House of Happy Chaos

Well, its been a couple of crazy weeks since I wrote last. It always seems like things all come at once. My brother Patrick and his wife, Alicia, graduated from BYU. Alicia got her Masters in accounting and Patrick got his Bachelors sociology and is going on to get his Masters in public administration from the U of U. Next, Andrew graduated from the U of U with a Doctor of Physical Therapy. It was great fun to see them all finish such big accomplishments. I am so proud of them. As the older sister you sometimes feel like a little bit of a mother hen, so sometimes it is still crazy to me that they are all so grown up - graduating, having kids, living in far flung places. Speaking of having kids, Pat and Alicia are going to have a baby! Yeah! Another big change in their lives and another big congratulations from The Green Hamsters!
With the graduations, my brother, Corbin, has been in town. That has been soon fun for us. We miss him terribly. He is still very busy trying to get his final film project up and running, but we are glad he took time to come to visit. Just having him around makes me happy.
In other news, our fence is finished and it is awesome! We love it. We have also had Jorge put a new garage door on the house. It is fabulous. It closes all of the way! I can even operate it with one hand! It is a beautiful thing. Our next project is our crumbling front stairs. I can't wait. Our front stairs have this hideous AstroTurf covering them and they are disintegrating as I write. I can't wait for the gleam of new, glorious, uncovered concrete.
With all of our Frost family together and with the new additions to our house. We thought we would have a barbecue with everyone. It was a lot of fun. We did get rained on a little bit, but with our screened in porch it wasn't bad. It was great to feel like we could have people over and entertain.
As far as the kids go, Carter had to do a "show and teach" presentation in school where he picked something that he liked to do and then he had to teach his class how to do it. He really likes playing games so he taught everyone how to play the board game Othello. He did really well. His school year is fast coming to a close and we are both having mixed feelings about it. He has grown a lot this year and will miss his class. I can't believe I almost have a 1st grade child. Also, we are trying to get his two front teeth to come out. His new permanent teeth want to come in and they are pushing his other teeth to stick way out. Typical Carter, won't let me touch them though. I am thinking that another visit to the dentist is inevitable.
Lily gave her first talk in church over the weekend. Dwight helped her and she did a terrific job. She was a little nervous, but she did great. She talked about repentance. It makes a mom feel so happy!
Well, I suppose that I'd better get to reading my book. It's The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. I have been invited to join a book club and our first meeting is tomorrow. I am excited about it. I hope that I can keep up with it. It will be a little bit of a challenge to fit it in, but I am going to try.

Monday, Monday

Well, It has been an exciting Monday. I woke up this morning to Lily telling me that I had to come and see something exciting in our kitchen. IT WAS A DEAD MOUSE! (Well, more precisely a mouse in the last moments of life.) It was not cool. We had been having some late night sightings of something scurrying across our floor and each time I have screamed like a little girl (much to my surprise). We tried to solve our problem with the humane solution of a live trap, but had no success. Finally, I decided I had to set out some poison. I didn't want to, but I did it. Well, the poison worked, and we felt both a sense of relief and guilt. I am hoping that he was a lone mouse and that there won't be any more "exciting somethings'" showing up around the house.

In other news, We are getting a new fence! We are all very excited. More privacy! The kids can play out there without me worrying! We can get a dog! Yeah! Our trusty jack-of-all-trades, Jorge, is putting it in for us. We love Jorge. He is awesome. He can doing anything.






I am also putting some pictures of our yard up. I love our yard in the spring. It is so pretty. Each year a brand new beginning. Life is new and the world is good.

Whole foods trip

So, today I took the kids and went to pick up our second ever basket from the Bountiful Baskets Food Co-op. It went a lot quicker this time. There wasn't any waiting and we came home with another beautiful basket of fruits and veggies. I worked all morning on getting the veggies ready to be eaten and all of my food storage that I bought at a case sale put and away.

Then after Dwight got home we went and picked up my mom and went down to The Whole Foods store in Salt Lake. It was a lot of fun. None of us had ever been there before. It was fun to see all of the things that they had. I was a little lost as to what I really needed to buy there, but I settled on some exotic grains and a few other things and am feeling quite excited about the possibility of cooking with them. We got quinoa, millet, amarynth, spelt flour, red lentils, pumpkin seeds, ginger, shitake mushrooms, and pearled couscous. I wouldn't even know that half of these existed if it wasn't for my wonderful sister-in-law. She has always got something new for me to try, Thanks Tor. You should check out her cooking blog - http://www.iwanttobedomestic.blogspot.com/. It rocks!

I also got a chance to go with a friend of mine, Kelly, to the ballet last night. It was so fun. I can count the times I've been to the ballet on one hand, but every time I've gone I have really liked it. They performed Balanchine's America. It was beautiful. They danced purely effortlessly. I can't imagine ever being that strong. They did a great job and it was fun to have an outing away from the house. I have a great husband for those of you who don't already know. He encouraged me to go out while he stayed home with the kids. They all had a big race off on Mario Cart. What a peach! I am very blessed.

Netflix and Food

We just got our Netflix disc in the mail that allows us to watch movies instantly on our Wii. It is AWESOME- Not just in my best 1980's lingo. I mean awesome as in I am awestruck by the technology. I just couldn't believe it. I had hundreds of movies at my fingertips to watch at a moments notice. I thought to myself that this is going to be one of those "back in my day" moments. " Back in my day we actually had to GO to a store to rent a video and sometimes THE MOVIE YOU WANTED WASN'T EVEN AVAILABLE! Times were tough in those days.



The first movie we rented was Food, Inc. This movie scared the pants off of me. Not just because of the terrible things that are done to and put into the food that we eat, but also because of the spectacular amounts of power that these large corporations have. They have pretty much absolute power to crush any competition and to hush any critics. It was terrifying to learn some of this stuff. We need to change the food system we have set up for ourselves - for our health, security, environment, and freedom. I recommend this movie to anyone, but "Hold on to your butts."(thanks Jurassic Park.)

Robin Hood

It has been a long, but productive week. We rented a Chevy Silverado truck over the weekend to help us get our yard, screen porch, and garage under control. After 5 trips to the local dump and one trip to Deseret Industries, we DID IT. There were tired backs and hands full of slivers, but we did it. It feels so much lighter. A great weight has been removed from me. I feel like I'm walking around on a cloud. I hope we can keep it up.
I also went and got our first fruits and veggie basket from The Bountiful Baskets food Co-op. It was fun and I am really excited about the food. I was so surprised at the amount of people who were up early on a Saturday morning for fruits and veggies. It was exciting to see. Power the veggie people! It will be interesting to try to find yummy ways to cook and eat them all. We have been trying to get the kids to eat more vegetables and to think about them positively. I decided to try giving them a quarter to put in a jar each time they ate a serving of vegetables and didn't complain. It seems to be working pretty well so far. I don't if that seems silly or not, but I figure anything to get them starting healthy habits. I didn't want to be the parent who is always nagging and yelling at the kids to "eat your vegetables!" I want them to think of healthy food as exciting and good for them. I want them to be different from me in that way. I want them to be healthy and happy.
Last week we also put together our new "Food rotation system" shelf from Shelf Reliance. Let me tell you. It is a sight to behold. Sheer beauty! It is a good deal more empty than I would like, but you have to start somewhere, right? It can hold a TON! I just love it. I am excited to get more prepared with our food storage. We have a good start, but there is now room to grow. Yeah!
One last piece of news from the Green Hamsters, Lily got to go to her first birthday party today. She was SOO EXCITED. She was even telling everyone in Walmart last night about it. "I get to go to Ezra's birthday party!" "He invited me!" "I am so excited that I could just scream!" They went to the Gateway Children's museum and then had a picnic lunch. It was a Robin Hood themed birthday so she came home with this cute Robin Hood hat that our neighbor had made. (Way to go Kinsie!) She looked adorable and she had a great time. Fun, fun, FUN. Good times. Noodle salad.

Who Is Jack Robinson anyway?

This morning I felt like a "true adventurer" as I journeyed downstairs to the forgotten ruin that is our basement (complete with spiderwebs to walk through). I was on a mission. Lego Indiana Jones provided the perfect theme music for me. Why did I come to such a forgotten part of the world, you might ask. Some might say that it was because of the laundry piles that needed washing, but to this I say, " Nonsense!" I came here to call some attention to the new songs I just picked up yesterday on Itunes. Now Itunes is a place that holds great danger for a person such as myself. I could spend hundreds of dollars there quicker than you could say "Jack Robinson". And yet... I went. I went searching for some priceless pieces of musical splendor. I waded through page after page looking for them. I searched high and low. Consulted outside sources. Finally, I found them south of the border and quickly fled from a place that tempted me toward complete and utter ruin.

Though I had to place myself in peril, I do not regret my decision. They are MAGNIFICENT! I sat in my bed this morning listening to them with my eyes closed, imagining that my fingers could move as quickly as their nimble creators. I knew they were too good to keep all to myself. I knew I had to share them with the world. So I came to the basement to place these masterpieces in the most public forum that was available to me - my new blog. (My only other option was driving in my minivan with all the windows rolled down and music blaring. I think I made the right choice.) So, it is with great pleasure that I present the following for you listening pleasure. I DARE YOU TO STAND STILL WHILE YOU LISTEN TO THEM. I DARE YOU! May they bring as much happiness to you as they have to me. Until next time explorers...enjoy!



Rodrigo y Gabriela
"Hanuman"
"Buster Voodoo"
"Hora Zero"
"11:11"



Sergio Mendes and Brasil '66
"Bim Bom"



Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66
"One Note Samba/Spanish Flea"




Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66
"Mais Que Nada"

My very first post on my very first blog! I am trying to experience as many firsts as I can so here goes nothing. Today is our first day of Spring break. Carter, Lily, and I have been trying our new Mario Cart game out this morning (thanks, Easter Bunny). I also made it through the gauntlet of ordering an organic food basket through Bountiful Baskets.com this afternoon. Hail the conquering Hero! Now if she can just get up at 7:00 am on Saturday to pick it up, all will be right with the world. We have seen a lot of things on eating healthier lately, for example: an interview with the author of "The Omnivore's Dilemma" and some episodes of "Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution". It has inspired us to try to eat more healthily. Pretty soon we will be not just the green hamster family but a lean, mean, green one as well. For those of you just tuning in, the Green Hamsters is what we decided that our family team would be called if we had one. Go Green Hamsters!!!
So, anyway, I am sitting here and contemplating the fact that half of the Frost family is currently "out there having fun in that warm California sun" and I am about to go out of my mind. They are be-bopping their way through the rides at Disneyland and making me even more green (See above)than usual. We went with our family to California over the Christmas holiday and we have been wishing we were there ever since. In honor of these warm and fuzzy memories of together time I have posted several of our trip photos up so that we can at least be in Cali via the Internet. I would like to give my condolences to the Hursts who also must be feeling Disney deprived at this time. May we meet again where the tikis do their chants and the pirates are ever searching for that elusive Jack Sparrow. Cheers!
In closing, I would like to dedicate this first blog to my blog mentor, Victoria. Without you, none of this would be possible. Thank you.