lovin' our new neighbors

Stay-at-home moms (SAHM) are hard to come by around here, so you can imagine my joy as the Guymon family moved into the building next door with 3 girls and two awesome adults, one being a SAHM. It is so great to have friends so close and we have already traded babysitting, cooked each other dinner, borrowed drills, spices, etc, they have watched my kids a number of time and have already put them to sleep- no sweat, we've gone to the Beach, Coney Island, music in the park, and a number of BBQ's and Zanna and James, Zanna espcially, loves having girls her age to play/color/dress-up/apply lip gloss with etc. When we first moved here we kept telling Zanna that we would "find" new friends and after a few weeks of not meeting any little girls her age, she said, "where are they, Dad, I just can't find them!" So, now we have found them and every morning she asks if we can play with Bailee and Olivia- thanks for being our great neighbors and friends!


Rachel and I seem to have a lot in common, so much that I had to jot down a few:


1- we both have dark hair
2- we both have been told we look like Jennifer Connelly
3- we both played basketball in high school and love playing sports
4- they drive a minivan and a '97 Nissan Altima, we also drive a minivan and '97 Nissan Altima
5- both our husbands are residents
6-we both have brothers named Brett
7- we both get headaches a lot
8- we both love to exercise and do the double jogger thing
9- our kids have have had similar eating struggles
10- we own a lot of the same movies
11- they went to BYU, as did we
12- she is easy going about switching car seats, taking 5 kids to the park etc.- just chill like that
13- our blogs had the same backgrounds when we first met
14- we both attended our first belly dancing class tonight! (it was Friends and Family night, so she came to check out the gym and after that class I don't know if she'll come back- actually it was a lot of fun and a can't wait to get a jingle belt!)
15- our styles of cooking are similar and our desire to cook is similar as well
16- they also believe in the saying "one man's trash is another man's treasure" :)

...there are more similarities, and of course many differences, but I will leave it at this- it's a little weird, eh?

Since Dave has been gone so much lately, I have been "third wheelin'" with them and Jim is always so nice to stay with the kids so that we can both get a break- so I just want to say THANKS and Yay for our new friends!

Manhasset... to live or not to live

Here's a little tale to give you a glimpse into the area where I live:

"Neither town nor village, Manhasset is four square miles of suburbia. It contains three villages and parts of three others, and shares a peninsula with Port Washington. Once considered an ideal cow pasture, it has been home to some of the nation's richest and most powerful people."- newsday.com, July 30, 2008

So, I live in Manhasset, NY (that is part of my address) but the minute any Manhasset residents find out that I really live in the resident housing of North Shore Hospital on Comunity Drive- I am looked at in a whole new way... and it is geting OLD!! So what- my husband is a resident and only makes $$$$$ instead of $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$- can't we still use the library and go to the park? I say this because even though I live in Manhasset, I am technically in the Great Neck School District and Library district- so I am allowed to use the Manhasset Library but I get put on all the waiting lists for childrens' classes and am allowed in after all the Manhasset Nannies (I mean moms) and kids. I would glady go to the Great Neck Library but it is about 5 times further away and I don't want to drive all that way, when there is a beautiful library about 1.5 miles from my house. The other day I called to sign James up for a class and the librarian was so overly nice and "excited about having him." The second she asked for my library card # and realized I held a Great Neck card her voice went from overly- sugary sweet to a flat "we'll call you if he gets off the waiting list"- and I am not even exagerating at all-really! Manhasset does offer a lot of great prpgrams- festivals, music in the park, children safety day with ice cream and face painting, a cute little main street and a grea train station- but I just have to remember to keep my address to myself, say "my husband works at North Shore Hospital" instead of "he's a resident at North Shore" and bring my gucci bag to the park!



Also, even to go the parks in great neck, you are supposed to have a "park card" to prove you are worthy enough to go to their parks, AND to swim in most of the pools around here you have to have a "leisure pass" proving you are a Long Island resident cause heaven forbid anyone from Queens touches our water!



there are probably reasons for all these things (safety, taxes, prejudice, social stigma etc. ) but it is ANNOYONG! Why can't we all just read books, swim and get along!

These are a couple of pics with our friends from recent little events around the town, village, community- or whatever it's called!

i lost my friend...MAC

I miss Dave, but I really miss our MAC Book Pro! Dave took my best friend with him to Baltimore and now I have no one to hang out with night. MAC entertained me and kept me nice and warm at night. MAC helped me keep in touch with others and was always so quick to respond to my needs. Now I am stuck with PC who just sits on the desk all day and night and seems to be so slow these days. PC doesn't even "breathe" and freezes up when I ask just a little too much of him. He has been trusty over the last years, but now that I've gotten to know MAC- it is hard to go on without him. So, if my posts are few and far between for the next few weeks, please know that I am going through MAC withdrawls and am awaiting are happy reunion in late August.

This was a funny conversation:

Mom: "Zanna, just because James did it, doesn't mean you need to. If James jumped off a cliff, would you jump off a cliff?"

a couple seconds go by...

James (popping his head around the corner): "Mom, what cliff? What CLIFF?? I don't want to jump off a cliff, that's dangerous!"


Dave left for Baltimore today and he will be gone for a MONTH! The kids and I walked him down to the car and it was sad to say good-bye, more sad than I thought it would be. I told him the only good thing about him being gone is that our room won't be freezing cause he always turns the AC up way too high. Although he isn't home that much, it sure makes a difference when I know he's coming home at night, even if it is after the kids go to sleep. I'll probably never make dinner this week and we'll just live in our jammies and play games all day- not really, but that would be fun. We are going out the Utah next Sunday and will be gone for a couple of weeks. We get to see Dave out there for about 24 hours (that's as much time as he could take for the wedding) so we will just have to look forward to that! I love you babe and miss you already!

flour girl

Why does Zanna love to eat flour- isn't that weird? Do any of your kids eat flour by the spoonfuls? Whenever I am making something with flour she always wants her own little bowl of it- I guess it's better than a whole bowl of chocolate chips or something, but anyway... I just think she cute with this little quirk of hers ;)


This is the french bread I'm obsessed with making right now. A missionary, Elder Salan, in our ward taught us how to do make it at Enrichment and I've made it A LOT since then for people and just to eat. You have to kneed it for about 20 minutes so I get a good little arm workout, but other than that it is easy and delicious! We made this bread and homemade butter to celebrate Pioneer Day at Young Women's the other night and it was a big hit! One of my goals this summer was to become a better bread maker- so Thank You to Elder Salan for the tips!

blogging...

I think the reason blogging has become so popular is because everyone loves to be told they are cool when they do something good, and get sympathy when things go wrong.  We all also love the sometimes instant "comments" after posting and just knowing that someone is listening (reading) and aware of what you are doing is nice.  We've all been told that we should write in a journal, right? well,  this is a way to feel like we are doing that and we get praised for it by people telling us our lives are great, sad, funny, amazing, adventurous, hilarious etc.  I used to wish my life was a movie so that people could see life the way I do-- I think this is a mild form of that and it is fun to know that there are a few people watching this flick! I love getting a peek into your lives and want to say thanks for being my inspiring family and friends- hooray for blogging!

pays to be smart...

This is where the new interns in the ED at North Shore Hosp. are broken in- rough, uh?

Dave went last year without us (we were in Utah) and this year he was able to go as a second year because his research was accepted at the Conference. So, we had another great trip on the hospital because he is cool and smart- thanks babe!

The Sagamore Hotel on Lake George

the bonfire where someone said, "you're not from New York are you?" 

"no, we're not, why?"

"we can tell by the way you roast your marshmallows!"

(everyone else stuck them straight in the flames and we were slow-roasting on the coals)

relaxing with mom.

can you say cheesey?

James had his real birthday on the trip

all James wanted for his birthday dinner was eggrolls- so he got them and there were delish!

thee hotel had free carriage rides and James got to drive cause it was his b-day

Dave presented his research and won 1 of 2 prizes awarded at the Conference- he is a good job and Zanna loved holding his "surprise" ribbon (prize)

we spent a lot of time at the Lake and the kids were little fish!

I told them to pose and this is what I got :)

hanging out on the beach

Zanna LOVES the water and just jumped in the cold lake like it was nothin'

After presenting Dave got to join us for some Daddy swimming

and on the way home we saw this... it was great ending to an awesome trip

tying the knot...

Zanna chose the design for this picture.

I just wanted to say CONGRATULATIONS to Mike and Amanda on the big engagement and wish them the best of luck in planning a wedding in 5 weeks :)

We love you guys and are so glad we had that time at the cabin to be with you and hear your relationship history- it's a long but good one and we are very happy for you guys!

P.S. Mike is Dave's little brother and he and Amanda have been dating (off-and-on) since 7th grade!

"Slow to Anger" lesson from James

So, today Dave and I spoke in church- my topic was "Slow to Anger" (a talk by President Hinckley) and Dave's was on charity. You know how you are always given the topics that you need help with- well that was definitely the case for me, as James threw the biggest fit of his three-year-old life yesterday at Coney Island in front of a million people! He was whining, yelling, telling me "no, MOMMY!" and then as I tried to strap him in the stroller to take him away and help him fall asleep he proceeded to hit me, kick me, and fight so hard I could barely buckle the straps. I was a sweaty, frustrated mess and hated the fact that I probably looked like I was abusing him cause he was yelling so loud and would not even make eye contact with me. He was so tired and his eyes were like a wild animals by the time I finally got him in the stroller- it was awful! So, after walking the dirty streets of Coney Island area for a while he finally fell asleep and I was able to regain some composure. The first thing I thought of was my talk "slow to anger" since I really wanted to go crazy on the kid and teach him a lesson. But, luckily it didn't come to that and he had a nice long nap and was back to normal when he woke up. This week as been quite trying as a mom, and I am actually grateful that I got to speak on this topic and get some good counsel for myself.
Oh, and by the way, I will probably never go back to Coney Island again... one, because they are tearing it all down and two, because it is dirty, crowded, there is glass all over the beach and I've had my coney dog and one is enough!

James turns 3!

this is the simplest and yummiest carmel popcorn recipe:

1 stick of butter

1 cup of brown sugar

1/3 bag of miniature marshmallows

Melt altogether in the microwave, stir, pour over popcorn and stir until coated.

I usually do about a batch and half of popcorn in the the air popper- it just depends on how sticky & coated you like your carmel corn.

We ate a batch pretty quickly at our last play group- it was delicious!

(thanks to Gina and Rob from Hershey for the recipe)

the birthday surprise...

   On Saturday night I surprised Dave by taking him an a Dinner Riverboat Cruise (the Bateaux) on the Hudson and East rivers around Manhattan.  My awesome cousin Jessica took the kids for the night and we had a great time seeing the city in a whole new way. We had a delicious 3-course dinner as we passed the waterfalls, went under all the bridges and had a nice close-up of the Statue of Liberty- she really is amazing!  It was a beautiful, humid night (my hair went crazy) and so fun to just relax, dance, and celebrate. Dave was sure we were going to a show on Broadway- so I was very glad to have found something he never suspected! 

We also had a fun get together on Sunday with some friends and had birthday pie and ice cream, cookies, and lemon bars. It was a week of partying and I think I need a break until next week- james is turning 3! Fun times ahead...