Our Sharkfest Swim - Updated with Pics

The Sharkfest Course

This is the actual picture looking at Alcatrez taken from the spot we finished our event.

So, first things first -- we're done. We finished. Its all over. Humongous sigh of relief.

Now, for those of you who don't care about anything other than did we get eaten or not, this is where you can stop reading. No nips, no bites and no bumps. No sharks. Sorry.

For those of you who want all the gory details, who might possibly swim this some day or whatever, here goes:

The day started early, mostly because none of us could sleep. At 6:15am we left the hotel at Fisherman's Wharf to walk the 6 blocks to the Aquatic Park. We spent the next hour going through registration, getting everything set and ready to roll. All our stomachs were turning over and over. Half were going with the 'don't eat anything so your stomach is empty' tactic, while others were approaching the swim with the 'eat lots so you have energy' mentality. Some were just trying not to yak...

(Pre-race Lineup)

After some time, they blew the horn and all the swimmers left the grandstands and walked about 8 blocks in what they called the 'athlete's parade.' Mostly this was just something they called part of the show, when in reality the boats were down at by Pier 39 and we were clear up the street.

So there we were, at 8am, walking in a procession along the Wharf, and I have to say, it was sorta interesting -- 800 people of all sorts, shapes and sizes in speedos and wetsuits, marching down the main drag at Fisherman's Wharf.

Anyways, soon we boarded the boats and found ourselves sitting on the floor as we trawled out to the island. There were hundreds of people, littering every open spot on the ferry. Some were in the zone, some joking with buddies, and others looked pretty freaked out. I'm pretty sure we fit into the latter-most category.

Soon the boats stopped, the doors opened and the horn blasted. This signaled it was time to jump, and start swimming the 200 yards to the line of kayaks that marked the starting line. So, we did. And holy crap. It was cold and there were bodies everywhere. 51 degree water was what we heard. Let's just say, when you hit that, its like someone punching you in the stomach.



This is where we all lost track of each other.

Neither of us had made it to the starting line before the horn sounded to start the race, so right off the bat we were behind the 8-ball. Grrrr. From there, for about the first half mile of the race we both struggled quite a bit. The water was cold and choppy. It was difficult to get a rhythm.

We both stuck with it and eventually hit our strides... sorta. For both of us, this was a difficult swim. Though we'd trained, open water swimming on the open sea was challenging. One trick we had to figure out was breathing. It seemed like about every fourth breath you would roll over to get a breath and catch a swell square on, filling your mouth with tasty saltwater. We figured, by the end of the race, we'd each sucked down about a gallon of seawater. YUM!

The second challenge was we found ourselves getting turned around, swimming in zig zags, and needing to look up often to orient ourselves to our destination. Landmarks were difficult to pick out and with tides and swells, swimming a straight line proved to be very hard.

Oh, and add getting banged around by the other 798+ bodies in the water to the formula as well. That was messed up.


NOTE: The sky didn't look like this for us. This is a picture from last year. It was about 65 degrees, windy and overcast.


At about the 1.25 mile mark, we hit the rough waters guarding the narrow inlet into the aquatic park. Once we'd made it through that, we had about 500 meters left to go. It was the home stretch. There were crowds cheering, and people lining the beach.

At the :54 minute mark, Steff came out of the water, exhilarated to have finished, unassisted, her first ever open water swimming competition. She promptly ran over to her waiting brothers and gave them all high-fives and exclaimed, "We made it! We did it!" Steff totally tore it up.

A few minutes later, at the 1:02 mark, Matt zig zagged his way to shore. He'd made the swim unassisted as well, but was showing a bit more effect. Upon reaching the sandy beach, he staggered up, quite unaware of what was happening. As he walked down the corridor of people a paramedic caught up to him and walked him down the path, making sure he was OK. Later he was quoted as saying, "It felt like the worst case of light headedness I've ever had."

(Matt just finishing)


Matt sat down on the steps for a few minutes, gradually gained his senses back and went and found the family.

When we finally met back up on the beach, we were giddy. All seven family members made it. We were done.

(Post Race Lineup)


We spent the next hour or so hanging out with all the fellow swimmers. They had free hot chocolate, clam chowder and bagels. It was cold, we were wet and tired, but our spirits were super high. We'd done the big one. We'd conquered Sharkfest... and it feels good.

Oh... there was one injury to report: Steff's wetsuit gave her a few problems. Despite rubbing slippery stuff on her neck to prevent chaffing, she suffered some pretty bad friction burns.



Thanks for everyone's support.

Happy Birthday...Bishop??

I just wanted to take a minute to wish Matt a Happy Birthday today. I don't know if it was the most relaxing birthday he has ever had but it was probably one of the most eventful. We completed our Sharkfest swim (post below) yesterday. We spent the rest of that day/evening celebrating in San Fran with the family. We woke up early this morning and made it over to the airport only to find our fight delayed several times. We finally made into the SLC airport and drove as fast as we could to pick up our kids at my sister-in-law's house. Then we sped home and got ourselves and the kids ready and ran up to the church for a two ward meeting about a ward split to make three wards. We will be part of the new ward (pieces from each of the original wards) and Matt was put in as the new Bishop. Sooooo, it may not have been the birthday he expected (or wanted...am I allowed to say that?), but it will be one he will probably never forget. We are both feeling a LITTLE tired now and will be hitting the hay shortly. We will be officially celebrating Matt's birthday tomorrow and hopefully it will be a little more relaxing. Happy Birthday hon! We love you!

(Hopefully this post makes some sort of sense. My brain is all over the place tonight. Sorry.)

Our 5 Hour Evening at the ER....

It all started so innocently.

We'd just finished our evening swim and were headed home from the gym for dinner. Matt had bought some trail mix earlier in the evening and we were sharing it with the kids on the way home. About the time we hit Springville, Steff looked back and saw Charlie sniffing and sneezing. Upon further inspection, we realized he'd stuffed a half a peanut up his schnoz.

Yep. Full on, peanut up his nose.



So we pulled off the freeway and initiated our contingency plans:

Plan A - Our first thought was to grab some tweezers and fish it out. Well, 5 minutes later, with the peanut climbing up higher and higher, we abandoned Plan A. Plan A - FAILURE.

Plan B - Check the clock. It's 7:45pm. We've got 15 minutes until the walk-in clinic closes.... drive very fast. We arrive as they're shutting down their systems, so Matt gets Charlie checked in while Steff takes Charlie back for the Doc to start digging. When Matt and Winston finally get back to Charlie's room, they find Charlie being held down by 3 nurses and 1 Steff... and the doctor is giving up. He's managed to push the peanut up further and make Charlie's nose bleed. (Not his fault... Charlie is being very uncooperative) Plan B - FAILURE.

Plan C - Emergency Room. Boy... I don't even know how to explain this one. First thing: don't go to the ER after 8pm if you can help it. Seriously shady characters there. We had two visits from police men and some weird folks we got to hang out with. Anyways, at around 11:30pm we were finally admitted. The Doc struggled around, trying to get an eye on the peanut. I was frustrated, since not 30 minutes before I'd seen the stupid thing up there, without the use of any fancy equipment. He couldn't see it and advised we started with the 'old fashion way.' Plug the free nostril, put my mouth over his mouth creating a seal, and blow hard. I guess the object is to try to shoot the thing out like a cannonball. Didn't work. So we went with our next option and they sedated the poor little guy. He was basically like a zombie. His eyes were open but he was not there. While sedated, they routed around, looking for the bane of our ER existence, to no avail. The Doc found jack squat. Plan C - FAILURE.



After hanging out to make sure he came out of the sedation OK, we got out of there around 1:15am. We were tired, and as you can expect, the kids were beat. Winston did pretty good, considering all things, but it was a long night. We were all pretty excited for yesterday to end.

End result: 5 wasted hours, unknown costs, and no idea where the freakin' peanut is.

Tick Tock... Tick Tock...

5 days and counting...

oh good grief.

Our Saturday Swim

Let me just preface this post by saying 'Holy Crap.'

Earlier last week Steff and I had a great idea. In the interest of training in as close to a real life environment as we could get, we decided to escape up to a nearby reservoir for a quick swim.

So, Saturday afternoon we loaded up the kiddies, took them to play at my sister's house, and we headed up to Tibble Fork Reservoir, at the top of American Fork Canyon.



It was a beautiful day. The lake was surrounded by fishermen, families hiking, horseback riders, and other recreators. We arrived, surveyed the surroundings, and decided our best point of attack would be on the high side, where the river feeds into the lake. We threw on our wetsuits, scurried down the hill, and walked to the bank where we would wade in. And this is where the pain began....

As Steff and I made our way out to the point where it was deep enough to start swimming, really there was only one phrase that was rolling over and over in my mind: "What the crap, what the crap, what the crap."

I decided to be tough and take the plunge. Oh good grief. It was so cold, it felt like I'd just set my face in a pot of boiling water... that was freezing. I mean, I'm talking pain, severe pain. I got out about 100 yards and I was dying. I can't really speak for Steff, but I was having thoughts of my body locking up and sinking like a rock to the bottom of No-nibble-tibble.

In case you're wondering how cold it was, here's a picture of Tibble Fork, as we experienced it on Saturday (it didn't look like this, but it felt like this looks):



So for the next 40 minutes, we slowly made our way from the river to the opposite side of the lake, and then back. After about 15 minutes, everything not under the neoprene, was numb - dead to the world. We completed a lap (about 1/2 mile) and decided we'd had enough. We'd accomplished what we'd set out to do.

As we were driving away, we started looking around and realized there was snow, really close to the lake. I can't imagine that the snow had been gone for too long up there... and that quaint little river bubbling into the lake was most definitely direct glacier runoff.

To sum up: cold. Cold cold cold. Don't swim in mountain lakes early in the season. They are cold. I don't care what anyone says - cold.

Happy Father's Day to the best Dad ever!

This is a day late but I just wanted to write a little something about one of the greatest Dad's I know. That would be my lovely husband, Matt.

I don't know what we would do without his endless patience, his wonderful sense of humor and all the love, time and attention he gives to us. No matter how busy things get, he always makes sure there is time for me and the kids. When he walks in the door, the kids faces light up and they go running to give him a big hug. They absolutely adore him. He takes time to play catch with Charlie and to teach Winston how to kick his soccer ball. He always has lots of hugs, kisses and snuggles for the boys when they are having a rough day. I'm so thankful they can grow up with him as an example and to have his love and support throughout their lives. I'm also thankful Matt had such wonderful parents that raised him to be such and incredible person. They did an amazing job and I hope I can raise my children half as well as them.

Not only is Matt the best Dad, he is also an amazing husband. We have a pretty dang good marriage and I credit that mostly to him. He puts up with a lot (me) and NEVER complains He's always supportive and helpful and always willing to help with the kids and housework. When I have a bad day, he's a master at calming me down or making me laugh. I can't believe I got lucky enough to find someone like Matt. Before I met him, I wasn't too excited about getting married and figured I was just going to have to do it and make the best of it. When I met Matt, I couldn't believe there was someone I actually wanted and looked forward to spending forever with.

You are the BEST Matt and I hope you had a wonderful Father's Day. Love you!!

Brian Regan Update....

For all who are disappointed and didn't get tickets, here you go.

New Date added for Brian Regan: Saturday, August 16th
Tickets On Sale Saturday, June 14th at 10:00am

Good luck one and all.

Our Garden... so far.

The season is upon us and our garden has just started giving back. Last year, you may remember, was our first time with the garden. We had a good time and best of all, we learned a few tricks. This year we scaled back the peppers, threw in some peas, cut out the pumpkins, moved the melons, nixed the cabbage and spread out the tomatoes.

So, at the end of the day, here's a list of what we're looking forward to eating out of our garden this year:

Watermelons
Corn (Peaches and Cream Sweet Corn)
Tomatoes - Big Boy, Early Girl, Cherry, Roma
Broccoli
Strawberries
Snow Peas
Potatoes
Walla Walla Onions
Yellow Onions
Lemon Thyme
Sweet Basil
Oregano
Chives
Cilantro
Zucchini
Spaghetti Squash
Bell Peppers
Jalapeno Peppers

Each of these plants has its own timing, but right now we're raking in the strawberries and we're just starting to get the peas. I've thrown in a few pics to show off what we've got. You'll note in some of them the chicken wire fence around the garden, a new element this year. After watching Charlie play 'Godzilla Takes On Tokyo' through our garden for a few weeks, we decided this was the only way we were going to get it to produce anything... eyesore? Yes. But everything isn't being demolished all the time now so whatever.


Our pea patch



From left to right, Lemon Thyme, Chives & Cilantro (2 plants)



Onions, Basil, Oregano, Bell Peppers & Jalepeno Peppers



Steff picking strawberries



Our first peas

Don't be mad at me!

I just posted the sale date I read directly off the Brian Regan website for tickets to his show. It said June 28. I know this because Matt mentioned we would be in San Fran swimming Sharkfest. We DID happen to find out they went on presale June 6 and public sale June 7, but we couldn't get the word around fast enough before they sold out. I know some people are blaming us for the misinformation but you should really blame brianregan.com. Come on now, can't we all just get along? We also heard there is a CHANCE that he might do another show August 16. Keep your fingers crossed! :) Can we still be friends?

Sharkfest... Matt's take.

So, as Steff mentioned, we're 23 days until the big swim. Oh good grief.

We just got back from swimming. I finally swam my first mile. Tonight was my first time hitting that milestone. Impressed? Well, 3 months ago you could've been. 23 days before the swim? I'm probably in trouble.

The event organizers suggest that to be prepared for the event, you should be swimming a mile comfortably in under 40 minutes. My mile was a 48 minute mile. Once again, I'm probably in trouble.

Also, I haven't ever swam in open water. I'm told there's a pretty significant difference between the pool and open water. I guess 50 degree rolling seas, salt water splashing in your mouth for 90 minutes, a cross current methodically pulling you away from your destination, not being able to see past your elbow, and being in the middle of an ocean where you can't stand up and adjust your goggles may be a bit different than the training grounds. I should probably go practice that.

So, wish me luck.

23 Days and Counting...

until Matt and I swim Sharkfest with my 5 bros and sisters. For those of you who don't know what that is, it's the 1.5 mile swim in the icy cold waters from Alcatrez to the shore in San Fran. Am I ready? I would like to say yes. Unfortunately, we've been having some problems with childcare and Charlie and I haven't been able to get in as much workout time as I hoped. At this point, I am just going to get out there and do my best and hope I don't drown or get eaten by a shark. :) If I do drown, tell my Mom I love her, man!

Memorial Weekend 2008

We started out the weekend by going to Winston's preschool graduation on Friday night. It was a cute little program with some funny songs and performances by the kids.

This is Winston with his teacher, Ms. Tanya. She has been such a wonderful teacher and Winston sure loves her. Luckily, he will have the opportunity to attend her preschool again next year as he just misses the deadline for Kindergarten. We are glad he will get to participate in another year because Ms. Tanya goes above and beyond with her curriculum, field trips and activities for the kids. You can tell she really loves her job. Winston has learned so much. He is already adding numbers and spelling short words. Ms. Tanya said he did excellent this year, especially for a first year student. We're so proud of our little Winston.

Saturday morning, we went up to Heber Valley and did the "Day Out With Thomas ". It was such a fun morning and we will definitely be "on board" to do this again next year. (sorry for the dumb play on words)

While we waited for the train, there was a little petting zoo for the kids to walk through. Here is Charlie trying to grab the horse's ear. So sweet! :)

Here is W sporting his totally awesome Thomas tattoo. So cool.

Winston, Dad and Charlie in front of another train before it departed.

Once we got on the train, Charlie had a blast looking out the window. Mom and Dad were happy because the two seats faced each other (so we were knee to knee) and it was really easy to trap Charlie in and keep him from running down the aisle.

Mom and Dad were too lazy to stand in the LONG line to meet Sir Topham Hat so we had Winston stand here with STH in the background talking to another lucky kid. Aren't we the best parents?!

This was a beautiful view of a field of wildflowers (dandelions) from the train ride. This was right before the breathtaking river (irrigation ditch) and the cute little sleeping (dead) kitty laying half in/half out of the water. We also saw some really neat backyards, one of which had a guy in sweatpants, cowboy boots and a cowboy hat mowing his lawn. Thanks Heber Valley Railroad for the picturesque scenery.

Winston enjoying the ride

Once again, Mom and Dad were too lazy to stand in line to get a picture sitting on the front of Thomas. We just went to the end of the plastic fencing and took a picture of us with a kid with much nicer parents getting his picture taken right next to Thomas in the background. At least I don't deny we're lazy. Winston looks like he is about to cry, but deep down I think he was really happy he didn't have to stand in that long line.

Saturday night, we got a babysitter and headed to the sweet Spanish Fork Theater to see the new Indiana Jones movie. It was pretty cheesy but we had a fun time gorging ourselves on popcorn, soda and nibs. Yummy.

Monday morning, we visited my Grandma and Grandpa Smith's graves. I was worried nobody was going to put any flowers on them but there were already 11 pots of flowers when we got there. We added three more and I was happy that my grandparents and Aunt Marilyn's graves were so well represented. It was neat to tell Winston about my Grandparents and Aunt and to honor and remember them on this special day.

On the way home, we hit the Memorial day sales and bought a new lawnmower and some patio furniture. Let's just say it was a tight fit in the van. Winston thought it was really fun to ride in the batcave but Charlie was a little distressed about it.

None too pleased about this situation

To finish off the holiday, we had a street BBQ in front of our house. Unfortunately, our camera had a little run in with Charlie and a rain storm so we had to use our video camera all weekend. The pictures aren't the best but at least we have some. I only got one showing a few people that turned out okay from the BBQ. Oh well. It was fun to hang out with the neighbors and eat some good food. It was a great holiday weekend!

For our fellow Brian Regan fans...

Brian Regan will be coming to the Thanksgiving Point Amphitheater August 15. Tickets go on sale June 28. Yippee!

For our Washington friends/fam, he is coming to the Marymoor Amphitheater in Redmond on June 27. Tickets are on sale NOW!

For our Idaho friends/fam, he is coming to the Morrison Center for the Performing Arts in Boise, Idaho on June 28. The website says tickets are "on sale" but there is no link to buy them. Not sure what that means.

Have fun everyone!

A ray of sunshine...

We got some great news today. We took Charlie in to a REAL (not homeopathic) allergist today and had him tested for all the food allergies we've been worried about. And the results...drum roll please...NO ALLERGIES! We are thrilled. It was just the boost we needed in the middle of all the other trials he is going through. I'm so relieved we don't have to worry about keeping him on a special diet.

We started him on a new medication today called Keppra. Here is what the pamphlet says about the side effects...

"Drowsiness, dizziness, weakness, tiredness, constipation, and loss of coordination (e.g., difficulty walking and controlling muscles) may occur. These side effects are more common during the first 4 weeks and usually lessen as your body adjusts to the medication. If any of these effects persist or worsen, notify your doctor.
Tell your doctor immediately if any of these unlikely but serious side effects occur: hair loss, neck pain, mental/mood changes, vision changes (e.g., double vision).
This medication rarely may cause mood or behavior changes, such as anxiety, agitation, hostility, pressured/rapid speech, or thoughts of suicide. Tell your doctor immediately if you develop unusual (possibly sudden) mood changes.
Rare but very serious side effects: unusual weakness, easy bleeding/bruising, signs of infection (e.g., fever, persistent sore throat).
A very serious allergic reaction to this drug is unlikely, but seek immediate medical attention if it occurs. Symptoms of a serious allergic reaction may include: rash, itching, swelling, severe dizziness, trouble breathing. "

It also says the anxiety, agitation, aggression and hostility are more likely to happen in children. Charlie cried a lot and did a lot of hitting and attacking to me and Winston today. It's hard to know if it was because of the meds or something else. We'll see how things go. That's this weeks update on our little guy. Thanks again for all the love and support.

Week One - Pterodactyl

I'm a member of One Viral Word, an experiment in viral marketing. As a participant, I'm spreading the word so this can succeed.

I encourage you to help this experiment out, as I am doing. It only takes a second. Simply copy and paste this post, exactly as is, on your blog and you're officially a member. Each week a new word will be chosen to post.

Stats will be provided each week on how many people linked on the oneviralword.blogspot.com website. Each week, with the new word, the counter will start over. The goal is to see how many weeks it will take to get to one million links in a week, and maybe even more.

The viral word for Week One is Pterodactyl.

I know

My header looks stretched and wierd. I'm not that good with Photoshop. It will have to do until I can find our family pictures and have Matt help me. I just had to get that clown background off. It was giving me a headache. Sorry.

April Daring Bakers Challenge - Cheesecake Pops

This month's challenge was hosted Elle from Feeding My Enthusiasms and Deborah from Taste and Tell. The recipe comes from the book Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey: Desserts for the Serious Sweet Tooth by Jill O'Conner. I'm a little late posting for this challenge. I waited until the last week of the month and then things got busy. I finally finished it and I thought they turned out pretty good. Once again, I lay no claim to being a good decorator (or photographer) but I did my best.

I really like the cheesecake recipe that was used to make these pops. I think I will use it again next time I make a cheesecake. The flavor was good and it was relatively easy. I did make the mistake of only cooling the cheesecake to room temperature before trying to form them into balls and rectangles. It was pretty much impossible which explains the unique shapes of my pops. If I were to make these again, I would definitely chill the cheesecake in the fridge overnight before trying to mold the shapes.

Once I sort of got some molded shapes, I stuck cut up wood skewers (I was too lazy to drive to Provo to buy sucker sticks) in them and laid them on a cookies sheet and put them in the freezer. Once they were frozen solid, I dipped them in milk chocolate and topped some with graham cracker crumbs (what's cheesecake without graham crackers?), some with sprinkles and some I just drizzled with white chocolate.

My husband and I each tried one and thought they were pretty darn tasty. I think these would be fun for a cute baby or wedding shower if you are good at decorating and could make them look a lot cuter than mine. :) I'll post the recipe below the next picture if anyone wants to give them a try. Don't forget to check the Daring Baker's Blogroll to see how everyone else's Cheesecake Pops turned out.

Cheesecake Pops

Makes 30 – 40 Pops

5 8-oz. packages cream cheese at room temperature
2 cups sugar
¼ cup all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon salt
5 large eggs
2 egg yolks2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
¼ cup heavy cream
Boiling water as needed
Thirty to forty 8-inch lollipop sticks
1 pound chocolate, finely chopped – you can use all one kind or half and half of dark, milk, or white (Alternately, you can use 1 pound of flavored coatings, also known as summer coating, confectionary coating or wafer chocolate – candy supply stores carry colors, as well as the three kinds of chocolate.)
2 tablespoons vegetable shortening(Note: White chocolate is harder to use this way, but not impossible)
Assorted decorations such as chopped nuts, colored jimmies, crushed peppermints, mini chocolate chips, sanding sugars, dragees) - Optional

Position oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees F. Set some water to boil.In a large bowl, beat together the cream cheese, sugar, flour, and salt until smooth. If using a mixer, mix on low speed. Add the whole eggs and the egg yolks, one at a time, beating well (but still at low speed) after each addition. Beat in the vanilla and cream.Grease a 10-inch cake pan (not a springform pan), and pour the batter into the cake pan. Place the pan in a larger roasting pan. Fill the roasting pan with the boiling water until it reaches halfway up the sides of the cake pan. Bake until the cheesecake is firm and slightly golden on top, 35 to 45 minutes.Remove the cheesecake from the water bath and cool to room temperature.

Cover the cheesecake with plastic wrap and refrigerate until very cold, at least 3 hours or up to overnight.When the cheesecake is cold and very firm, scoop the cheesecake into 2-ounce balls and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Carefully insert a lollipop stick into each cheesecake ball. Freeze the cheesecake pops, uncovered, until very hard, at least 1 – 2 hours.

When the cheesecake pops are frozen and ready for dipping, prepare the chocolate. In the top of a double boiler, set over simmering water, or in a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water, heat half the chocolate and half the shortening, stirring often, until chocolate is melted and chocolate and shortening are combined. Stir until completely smooth. Do not heat the chocolate too much or your chocolate will lose it’s shine after it has dried. Save the rest of the chocolate and shortening for later dipping, or use another type of chocolate for variety.Alternately, you can microwave the same amount of chocolate coating pieces on high at 30 second intervals, stirring until smooth.

Quickly dip a frozen cheesecake pop in the melted chocolate, swirling quickly to coat it completely. Shake off any excess into the melted chocolate. If you like, you can now roll the pops quickly in optional decorations. You can also drizzle them with a contrasting color of melted chocolate (dark chocolate drizzled over milk chocolate or white chocolate over dark chocolate, etc.) Place the pop on a clean parchment paper-lined baking sheet to set. Repeat with remaining pops, melting more chocolate and shortening (or confectionary chocolate pieces) as needed.Refrigerate the pops for up to 24 hours, until ready to serve.

(I also forgot to add that I halved this recipe and it worked wonderfully. I knew there was no way Matt and I would eat 30-40 Cheesecake Pops. Yikes! We still won't eat them all but I won't feel so guilty throwing away half as many.)

Another Winstonism

Mom: What do you want for breakfast?

Winston: I don't know. Do you know what I want?

Mom: German Pancakes?

Winston: (with big eyes) How did you know that? Did the Holy Ghost tell you?

Favorite Friday

Yes, it's another cleaning product. I love it so much, I had to share. This Friday's favorite is Clorox Anywhere Hard Surface Spray. Why do I love it so much?

-It is gentle enough to use around kids and food
-It kills 99.9% of bacteria: E. coli, Salmonella, Staphylococcus (Staph.) and Streptococcus (Strep.)
-It leaves no harmful chemical residue

I'm a big fan of the Clorox wipes and their fresh, clean smell but I don't really want that smell on my countertops where I am putting food. I don't love using them on the tray of the high chair that my baby is eating off of either.

This stuff is wonderful. I like to bake a lot which often requires rolling out dough on my countertop. It kind of freaks me out what might be on the countertop and that it might get into my food. I don't really want to use bleach water (another cleaner I like to use) or the scented Clorox wipes because I don't want the smell or residue in my food. The perfect solution...Clorox Anywhere Spray. I wipe the counter top off really well and then give it a good spray of CAS and wipe it again and wait a minute until it dries. It doesn't smell at all and my counter is clean and ready for me to roll out my dough.

I also love to use it on my kitchen table and I use to use it all the time on Charlie's high chair. I read once that it is safe enough to spray on a baby's binky. I buy bottles of these 4-5 at a time when they go on sale. I think I might be keeping Clorox in business. :)

Funny Little Man

Winston told me a few jokes in the car on the way to preschool today. I don't think he could quite remember exactly how the punch lines were supposed to go. That made them even funnier. I thought I would share them on here for a little laugh...

Winston: Knock Knock

Mom: Who's there?

Winston: Little Old Lady

Mom: Little Old Lady Who

Winston: I didn't know you could wobble
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Winston: Knock Knock

Mom: Who's there?

Winston: Banana

Mom: Banana who?

Winston: Knock Knock

Mom: Who's there?

Winston: Banana

Mom: Banana who?

Winston: Knock Knock

Mom: Who's there?

Winston: Are you glad I didn't say banana?