HAPPY BIRTHDAY TODD

So I've decided the fun thing about having your birthday on Sunday is you get to celebrate all weekend long. Saturday during the day we drove up to Provo Canyon and went on a little hike and had a picnic lunch. We had a really fun time in the canyon and Hailee was so impressed when her daddy showed her a castle and then we got to eat our lunch in the castle. What a perfect day. That evening Ruthann babysat for us and we got to go to a movie together for a real date. It was fun. We got there a little late so we got to sit on the front row, but it didn't matter, we were just excited to be out together.





Sunday was Todd's real birthday so for lunch I made his favorite hamburgers. For dinner we had garlic mashed potatoes, green beans, and a new recipe for salmon. The salmon was amazing (I'll include the recipe at the bottom), and it was fun to have DJ over as well. Ruthann stopped by for cake...or in this case fruit pizza. Overall it was just a nice relaxing day. We did get Todd some camping stuff for his birthday so it looks like we are all set to go camping. Hailee was most excited for the camping lantern. Hailee loves birthdays and she doesn't even care if they are for her or not. She loves picking out presents for Todd and she was a little disappointed that he didn't get a pinata for his birthday.

Grilled Salmon with Spicy Honey-Basil Sauce

Cook this grilled salmon with spicy honey-basil sauce on the backyard grill or under the broiler for a quick and easy dinner. Cook salmon that's 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick for 5 to 8 minutes total; cook salmon that's 1 to 1 1/2 inches thick for 8 to 12 minutes total. When broiling, keep fish 4 inches from flame. You can buy salmon as fillets or as steaks. Skin on the fillets comes off easily after cooking. Aficionados consider king (aka chinook), sockeye (aka red), and coho (aka silver) to be the tastiest types of salmon. Per serving: 253 calories; 27 g protein; 14 g fat; 4 g carbs; 1 g

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup packed fresh basil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 small red chile or 1 medium jalapeno, chopped (include the seeds if you like it spicy)
• 4 skinless salmon fillets, 4 ounces each
• 1/4 cup red bell pepper, diced
• 1/4 cup yellow bell pepper, diced
• 1/4 cup watercress leaves, chopped
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• Salt and ground white pepper, to taste
  

Directions

1. Place pine nuts, honey, lemon juice, 1/4 cup olive oil, basil, garlic, and chile in a blender and process until the mixture is pureed. Spoon the sauce over the salmon, and turn to coat. Cover and refrigerate overnight or for at least 4 hours, turning twice.
2. Place bell peppers and watercress in a bowl. Toss with vinegar and 1 tablespoon olive oil. Cover and refrigerate while the salmon cooks.
3. Oil the grill rack and preheat the grill to medium-high. Remove the salmon from the marinade, reserving the marinade. Sprinkle the salmon with salt and pepper on both sides.
4. Place the salmon on the grill rack and grill until opaque throughout, 4 to 6 minutes on each side. Brush occasionally with reserved marinade. Garnish with bell pepper and watercress mixture before serving.

I love you because...

In honor of Todd's 30th Birthday Hailee and I are going to play our favorite game. We call it "I love you because.... This game started when we were dating/engaged. At night when we were saying goodnight I would ask Todd to tell me 5 things he loved about me. He, being so sweet, always humored me and would tell me five things. He was so good at this game that he rarely repeated himself. Now that Hailee has come along she loves playing this game too. So here you are....30 reasons we love Todd.

1. I love my dad because he plays games with me
2. I love Todd because he is such a great dad to Hailee
3. I love my dad because he reads me stories
4. I love Todd because no matter what we are doing, it's always more fun together
5. I love my dad because he takes such good care of me
6. I love Todd because he teases me
7. I love my dad because he teases me
8. I love Todd because he is so much fun to watch sports with
9. I love my dad because he colors with me
10. I love Todd because he is so patient
11. I love my dad because he takes pictures of me in the castle
12. I love Todd because he is so generous to everyone
13. I love my dad because he watches sports with me
14. I love Todd because he is so fun to tease
15. I love my dad because he tickles me
16. I love Todd because he is such a great husband
17. I love my daddy because he will always play with me outside with Roslynn
18. I love Todd because he does so much for our family
19. I love my daddy because he will cook with me
20. I love Todd because he is so cute
21. I love my dad because he will dance with me
22. I love Todd because we share the same dreams and it's so fun dreaming with him
23. I love my dad because he licks Popsicles with me
24. I love Todd because I would be lost without him
25. I love daddy because he will put on movies for me and him
26. I love Todd because he believes in me
27. I love daddy because he will cut paper with me
28. I love Todd because he will stay up late talking with me
29. I love dad because he goes shopping with me
30. I love Todd because he is always so supportive in what I am doing

Ballet

Deneille took this cute video of Hailee's performance.

Summer Salads

My favorite thing about summer is yummy salads. When it's too hot to cook a full meal I love eating these. My two favorites are:

S U M M E R . S A L A D

Romain lettuce
Strawberries
Red grapes
Craisins
Grilled Chicken
Honey Cashews
Red wine vinaigrette dressing

C A R I B B E A N . S A L A D

Romaine
Watermelon
Pineapple
Red peppers
Bacon
Grapes
Cinnamon almonds
Grilled chicken w/ Jamaican Jerk seasoning
Red wine vinaigrette dressing

These are also great stuffed in pita bread. I don't think I could ever get tired of these salads.

Sleeping Beauty and a Cute Little Bunny

Hailee and her teacher Moryah. She was such a great teacher and Hailee loved her. She was a beautiful dancer and sleeping beauty.

Hailee had her ballet recital on Saturday. I have to say I was very impressed with the whole thing. Instead of having the classes do individual routines it was all part of the ballet "Sleeping Beauty" complete with the Tchaikovsky music. It was beautiful. The reoccurring parts were the older girls and Hailee's teacher was Sleeping Beauty. Since Hailee's part was in the third act so she got to sit with us for the first two acts. Her face was priceless. She sat and loved watching the show. She was so excited when she first saw sleeping beauty and clapped as loud as anyone. We can hardly wait to get the DVD so we can watch it again. After the second act I took Hailee back to the waiting room and she watched Snow White while she waited. I went back to my seat to watch. She did such a good job and kept a smile on her face the whole time. Her favorite part was the end when she got to bow in the grand finale. Deneille and Kristy went with us and Hailee loved having them there.


Todd got her some flowers for her and she was in heaven. When we got home she made sure that they got put in a vase and put in her room. She asked me "Why did my daddy give me flowers." I said "Why do you think?" To which she thought for a minute and said "I guess it's because he loves me." I assured her it was true. She loves waking up to her flowers and knowing how much her daddy loves her. We are sad ballet is done for the summer and hope we can find a studio as good as this one in Oregon.

I just love this one of her and Todd and her cute little bunny ears. Her favorite part of her costume were her bunny ears and bunny tail. You can't quite see it in any of the pictures, I'll have to take some more. I don't think it will be too hard to convince her to put it on again.


This is Hailee and I before things got started. I wish I could have taken her picture during the performance, she loved watching the ballet.

This last picture is Sunday afternoon. You know your 4-year-old, who refuses to take naps for you, is tired when I find her in bed asleep. I took a little nap and woke up to Hailee being very quiet. Todd just thought she was playing quietly by herself, I was a little intrigued because even when she plays by herself I can hear her talking or singing. I went in her room to find her asleep in bed with stuffed monkey, blanket and everything. I guess she had a busy and exhausting weekend.

Summer Time

Well it is official, Summer is finally here. A week and a half ago it reached 90 degrees and there hasn't been any looking back. Now we are just counting down the days until our pool opens so we can go swimming more often. Here are somethings that have been happening at our house while we are trying to wait for our pool to open.

• Hailee has been addicted to reading. We've had to limit bedtime stories and then in the morning she can't wait to get up and read some more. She informed me that since she was four now she needed to have four books. (Before it was always three stories at bed, she would stay up all night if I read to her.) We agreed to four books, she reads two books and I read two books. It's so cute to see her love of reading.
• We had a ward swimming party with the kids last week and I really needed a new suit. The one I've been wearing I got before I was married (I really hate swim suit shopping). A few weeks ago I found one online that I just loved. I ordered it and after a few days was informed they were out of stock and didn't know when they would be getting more in. Agh! I had to start all over. After an annoying trip to the mall, I finally found one I liked. It's from Shades and I was excited to find out there was a store in the University Mall.
  
• They other funny story from Hailee this week was when we were reading stories at night. When we were done she kept asking for more. (Now I've learned that it doesn't matter how many stories I read, she always want one more.) It was late (thanks to how bright it is at night and me loosing track of time) so I needed her to go to bed. After I told her no about 10 times she said... " That's not a nice word....I said please, that is a nice word. Mom please is a magical word." Oh where does she come from. I read her one more story and then she went to bed happy.
  

H A P P Y F A T H E R ' S D A Y

Happy Father's Day! We had a very busy and very fun Father's Day. It started early with church. Hailee got to sing with the Primary in Sacrament Meeting. She was so excited. They sang "I'm so glad when Daddy comes home..." She remembered all the words and actions to go with it. It was fun seeing my little girl singing on the stage, she is just getting too big. In Primary they had the kids draw a picture for their dad's during sharing time. That is part where Hailee and I are together. The title of the picture was "I love my Dad more than..." As soon as it was read, Hailee shouted out "my mom." That got all the adults laughing in the room.

After church we had Kristy, Ruthann, and DJ over for a Father's Day/DJ's birthday party dinner. It was fun and we had cheese cake for dessert. Todd also got to watch 2 soccer games. The amazing comeback win of Turkey vs. Czech Republic of Euro 2008 (I'm still in shock that Turkey scored three goals in the last 20 minutes to win the game). Afterwards the US National team in World Cup qualifying against Barbados, it was a little sad, we won, but it was 8 - 0. I felt a little bad for the Barbados team.

Hailee was so excited to pick out a Father's day present for Todd. I gave her a few ideas and she decided on new shorts for summer. (A total girl at heart, forget camping stuff, she wanted to go clothes shopping.) But Todd's best present of the day was getting to install new sink fixtures in the bathroom. I'm not kidding, that is what he wanted to do with his evening. Todd loves getting his tools out and working on things. So even though it was Sunday I decided it was a small enough project to let him go ahead and do it. Hailee of course was there to "help." I think the job went twice as fast once Hailee went to bed. She just loves "helping" so much."

I think with Todd and Hailee it was love at first sight. They are so cute together and have such a good time enjoying things together. They love sports, reading, the beach, and just playing together. I looked through the last four years of pictures and there were just too many of the two of them together. They have the cutest little relationship and Hailee has Todd wrapped around her little finger (and she knows it).

Pictures of "helping"

What a good little helper. My favorite quote of the evening. "Dad how come I don't have any tools?" Hailee things tools are the best toys. It's always fun to see what has found it's way into Todd's tool box, or what has found it's way into Hailee's toy box.

Cousin Fun

Hailee has decided that her cousins live too far away. They do have so much fun together when we do get together. Tuesday we went to the Canyon and took some pictures of the four little cousins. They turned out quite cute. Here are some of my favorites.

Party Time

I can't believe my baby is four, where did the time go. We have had a very busy and very social weekend for our newly turned four year old. Saturday was her official birthday and since they sang to her for her birthday in Primary the Sunday before she has been looking forward to it. Saturday morning she woke up and said "Mom is it my birthday?" I told her that it was to which she said "I'm four, I will never be three again." Then she jumped up and got ready for her big day of being four. We were quite busy. She had a ballet dress rehearsal then after we had a party with Todd's siblings. It was so fun. On the 21st she has her ballet performance of "The Sleeping Beauty." Hailee's little class is going to be bunnies and her teacher is going to be Sleeping Beauty. From what I saw it's going to be quite cute.

Hailee with Sleeping Beauty (aka her teacher Mariah)

Hailee and one of her little friends from ballet...Aren't they just the cutest little bunnies.

Her birthday party with Aunt Kristy, Aunt Ruthann, and Uncle DJ was a lot of fun as well. Hailee requested everything to be red (It's her new favorite color). She wanted plain cake and red frosting. Since red frosting is so hard, we did whipped cream, red sprinkles and strawberries. She was thrilled. She loves having her aunts and uncle so close, and next week we get to celebrate DJ's birthday together. So many fun summer birthdays.




Sunday Grandpa & Grandma Mortensen, Aunt Stacie, Uncle Ernie, and her cousins Cambria, Ethan, and Derek all came to stay. It was one big party until they left today. Hailee loves playing with her cousins, we are just sad that it only happens once or twice a year. Of course she got spoiled again, and then...

Grandpa, Cambria (on Grandpa's shoulders) Hailee, Grandma, Ernie, and Derek (he was sad because he couldn't keep the candy bar on Hailee's present). Hailee got a little Camelback just her size from her grandparents.

Monday morning Hailee woke up (after staying up pretty late and sleeping in) to the house decorated for her Princess Party. We had seven little princess at our house for an hour and a half. I don't think Hailee could have been more pleased. We played: Princess, Princess, Queen (duck, duck, goose), Princess and the Pea, Princess Pinata, made little bags and had a great time.

Princess Hailee and her dad.

Hailee by her cake. I couldn't get her to smile any less.

Princess, Princess, Queen

All of our birthday princesses: Cambria, Lesiel, Kaymi, Hailee, Reagan, Paige, and Lexi.

It was our first time with a pull-the-string type Pinata. It worked pretty good. We had everyone pick one and pull at the same time. It was fun.

Gathering up the candy.

Cambria playing Princess and the Pea. We had three stacks of pillows and I hid a "pea" underneath one of the stacks. Each princess had to see if they could find which stack had the pea.

Blowing out the candles. I couldn't figure out how to put the candles in the doll cake so I just put them in cupcakes again.

What a busy and fun days for my little girl. She loved having her friends over and she loved playing with her cousins. Cambria and Hailee are a year apart, but from the way they play together you wouldn't know it. They have so much fun. We are so glad they could plan their vacation to make it to Hailee's birthday.

Self-Portrait

Hailee has always loved coloring and her pictures of people recently have cracked me up. I've decided to post a few of my favorites. The top one is a self-portrait. You might wonder about the pink hair, when I asked her why she painted her hair pink she responded that her favorite colors are pink and red. Okay, pink hair definitely looks fun. Her recent pictures all feature big googly eyes and funny smiles. It's quite fun.
This is a picture of her and Roslynn. I just love Roslynn's floppy ears in this picture. She also put a heart on the top to which she informed me means love and she loves Roslynn. A few days ago I had to put the shock collar on Roslynn because she kept trying to sneak food from the kitchen while I was cooking. She was sitting on her pillow when Hailee came and asked why she had the shock collar on to which I replied that she was being naughty. Hailee said "Oh I know about being naughty." As long as they don't get naughty together we should be fine. Hailee has been really good about watching Roslynn to make sure she doesn't get into food or things she's not suppose to. Now we just need to train Roslynn to make sure Hailee's not getting into things she's not suppose to.