but that didn't make any sense to him and so he decided to stick with "is the ghost clear?". I guess if there was a ghost in the room, you would wonder if you should come out and maybe it would be pertinent information to find out if he was clear as well...

Tonight I noticed that Zach had eaten all of the food on his dinner plate and I asked him if he wanted more. He said, "no" and so I asked him if he was full. He said, "no, but I'm saving my apple-tight for doughnuts".

Zach just said to Andrew, "Let's play a game of allergic, jumping shoes!" What???

After Andrew was showing me his wiggly front tooth and telling me how excited he was to lose it, he said, "but I am hoping that my sweet tooth is a permanent tooth"!

This has been happening for quite a while and it makes me smile every time. When Zach says prayers, he says, "Thank us" instead of "Thank you". So he is always asking God to thank us for everything - food, our family, our house, nice weather - you name it! I know his intention, but it still makes me smile.

Tonight Andrew said, "Mom, what exactly did you mean when you said "No more"?"

Last night Greg and I were talking to Andrew about his personality and Zach said, "Can you please stop talking about Andrew now and start talking about me?" We thought it was a good showing of his personality!

Zach has been really interested in the concept that Heavenly Father knows everything. Today he asked me, "How does He know everything?" I told him it was because he created everything and so he knows everything about those things. Then Zach said, "He must be very, very, very, very tired from all of that work".

Greg was having a father/son interview with Andrew and asked him about girls. Andrew said, "They're okay. Sometimes they are nice, sometimes they barely will talk to you. Sometimes they are bossy, sometimes they just want to hang out with other girls and sometimes they will play with you and have fun." After thinking for a moment, he summed it up by saying, "I just think they have lots of feelings." Wise beyond his years...

During Zach's interview, Greg asked him what he could do to make Zach happier and Zach said, "Get me a toy that I would like for Christmas or my birthday or if I could eat some Halloween candy right now". He also told Greg that he loved Greg so much that he would even let him keep his red Lightening McQueen - for anyone who knows Zach, you know that is some major love!

Today Andrew and Zachary were supposed to be cleaning the toy room and after about a half hour I went down to see if there had been any progress. When I found out there hadn't been much, I asked what happened and Zach said, "the t.v. annoyed me too much and made me play instead". He obviously meant "distracted", but I got the message loud and clear!

We were at Greg's grandma's 99th birthday party today (at a nursing home) and Zach announced that he didn't want to get really, really old because he wouldn't look like a normal person anymore - is that politically correct?

Zach was talking about someone being excited and saying, "Yeah", and said that "it was the different kind of yeah, not the Book of Mormon yea".

Zach was talking to his stuffed animals about something and told them that if they wanted more information they could go to http://www.com/!

Zach saw a picture of Jesus and we were talking about it. I asked him if he knew that Jesus is our older brother and he said, "Yeah, and he is super, dooper old - like 15 or something".

Andrew was watching part of 'America's Got Talent' when the male Brittney Spears impersonator came on. He was a little confused to find out that it was a man and also that he was lipsyncing. Afterwards he said, "if the guy isn't really the girl and he isn't really singing, then it doesn't seem like he really has any talent".

Andrew and Zach were playing with pretend cell phones and A asked Z who he should call. Z said, "Littlefoot" (the dinosaur from Land Before Time) and A said, "He can't hold a phone, he's a dinosaur - AND, he's prehistoric - they didn't even have phones back then". Ahhh the boundaries of make believe!

This morning Zach was arguing with me that today was not a "church day" and after a while I told him that he didn't know everything. He looked at me with a "duh" look on his face and said, "yes I do". Nice!

Zach was playing castle and he said, "I am the king, mommy is the queen, Andrew is a knight, Ava is the princess and daddy is the joker". Greg and I laughed pretty hard.

I ran a bath for the boys this morning and Andrew thought it was too hot. I told him to just sit down in it and his body would get used to it. When he sat down he said, "my tummy is telling me it's still too hot".

Zachary was telling Greg and me that Mexican jumping beans jumped because there were little caterpillars inside that made them move (something he saw on PBS??) and asked if he could have some. I told him that I didn't know where to get them and he said, "Well it isn't far away, we just have to go to Mexico".

I was explaining the concept of a decision being "black and white" to Andrew and I asked him if he knew what grey was (thinking he might know it was the mixture of the two) and he said, "Yeah, I think it is the color of the tips of seagull's wings".

Andrew woke up in the night to go to the bathroom and I asked him if he was dreaming that he had to go to the bathroom and he said, "No, my brain was just concentrating on sleeping".

I was just telling Zachary to get down from the back of the couch so that he didn't fall backwards and get hurt - the possibility of more staples came up and Cortney asked him, "Wouldn't that be terrible?" and Zach said, "Yeah, but you might get a surprise at the end"(the nurse gave him a teddy bear because he was so brave) - so much for a lesson learned!

A Very Brief History of Our Time

This is where it all started for us - Saturn of Orem (Christina always gets credit for "Greg and Sandy" because she brought me to the dealership to help her buy a car and that is how I got my job there). Greg and I met in August of 1997 at work and eventually found ourselves in a long distance relationship with romantic rendezvous in Winnamucca. Yes, we know we may be the first ones to find Winnamucca romantic. We got married in September of 1999 and I moved to Sacramento. We had so much fun living and playing in California. In September of 2001 we welcomed Andrew into our lives. A few short months later we found ourselves transferring to Detroit for work. Detroit brought many wonderful changes in our lives including Zach in June of 2004. In 2006 Greg finished his MBA and made the decision to leave GM. Off to Utah! We spent two great years there and even fulfilled our "1 child per state" precident with the addition of Ava in March of 2007. One month ago we transferred to Duluth - the headquarters for Greg's work. It's been quite the whirlwind, but we wouldn't change any of our experiences.

We have been so blessed to find wonderful friends everywhere we have lived and we hope this blog helps us to keep in touch.

Bacon Bits

Very young love

A Record Breaking Winter

Wacky Wednesday

State DI Competition

Sharpie Baby

Bacon Bowls

Crafting for Marisa

Exodus on the History Channel and CAT's big release

The District Pinewood Derby

General Conference Bonus Benefits

Jr. Great Books

Is everything really better with bacon?

3 little monkeys

If you'd like to follow my blog...

I Joined - Have you?

Ava is walking! Watch her on google video...

Andrew and Zach

Snow Buddies

Ava's 18 Month stats!

Ava's 12 month Stats!

Out of the mouths of babes...

A Very Brief History of Our Time

Blogs we enjoy

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