The Happy Couple

Neal and Michelle got married on December 6 in the Seattle temple. As you can see from the picture, they are happy!!!!! It only took four years. They apparently knew within a month in a half of dating that they wanted to get married and they had their four year plan to get everything to work the way they wanted (missions, etc.) I guess the sealer must have felt their anticipation because he talked for a tiny bit, looked at them and said, "Let's do what we came here to do. Let's get this couple married." So without a lot of ado, they became the newest Bastian couple.
They had great weather, the rain held off, and they had an excellent photographer and everything looked amazing, especially Michelle. I loved her hair. We had a good time seeing family, Caleb had lots of fun hiding under th dessert tables and Brayden liked wrestling Sydney, the dog. All pictures of Brayden and Caleb from the reception show them wrestling on the floor. I'm sure lots of people were wondering where their irresponsible parents were.
Now, most people don't make money at their receptions (aside from gifts), but we have an uncle, and calling him a prankster is an understatement, who paid Neal and Michelle $100 to smash the cake into each other's faces. Neal wanted to, Michelle said, "Don't you dare!" and then proceeded to smash cake into Neal's face. Great fun. I think Neal's highlight of the reception was getting to peal out in my Dad's Mercedes afterwards. The only bummer is that Neal brought home some nasty virus from the Phillippines (b/c he had got off his mission three weeks before the wedding) and gave it to Michelle. So she was pretty hosed by the time they got married. She was upbeat about it though, and said they had fun staying up all night coughing and getting caught up on their favorite TV shows. Now on to real life. Good luck Neal and Michelle!

Happy Holidays!!

Notable Quotables

Brayden: "Mom, Caleb's being wicked!!." Caleb was in the kitchen dumping out spices.

C: "Noooooooooooo!!! Brayden, time out!"
B: "Whatever."
I find this one funny because often when Mike is kind of upset about something I did, I being the really understanding person that I am, say, "Whatever."

Michelle (my younger sister) "I'm so grateful for Twilight. I feel so beautiful in my pale skin. It makes me feel like a vampire." This girl used to fake 'n bake WAY too much, so I'm grateful for Twilight also. Who wants a leathery old hag by the time they are sixty for a sister anyway? Just kidding. I just don't want a skin cancer infested sister.

Fun with Brushes

I've been wanting to figure out how to use brushes in Illustrator for a while. I played around with it a little while ago trying to make a wedding announcement, and couldn't get it. But I decided to try again when I decided to donate Christmas cards for my auction item for Brayden's preschool. (We are all supposed to donate something worth $50 for the school's auction.) So my neighbor (who is a graphic designer) came over and gave me a brushes tutorial. It was soooooo fun!!!! I think I have a little (or a lot) more to learn about them, and I really wish I could take a class in Illustrator. But I know enough about them to get around. I think. Oh, and this isn't our Christmas card for the year, it's just one of the samples for the auction.

Playing with our food

We bought a little book from Kroger this fall and it had tons of yummy, fun, Halloween food ideas. We've made mummy dogs, witches' hats, cauldron apples, snake stromboli, ghost rice krispy treats, and tombstone brownies. Here are pictures of a couple. There were a lot more fun treats in the book we wanted to try, but there just wasn't enough time! But that means I have lots of fun ideas for next year. I really like food. :)

Next Interview

So I think I misled everyone. Mike was offered a position in Witchita, but we haven't accepted yet, and we may not. We're still early in the "finding a job" game. He found out today he interviews with Raytheon in Tuscon, AZ in November and hopefully there will be others. He's looking at Medtronic and Northrupp Grummin (?) and Sandia National Laboratories and his advisor just told him to apply to some other job because someone is trying to recruit from Mike's lab. So hopefully there will be a long list of options. :) Yeah for interviews!!! Maybe when we move we'll put the boys in separate bedrooms so I don't have to listen to them keep each other awake. Any guesses what I'm listening to right now???? :)

Witchita-ta-ta

Mike had his first job interview this past week. He received an offer two days later. We have until Nov. 3 to give them our answer. Great, huh???? The only problem is Mike hasn't had any time to follow up with other companies and so he doesn't have other interviews going right now, so we don't really know our options. Oh, and if you couldn't tell from the title, the offer was from Witchita, Kansas. Hawker Beechcraft is the company. They make private jets and small planes. Mike really enjoyed being in Witchita, he likes the homes, the people, he really likes the company and would enjoy working on small planes. We'd make what sounds like nothing, but it's the equivalent of $100,000 in the LA area, so you can guess how cheap cost of living is in Witchita-ta-ta. And the best part--We have Caleb calling the city Witchita-ta-ta. It's really fun to say. You should try it.

Super Duper Mikey

This weekend I'm having some foot problems that are kind of painful and are making it hard to walk. Knowing this, Mike helped a ton last night, and then after kids were in bed went back to work. He got home at 5 am today, working 7 hours last night so that he could be home today to help me out and take care of the kids. He even committed to himself, before he went to bed, that he would jump out of bed when the kids woke up in the morning without tons of prodding from me so that I wouldn't know he worked so late. And for those that know Mike, getting up in the morning is not something that is easily accomplished. Especially not on 2 1/2 hours of sleep. He even let me sleep in even though I had gone to bed at 10:30 last night. He was around all day, even missed watching a football game to help, did some grocery shopping, cooked, cleaned, took us to the park and gave me a piggy-back ride from the car to the park so I wouldn't have to gimp slowly along. And right now he's debating going back to work even though he hasn't had any sleep. I'm trying to convince him to go to bed, but there is the Career Fair next week, and we do want a job someday, so . . . we'll see what happens.

My newest project

I'm helping Mandy make a wedding announcement for her sister. Fun. There will probably be a picture in at some point, but for right now, this looked the best. It has a little bit more white space between the swirl and the text then it probably should, but I still think it looks good. The swirl we got from Sharon's digiscrap CD and it saved the day. I was trying to do swirls with brushes and I couldn't get them to work. I liked the Photoshop brushes better, but they were being funny and didn't have good color and were pixelated. Then we tried Illustrator brushes and they were very clean, crisp lines and really good color and I could change the color, etc. They just weren't the right swirls for what we wanted. More grungy looking. So Sharon's swirl was easy to use and perfect. Yeah!!!

Warren Dunes

I am finally posting about Warren Dunes. It took a little while to get the post up because we all caught a pretty good cold on the beach but we are now recovered. So this was an awesome camping trip. Phil and Noelle, we missed you guys, and I really cannot believe that you guys had more fun in Costa Rica than we had here. Thanks to everyone for coming and pitching in. We had a good-size group that camped and then also a few more who joined us on Saturday. Here are the highlights:
1. Brayden loves Grant. He wants to be like Grant. Grant is soooooo funny. I think there was a bond made.
2. No nursing baby!!!!! It is so much easier to camp when I don't have a baby attached at the hip . . . or elsewhere . . .
3. Lisa and her flashlight. I'm still seeing spots.
4. Being teased mercilessly for misapplying Mike's sunscreen. See this link for the damage.
5. Awesome waves on Lake Michigan. First time I've attempted body surfing in a long time. Soo much fun.
6. Great weather. On Friday the high was 76 degrees and the water temp was 71. So awesome.
7. Running along the trails with Mike Saturday morning while he pushed Collin and Caleb in the jogger. They had a great time together. Laughed hysterically the whole time.
8. Seeing Jill coming back from the clay stream covered in clay.
9. Trying out Culver's Custard for the first time ever. I have to say it was pretty good. It helps that the Custard connoisseurs took us. Thanks Garns!

Wheezer #1 and Wheezer #2

I think the band Weezer must have had someone with asthma in it. We went to the doctor today (after having already been there on Monday) to check on Caleb's asthma. He was having an incessant cough (which is a sign of an asthma attack) even though he has been on Albuterol every 4 hours. So we went and Caleb sounded great, and then Brayden coughed and the doctor looked at him and said, "Has he ever wheezed?" Oh geez. Yes, once back in January. So she checked him all over and he is now Wheezer #2. However, he is a tiny wheezer whereas Caleb is not. This doesn't mean that Brayden has asthma, but if he keeps wheezing he might become a little asthma boy also. I hope not!!! In general he has always been a lot more healthy than Caleb, so let's hope it can stay that way. And apparently Vitamin D supplements can help with all this stuff, so we'll be starting on those. I'm really scared for the winter. I honestly don't know if I can survive another one like last year, and this seems like a bad start to be this sick in August. Wish me luck!

Verdict

So I finished Breaking Dawn a couple nights ago and I was pleasantly surprised with the book. Without giving anything away, I would say that the ending in some ways caught me off guard. My only qualm is that from a Mormon author to a teenage girl audience, there was a little too much implicit sex. I'd prefer it to be a side note instead of a theme.

200 pages in

So I'm 200 pages into Breaking Dawn (and I cheated and skimmed a couple hundred more) and all I have to say is:
1. I am glad I wasn't covered head to toe in bruises on my honeymoon.
2. It's been six years--I'm ready for another honeymoon on a tropical island in the middle of nowhere.
3. Man, pregnancy really, really sucks. Too bad she thinks all those symptoms start that early only for vampire babies. I guess I've had vampire babies.
4. I'm so glad I didn't get pregnant on my honeymoon.
5. Fun, interesting read. But sorry, Stephenie Meyer is a little predictable. Sorry if I've ruffled any feathers with that statement. And I realize I may change my mind when I've actually finished the book, but come on, the whole imprinting thing. That did not blow my mind.
6. THANKS to Jess for shipping her copy of the book to me while she was on vacation. Very thoughtful and this book is keeping me company while Mike is away in New York.

A Child's Prayer

Brayden, "Heavenly Father, I'm thankful for this day. I'm not thankful I left my bat and ball at Collin's house. Bless the food. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen."

Mom, drop it

After 10 minutes of ignoring Caleb's pleas, I finally went upstairs to see what the heck was going on. He kept telling me he had dropped it. So I started picking up everything that was on the floor that he had dumped out of his bed--blankets, sippy cup, pillow. But he just started crying harder and saying "potty." So I reach up and instead of a diaper, I find something else. Whoops! So I turn on the light and Caleb's diaper and shorts have been thrown half way across the room and he desperately wants to go "potty toilet." Well, nice try, but the diaper and shorts are going back on and if I have to I'll restort to the too-small onesies to keep that diaper on. But hey, I'm glad he's so interested in being potty trained. I really find the whole thing funny, and I wish I could have taken a picture of what I saw when I turned on the light, but I'm told half-naked little boys on the Internet isn't really a good idea.

Firecracker Race

My brother, Jeff, and my sister, Michelle ran a race with me in downtown Seattle on July 3rd. It started at 11:55 pm and we ran into the 4th. I was pretty scared once we got there because the only contenders were cross country runners and I really didn't want to come in last. But by the time the race started there were lots of people of all age groups and I finished 200th out of over a thousand. I was pretty happy with my time: 24:10 with the average mile time as 7:50. Nothing compared to the old days, but I was happy with it. And I felt great the whole time. In the race there was hardly any flat ground, you were either going up or going down, so I thought I'd die on the hills but I felt great. Lots of fun. I would love to do it again next year. Jeff and Michelle did awesome. Jeff finished 15th overall and Michelle was the 7th girl to finish and 75th overall. Yeah for running!

Sunburned in Seattle

Who would have guessed the first week in Seattle we'd get sunburned!! But we had one really hot day and we spent it at a lake and I thought I was being careful with suncreen, but let's face it, it's not one of my strong points. At least I lathered the boys so they are not burned. :)

The boys have adjusted to being in grandma and grandpa's house. Brayden is not saying he wants to get on a plane and go back home to see his tomato plant growing anymore. Caleb isn't clingy all the time either, so things are going well. I think all my family is enjoying seeing the kids. But we all miss Mike!

Other highlights: I played Guitar Hero for the first time; I ran in a race in Iowa on our way our here and made myself dry heave during my finishing kick; I've run with some very fast people here and they've killed me; and went to Ann Taylor Loft. Although that might have been a low-light--nothing worked out. Mike would say that's a good thing. But one major bummer: I forgot my camera.

Prom & Mother's Day

A boy in our ward has met my sister a couple times when she was out here, so he flew her out for his senior prom. So on Friday after her track race she jumped on a red-eye flight and flew here. He picked her up, they went to breakfast and then she came back here to sleep a bit and then get ready. Phil and Noelle also came up since Michelle was here, so we had a party. Brayden had his first soccer game that morning, so we were all there to cheer him on. Then Noelle and I went with Michelle to get her hair done and I got my hair cut while Michelle was styled (first good hair cut in a while!). We came back for pictures, the happy couple took off in their party bus and danced the night away. Or more like they laughed at how everyone else danced. A little (or a lot) too much grinding for their taste. While they were at prom, we had our own party and did parmesan cheese fondue, tempura and then we tried to do chocolate fondue, but we were so stinkin' full that we really couldn't eat any of it. We then all piled on Phil and Noelle's areobed to wait for Michelle and Sean to come back. I gave them a 2 am curfew. I'm not sure what Sean thought seeing four adults all asleep in a bed together, but we had fun with our slumber party. Then we had mother's day. It was pretty fun to have everyone here. Good food, good company. On Tuesday when everyone's gone I think I'm going to be pretty depressed.

Asthma Action Plan

Preventative: Pulmicort (inhaled steroid) 2 times a day through nebulizer
Rescue: Albuterol every four hours as needed
When to use Albuterol: bad cough, retractions, grunting, belly breathing
Call doctor if Albuterol doesn't help.

Caleb started wheezing about a year ago, and they told me that if he continued to wheeze when he got colds, it could be asthma. For whatever reason, I just knew Caleb would have asthma. Now it is officially diagnosed. He does pretty well with the nebulizer (what he's wearing in the picture) and he seems to be sleeping a lot better since we started his asthma medication. So with tubes in his ears and preventative asthma stuff, I'm hoping that we can take care of him at home for the most part and not need to go to the doctor so much. We have a follow up visit in six weeks or so where we'll see how he is doing on the pulmicort and then we'll ween him off and wait to see how he does. I believe this is so we can figure out what kind of triggers his asthma. I feel really good about what we're doing for Caleb and I've just been waiting for them to tell me he really did have asthma, so now we're going forward.

Victory, Victory

Last Friday Mike passed prelims, which consisted of an 80 page paper, a 45 minute presentation on that paper and two hours of being grilled about his past and proposed research. It's been a big project that he's been working towards for months, and he passed. His committee's only complaint was that he was trying to do a PhD-in-a-half and he needed to pare down. If he pares down they think that if he stays focused he can be done by December. I told his adviser that I really want him done by December, because Mike's dad offered to let us move in with him until Mike has a job. So Mike's a little upset that I'm hoping for him to finish soon and be jobless, but the thought of a bigger house, a fenced-in backyard, a California winter and last but not least, being around Mike's dad a bunch is really, really appealing. We'll see what happens. Mike's adviser said I should tell Mike I'm leaving in January no matter what so that Mike will stay focused. :)

"What a good boy am I"

So last night Caleb was coughing a lot, as he always does when he has a cold. So Mike was holding him on his chest to keep him elevated until the Benadryl kicked in to reduce all his drainage. When that finally happened, I took Caleb back to his bed and accidentally stepped on Brayden who had moved himself to the sleeping bag on the floor. After I put Caleb in his crib I reached down to see what was up with Brayden when he popped up and said "I leaked in my pants and underwear and I couldn't find any clean underwear." After talking through it a bit to make sure I understood, I realized the poor kid wet the bed and stoically was trying to take care of it all by himself in the middle of the night. He put his peed underwear and pajama pants in the closet (where the laundry hamper is) and looked for new underwear and pants. When he couldn't find them, he just crawled into the sleeping bag on the floor to sleep there instead of back into his wet bed. So when I found him he had quite the bare bum. I went and got him new pajama pants that were in my room in a laundry basket of clean clothes I hadn't put away. Unfortunately, he went commando style to bed because underwear were in the dryer. So as I put new pants on him and tucked him into his sleeping bag, he said "Mom, there was dirt in my bed" in a very sad voice. Poor Braydo. I gave his friend Charlie a nap in his bed. Charlie had fallen asleep on the car ride home and I put him in bed, coat and shoes and all and he had dirt all over his shoes. Anyway, short story long, I was pretty touched by how Brayden tried to be a good boy and handle everything independently and not wake anybody up. But I'm glad I found him so he didn't have to sleep with a a bare bum!

Easter Weekend documented

We had a great Easter last weekend, snow and all. There was an Easter egg hunt, complete with sledding and hot chocolate--great improvisation when all the snow came. And really glistening white snow makes it a lot easier to find brightly colored plastic eggs. Everyone hunted in their snowsuits. Phil and Noelle braved the blizzard to drive to visit us. The last 45 minutes of the drive took them 2 hours. Thankfully they weren't one of the cars off on the side of the road. Quite the white-knuckle-grip-on-the-driving-wheel experience. We watched Dan in Real Life. Great movie. We had the best Easter dinner ever. Several people weren't partial to ham, so I conviced Mike (grumbling the whole way) to make his super yummy lemon something chicken. Then we had masterfully whipped mashed potatoes (go Noelle) and asparagus and rolls and then Noelle made chocolate eclairs. Phil was an awesome Easter bunny that was sooooo tall and hid eggs in really hard places. Brayden was an ecstatic three-year-old that revelled in the candy and finding the eggs. Caleb, our food-monger ate all the candy, and I really enjoyed having people to talk to and help with all the dishes and cleaning. Phil and Noelle are great at jumping in and getting a lot done. And I think Mike was even able to relax for a couple days. Pretty unusual when you're desperately trying to finish a PhD. :) What a fabulous weekend.

Cherry Mouth

So all day long Brayden asks me, "Do you wanna see how big my mouth is?" "How big is your mouth?" "My mouth is bigger than your mouth." And on and on and on. Also, the Cherrys generally have bigger mouths, which is the reason for their big beautiful smiles. So here's a picture of the Cherry boys demonstrating what Brayden does all day long.

addendum

This is a little add on to the previous post for added clarification. I have tried broccoli many, many times in my life. This just was actually the first time I liked it. I even tried broccoli last Friday and didn't like it. So there ya go.

I like broccoli

So tonight I tried broccoli and for the first time ever in my life I liked it. I saw on Rachel Ray a while back that this was the broccoli for people who didn't like broccoli. And I think I have to say she is right. It was really good. I was skeptical because when we were cutting it up and it was starting to cook, I hated the smell, but you cook it long enough and the flavor changes and it was great. So for any that want to try, here's the recipe straight off her web page.

Oven-Roasted Broccoli
Serves 4
Tags: sides vegetables roast Yum-o! Family Friendly
Submitted by
Rachael Ray
Yum-o! Family Friendly
on 09/03/07

This is an easy to make dish that will make a broccoli lover out of anyone! Rachael serves it with Brandy & Orange Chicken with Stuffed Shrimp.
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Ingredients

* 1 head broccoli, cut into pieces all the way through the stem
* 2-3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
* 3 tablespoons (eyeball it) extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO)
* Salt and freshly ground pepper

Preparation

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Liberally drizzle EVOO over broccoli, add garlic, salt and pepper, and toss to coat.

Transfer to oven and roast for 15-20 minutes, until broccoli is nice and crispy on the ends and a little brown.

This is a great recipe for kids and the whole family from Yum-o! It's good AND good for you. For more information about Yum-o! go to the Yum-o! website.

And Lisa, this is just for you, I am posting this at 11:04 p.m. I don't always die at night . . . like those days I take naps. :)

So I am lazy . . .

We went to Kalahari, a HUGE indoor waterpark in Ohio for midwinter break. It was awesome, and since three out of the four other families we went with have already posted and I haven't, and my 15 minutes that were for doing the dishes and not blogging are already gone, I'm just going to post links to their blogs. :) Elders, Thackers, Savages.

Also, here is a link to my friends the Millars. After you read their stories, you'll know why they were some of my favorite people at BYU. Not exactly happy stories, but entertaining.

Valentine's Day

So I'm going backwards, but I'm trying very hard to avoid going to bed right now, so I'm posting a picture of Mike and me on Valentine's Day. My sister dressed me up, did hair and make-up and then Mike and I went to Pizza House. We both love pizza and I love their salad and breadsticks, so it was quite fun. Then we watched No Reservations. Not as cute as I would have hoped, but at least it was a free rental.

More shopping

My favorite place to shop in Michigan is Great Lakes Crossing. Once a year I go and visit Ann Taylor Loft and get these really amazing deals. And they just put in a HUGE H&M, so that was even better. Since the young men were tobogganing, Noelle, Michelle and I bundled them up and took them with us on our shopping adventure. The kids were really good and we scored some super deals. Noelle (for those not introduced to her yet, she is my sister-in-law, she married my brother, Phil) found a wool pea coat for $6 and a pair of nice jeans for $3, among other things. I found pants for $10 and a dress that is going back because the only place that it closes is at the waist, oops! And Michelle found a velvet nice dress coat for $40 that was originally $120. So here's a little picture of us modeling out stuff. Incidentally, a boy visiting Michelle had to watch us parade around in all our outfits. I'm sure he had loads of fun.

A little sisterly love

As many know, I am a chocolate fanatic. But it's not just me, it runs in the family. Love you Michelle!!

Meet my friend Uma

This beauty is Annie Ogle. I've known her since I was 5 and she now resides in London. Way too far away. Ever since Uma Thurman came on the scene, Annie has gotten tons of comments saying she looks like her. I think I have to agree. So here's to Uma. Incidentally, Mike saw the name Uma and wanted to do a spin-off of Ima. Ima Cherry. He thought it would be the perfect name for one of our kids. We'll be right on that. Oh, and the picture on the right is the real Uma. Annie swears there's not a resemblance. Anyone disagree? :)

Such a deal

I've been waiting for a week to buy these cute sweaters for Brayden for next year. I had a 15% off coupon that started yesterday, so I wanted to wait until that started. But I was worried about sizes running out, so I've been checking the website religiously because they never have the sizes in the store. Well, last night a friend and I went to Children's Place just to check if they had anything before I ordered online and they had just put everything an additional 50% off instead of 30% and they had tons of sizes and selection! Awesome, that never happens!!!! So all for $42 I got a 3-in-1 coat, two sweaters, a sweatshirt, a fleece, a button-down church shirt, a pair of pajamas, a scarf (Brayden is in love with scarves right now), and gloves. And the gloves and scarf match. And then when I was checking out I asked if I could still use my coupon online because I wanted to buy some shoes that they didn't have in the store, and they said yes and gave me a free shipping code. So I went home (after quick trip to Victoria's Secret to get a really great bra. Love the bras, hate their advertising.) and ordered three pairs of shoes online for $15. It should have been $13, but after all that I remembered the free shipping code and I forgot to use my 15% off. Oh well. Even without it I still think everything was a really good deal. So let me give Children's Place some free advertising and tell everyone to Go! My favorite part was the coat. $8.50 and it has a zip-out fleece, detachable hood and outer shell. So I don't have to buy a windbreaker, and he has a super warm winter coat for $8.50. Sweet.

What I am watching right now

So two of my boys, the biggest and Brayden, are chasing each other around the basement on bicycles. Well, technically, Brayden is on a bicycle with training wheels and Mike is pushing our "monster" tricycle. Brayden is a speedy little demon, so Mike is working hard to stay ahead of him, and he just crashed face first into our dehumidifier. You think I would have to worry about Brayden crashing, but no. Mike is the biggest kid at hard. He is now moving the seat down on Brayden's trike so he can actually ride and not die. In the process, he's teaching Brayden about crescent wrenches. Wish I had a picture for ya'll. Have a happy night!