first, first birthday

Aunt Tiff had a little one-year-old fiesta at her house. This was technically for Harper since her birthday was a few days passed. We didn't feel too badly about the belated celebration as the birthday girl was actually in California enjoying SeaWorld, the San Diego Zoo, the beach and 70 degree weather. Not too shabby for a first birthday!

Harper was kind enough to let Sloane share in her b-day festivities. They are just 5 weeks apart so it's kind of a joint celebration no matter how you slice it. So how do the girls party? Diapers? Check. Baby bundt cakes? Check. Tubby immediately after? Check.

We didn't get pictures but Harper slapped Sloane on her diaper bum leaving a big red velvet cake handprint. Classic. Both girls stood up on the table and at one point Harper was dancing. Becky said, "I hope this is the last time time my daughter does a naked table dance." Amen sister! I can only imagine the hijinks the cousin-twins get up to in years to come!

the sunday-snowday bbq

Roger, Sonal and Jenn enjoying the sun on
Jenn & Chris' deck at the new house.

We headed up to Park City on Sunday for a long overdue barbecue with our friends. They have 4 boys between them, age 7 to 14 months so we all fit right in. I still have no idea how people do it with more than one or two kids. Seriously, we had SIX under the age of seven, pretty close to what Scott's family, and it was nuts. Pushing, screaming, running, fighting over toys, let's not even talk about the after-dinner clean up under the dining room table. Impressive. Crazy but impressive! The weather decided to help us out...by snowing all weekend. Fortunately, the weather cleared up right when we arrived so we got the best of both worlds. Snowballs, sunshine... and burgers on the grill outside!

 

Tagg was a big fan of the snow. Even after he lost his shoes in a snow bank, he still ran around for a few minutes in his socks. 

Sloane and her first boyfriends...Will's pushing her
around the kitchen on a bike and Tyler is keeping an eye out.

Will finally got the foam hammer away from Sloane after she had beaten everyone including the dog with it. Poor Will already had a fat lip when we got there (hazard of being a new walker) so we were happy he was in charge of the weapon for change.

How cute are these two kids?! Four months apart. Apparently Will already has lots of girlfriend's but Sloane's not one to give up without a fight! We had a great time and all of us were very happy to start the festivities at 3 in the afternoon so we could get kids to bed at a reasonable time. That's good times when you're parenting!

a pinch of salt...

Eggs n cheese!

My lovely sister gave me a very cool gift for my birthday. I didn't realize exactly how cool it was until today. We went to a cooking class at Lugano, a charming Italian restaurant in Salt Lake that idolizes local, organic food and the art of dining. We were there with about 5 other people - a small class apparently - and had no idea what to expect. The theme was "spring produce" which was made a little challenging since it had been snowing for about a week and was dumping snow the whole time we were there. Still, there was a counter full of fresh greens and cheese and eggs, a full compliment of wine and espresso to start the meal. Off to a good start! 

Asparagus flan? Sounds gross. Looks yummy.
Verdict: WAS yummy!

The asparagus flan, finished version.
The blue cheese crumble in the bottom
was the over-the-top moment.

We made asparagus flan. Disgusting, right? That's what I thought! A. I do not like flan. B. How could nasty flan be made better with chunks of asparagus? I have to say, I was happily surprised by the outcome...it was like a little fluffy omelet with a little hit of bleu cheese melted on the top. I am now a flan fan.

Then Chef Greg whipped up some appies (he must have heard my stomach growling) - bruschetta with grilled  asparagus and braised greens and mascarpone cheese. So yummy! Hard to eat but delish! By now I was starting to realize that the key to good cooking is as follows: fresh, good ingredients, a really kick-ass knife, garlic, good olive oil and salt. And then more garlic.

Speaking of olive oil, that was the first thing we did. Tasted olive oil. Yep. He passed around two BOWLS of different olive oils, one from California and one from Spain and we dipped a spoon and took a slurp. Of olive oil. I can honestly say that I never, EVER thought I would eat straight olive oil off a spoon. But it was interesting, like wine tasting interesting, where you can actually taste different intensity, finishes, spices, and so on. Don't worry. I'm not about to start serving straight olive oils at any dinner parties.

We also made a roasted beet salad. For the record, I do not like beets. I pretty much hate them. They looked beautiful going into this salad, which also had fresh basil and blue cheese. The finished product? Looked like a work of art. Still smelled like canned beets. I ate some of the yellow ones and they were pretty good. There was a woman at our class from Costa Rica and she said that she had grown up on boiled, pureed beets and hated them. This dish changed her mind. I'm not all the way there, but close.

We made a citrus/clementine salad with grilled shrimp which was amazingly simply yet delicious. My favorite dish of the day, followed closely by (never thought I would say this) the flan!

Overall, a very cool experience which I would love to do again. My only critique is that I wish the attendees had been more engaged, with the cooking and each other. There were about 3 of us from my generation, the rest were more like my parents. Most of them were feverishly taking notes, on what I'm not sure. All very cool people but I didn't feel like we got warmed up before the cooking started and so the conversation during the meal was a little stunted. No matter what, we had a ball. Highly recommend it! We are starting to plan our next class or wine pairing dinner now. Want in?

Happy cooking! 

 

21

It's been three weeks since I savored my last beloved Diet Coke. I also gave up coffee just because it seemed like the caffeine version of a slippery slope. I still drink tea but can fool myself into believing that's super healthy. No more morning trips to Starbucks to spend 5 bucks on a Venti Skinny Sugar Free Vanilla Latte with 3 pumps of syrup so it's not so sweet - with a big straw. Somehow I always ended up behind the asshat who ordered 8 coffees through the drive-up, or in the line that was 8 cars deep...and still I would wait for the over-priced, still fattening no matter how you order it coffee. Way to go, branding!



 
On days when I didn't have time or money for my latte I would swing through McDonald's to get a Diet Coke - 32 oz of morning caffeinated love. Someday, someone will find out exactly why McDonald's Diet Coke so much better than everyone else's. And then I'd have another one for lunch. And maybe a little canned soda in some yawner afternoon meeting. That's a damn lot of caffeine in one day! And let's just think, I've been a Coke junkie since I was 13 when I used to get a glass bottle out of the teacher's lounge at my junior high every single morning. I figured out the Pepsi AM thing before Pepsi did. But somewhere in my 30s I decided to make the shift from regular to Diet because "they" said you could lose 5 pounds easy by making that shift. Apparently, "they" were wrong. Diet Coke makes you fatter. http://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20050613/drink-more-diet-soda-gain-more-weight

So today I hit my 21st day of no Diet Coke. I did have one coffee but I figure that's not so bad. At least it's not the all-chemical soda with aspertame that is apparently making my hair and nails not grow, giving me gas, and could someday give me facial ticks because it's eating away my brain! How many people have ever told you about the "coke ate the penny" story? My dad told me that a million times I think and yet, according to Snopes, it's all false. But still, have you read some of these studies about how detrimental soda and its ingredients can be? Yipe, yipe, yipe!

Don't get me wrong, I still crave it every once in awhile but I think "they" might be right...if you kick something for 3 weeks, you've got it kicked. Bring on the iced tea (thanks, mom and dad). I'm off the sauce. At least the Diet Coke kind.

babe

Tagg's gotten into this funny habit of hollering "SCOTT!" when he wants Daddy to do something for him or wants his attention when he's not responding fast enough. "Scott! Scott! I want milk pleeeezze." or from the backseat of the car "Scott! Scott!"

So tonight we're sitting at dinner and Tagg says "I'm not done (with dinner). I'm Tagg Davis Harmer." Funny. Then he points at Sloane in her highchair and says, "That's Swoan." So we said "Sloane Ryan Harmer" which he parroted back perfectly. Then, "I'm Tagg Davis and that's Swoan Wyan." Happy he didn't call her Sloaney Baloney which is his nickname for her.

So now I'm thinking in my head (duh, where else would you think?) it would be great if he knew our names just in case he ever got lost or something so he would be able to tell an adult authority figure who to call.

Here's how the conversation went down from there:

Me: "Tagg, what's daddy's name? What do you call him when you don't call him daddy?"
Tagg: "That's Scott."
Scott: "What's mommy's name?"
Tagg: "Yeah."
Scott: "If you call me Scott instead of daddy, what do you call mommy?"
Tagg: "Yeah."
Me: "What does Daddy call mommy?"
Tagg: "Babe."

the birthday dilemma

Mom and Aunt Kris showing off their party planning results.

Sloane's first birthday is just over a month away. What to do, what to do? We went over the top for Tagg's first birthday...I blame Mom and Aunt Kris. They are way better party hostesses than me. We had balloons, a fish theme, a handmade fruit centerpiece, oodles of presents. matching tablecloths, napkins and plates with a fancy ribbon wrap on the drink glasses, delicious food up the wazzoo. Oh, and a blow-up waterslide.

And let's not even start with the presents. I found a cool playset at Costco, the last one, pre-assembled, so I bought the thing for like 1500 bucks and made Scott come down and pick it up. It was awesome, over the top, and Tagg wouldn't really enjoy for another year, but who cares! You should have seen us driving this sucker home...we both ducked under every street light, just in case. It was bigger than the duelie!

Know how to get a huge pre-assembled playset off a truck, over a 6-foot fence and into your yard? Mormons. Our neighbor and his guys were so awesome (or they just wanted out of church) - about 10 of them came over on Sunday in their suits and ties (it's July, mind you, and about a hundred degrees) and they hucked that thing over the fence and had it in place in about 5 minutes. Awesome! It was like a Mormon barn raising but with a playyard. That's the kind of stuff makes you want to join the church.

For the cake, we got a huge sheet cake for one party (Oh, did I mention we had not one but TWO parties? One for the fam and one for the friends when Tami and her little boy who is about Tagg's age were in town) and a mini Nothing Bundt Cake for Tagg to destroy during his first indoctrination into the lovely, delectable, undeniable world of artificially good sweets. Serious business.

So now I think we need to do something similar for Sloane because second kids always kind of get screwed on that stuff, right. Your parents went nuts, rented Disneyland, and bought you a Ferrari for your first birthday so your little brother got a stale cupcake with a used candle. Yeah, we can't go there. I mean sure, she's only one and she'll never know but I will.  Plus, I think as the oldest kid in my family I have a little guilt about my sibs' suckier birthday parties. So it's on...

I've got her first birthday photos set. Just need to decide what she's going to wear and what the "props" are - big cake? huge lollipop? giant balloon? why are all of my options oversized? Freud? Anyone? Whatever...Our photographer, Jodi, is amazing so I'm not worried about that. She'll make it awesome!

Any ideas on a birthday theme for walking, climbing, adventurous, full-tooth-grill, absolutely brilliant, adorable one-year-old girl? Maybe something monkey, jungle-y...? Mom, Aunt Kris...HELLLPPP!!!

flashback: reality check

From February 1, 2010:

There are days in life when you just don’t get it. What life's all about, the ups, the downs. Today is one of those days.

We just barely started thinking about pursuing the adoption thing hard core about 3 weeks ago when, out of the blue, an old co-worker from DEA who I haven’t seen in years emails me at my work saying she has a niece who’s pregnant with a little girl due in May, planning on adoption and looking for some advice. My first reaction was “we want her!” but I tried to be slightly less selfish and help her navigate the process.

On Friday, Bella emailed us asking if we could meet for coffee on Monday. A couple of days earlier, the adoption agency we’d been talking to called and asked if we could have a profile ready by Monday because they were meeting a birth mom on Monday who was due in May. Sounded a little too similar so we figured it was the same girl. Nope. We haven’t even finished our paperwork, haven’t paid a dime, nothing and now 2 birth moms due in the same month are considering giving us their child to complete our family. How amazing is that?! Could we be any more blessed than to have this opportunity?

The flipside…Dan’s brother Phil, my ass cancer friendie whom I’ve never actually met, is dying. His doctor sent out the call to the family to come and say their good-byes. He had the same cancer at the same age (just a year later), did virtually the same treatment with the same doctor and was fine. Got married, had a baby, a life. And then the coughing started. It was in his lungs. More chemo, more radiation. Gone. Then back. Bye-bye lungs. Family is scared. I am scared. Gone again. Then back. This time it’s in the brain. Don’t get your hopes up even though you have to keep your hopes up. And then, today, it’s time say good-bye.

A chat from Phil's family that night…
dan said if it wasn't for lisa, phil never would have had as much time with his little girl. i thought she should know

And that is the kind of thing that makes you happy and sad, grateful but guilty, thankful but fearful. Inspired to keep sharing my story and helping, hoping to save people or at least to remember to enjoy every possible moment of my life and my health and my good fortune. Or maybe it's both.