Sometimes Our Basement is Cold

Think We Look Alike?

I'll admit that sometimes when Zack is looking at me, I feel like I'm looking in a mirror... especially his eyes!

Priceless

Remember how I mentioned that Zack is "smiling" for the camera?

Check out this most recent smile.

And outtake #1 - still adorable
And outtake #2 - I have no words. Priceless.

A Visit to the Fire Station

On St Patty's Day, we went to the fire station with our joy school. It was AWESOME, mostly because one of the joyschool kiddo's DAD is a fireman there!

Fireman Rob gave us special treatment. He even had dispatch call in over the intercom and welcome joyschool to the firehouse. Cool, ehhh?

Here's Rob with all the kids and some siblings in the mix. Notice the back of Zack's head in the foreground. I simply didn't get many pics with Zack in them...

Checking out the ambulance

And everyone got to sit inside!

This is THE firetruck

Our little group

Rob explaining the truck and all its tools and compartments

We even got to try on Rob's fire gear! This was funny when Sam tried it on...

He was really excited, but the helmet was big and heavy...

Turns out that's a bad combinaton when you look down...

Woops! Where's Sam?

There he is. He LOVED wearing Rob's gear!

The kids all got a turn to "drive" the fire truck

Even Zack.

Turns out, even the moms got to try on Rob's gear, complete with backpack and oxygen tank and a tool. Rob chose a sledgehammer for me. All that gear must weigh 30 pounds!

Zack didn't know what to think of my sledgehammer...

But I thought it was pretty cool to try on all that gear. Gives me a renewed respect for firemen (and women) everywhere.

All the kids climbed into the fire truck cab and wear the headphones.

Sam LOVED it.

Then, they let us spray their HOSE! How cool is that?!?!?!

We sprayed it towards the back of the firehouse. You can sort of see in this pic just how far that water can reach.

The lever is REALLY hard to pull on or push off when the water is blasting full force.

The water was full of this anti-flammable white foam. See it above? It filled the air, covered the trees with "snow" and speckled anyone standing too close (like the photographer in this photo... that would be me).

Best of all, moms got to use the hose too.

You're never too old for a trip to the fire station. :)

RISE and Shout

See these?

These are called Yummy Chocolate Cupcakes Waiting for Frosting.
What you might not know is that they are vegan. Yep. No dairy and no eggs.

Unless you are also baking with these restrictions, you have NO idea how truly RARE it is to get a nice puffy top on cupcakes or muffins! To achieve RISE. It makes me want to jump for joy.
(And obviously it happens so rarely around here that I actually photographed them.)


Just look at these!!! I'll probably make these again next week for a certain two year old birthday celebration...

Now, frost (*with dairy free frosting of course*) and eat. :)

Vegan Chocolate Cake (or cupcakes!)
from allrecipes.com

Prep Time: 15 Minutes
Cook Time: 45 Minutes
Ready In: 1 Hour
Servings: 8
"This is a really simple, yet very tasty cake. You can use rice flour or something other than wheat. You can also add chocolate chips and, or nuts."
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup white sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar
1 cup water
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease one 9x5 inch loaf pan.
2. Sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Add the oil, vanilla, vinegar and water. Mix together until smooth.
3. Pour into prepared pan and bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 45 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool.

It's Not Even April Fools Day

This was Utah's big joke today. Too bad I can't say APRIL FOOLS!!!

These are my poor tulips.

And this is the view of my street. Yep, it's all sticking. I would have shot a picture of the mountains, but they are covered by clouds right now - as well as snow.

It's a blasted wintry wonderland out there!

PREPARE YOURSELVES, oh visitors with California blood!!!

Camping in Austin

Our last day in Austin, the adults were all busy packing up and preparing to go... so we let the kids CAMP in the living room! Notice the blazing fire? (This is my kind of camping by the way...)
Sam thought it was fantastic.
Trav did too, but then found other things to do. Which is why you won't see him in many of these pics.
Sam and Soph loved to switch sleeping bags.
Here's one pic of all four kids in their bags... mostly anyway.
Cute little Soph
Here they are "sleeping"
Zack LOVES to pretend to sleep.
Sam catching some Zs.
Soph's sleeping too.
Then, about 2 minutes later, they all woke up!
This was a hit activity. (Thanks Bryce for setting everything up)
And, we had to go home. Here we all are in the van going to the airport. Notice how lovely and healthy Trav and Soph look? They were SO sick! Poor little cousins!
Thanks for the fun time, LaPs. We loved coming to visit! Come visit us soon!