clearing off my more funner camera

it was high time i went thru my less maintenance camera. the little digital camera is easier to carry around, so it ends up getting the out-and-about shots. i love tagg in this picture. he looks like such a big, happy boy.

 
ladies who lunch. my mom, megan, and i eating at cpk. after a round at bellesquare and before our ........

massages! craig surprised me, for my birthday, with a gift certificate to get a massage. my mom just couldnt resist and joined in on the relaxing afternoon. i got a deep tissue massage for the first time and LOVED it. 

what do you do with a BUSY 14 month old when you dont want to fill up an entire bath tub? let him play in the sink. he was in heaven with the mirror, medicine and the attention.

speaking of a need for attention: taylor was in town for the past couple weeks and this is what he came out of his room wearing one time. he said he was joking............ but i am not too sure. he reminded us all of an old, feminine, florida man. scary.

megan, hanna, emily and i had a great time at dinner a couple nites ago at cactus. the food AND conversation were quite spicy and by the time we got up to leave (two hours later) i could tell the waitress was happy to see us go.

taylor (in a much more appropriate get-up) and kelly. taylor was in town for two weeks and we seriously only saw him a handful of times. funny how that happens......

me and craig, at outback. it was "wear your favorite navy shirt" that nite. no, it wasnt really.

holy crap. i just realized that tagg was wearing a navy shirt too. weird. this is tagg, licking up the remnants of his favorite dish: macaroni & cheese. 

you can thank me later

i forgot all about these little gems. and that should be a sin. they are that good. my mom discovered them probably ten years ago at a bake sale and we used to make them all the time. back then, we called them pine bark. which, honestly never sounded very appetizing to me. 

 

thankfully, a friend mentioned to me that she had made some chocolate-y caramel crackers and i was re-introduced to CARAMEL CRACK(ERS). their new name is way better. and way more appropriate. because they are literally as addictive as the drug. the surprise factor? the key ingredient is saltines!

tagg has been sick (AGAIN) for the past couple of days. i try to tell him that if he didnt insist on putting everything in his mouth he wouldnt catch every bacteria out there. i HATE when my baby is sick. i get pretty depressed about it........ but nothing some good old caramel crack(ers) cant fix.

caramel crack(ers)

approximately 40 Saltine crackers 

1 cup unsalted butter

1 cup packed light brown sugar

a big pinch of sea salt

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups semi- or bittersweet chocolate chips

1 cup toasted chopped almonds (optional)

preheat oven to 350°f. line 11x17-inch baking sheet completely with foil. 

line the bottom of the baking sheet with crackers. 

in a medium heavy-duty saucepan, melt the butter and brown sugar together, and stir it over medium heat until it begins to boil. once it has begun boiling, let it bubble for three more minutes, stirring it well. it will thicken a bit as it cooks. remove from the heat and add the salt and vanilla, and then quickly pour it over the crackers. you’ll want to spread it quickly, as it will begin to set as soon as it is poured.

bake the caramel-covered crackers for 15 minutes, watching carefully as it will bubble and the corners might darken too quickly and/or burn. you can reduce the heat if you see this happening.

remove from oven and immediately cover with chocolate chips. let stand five minutes and then spread them evenly across the caramel. if you’re using them, sprinkle the chocolate with toasted chopped nuts.

once completely cool, break it into pieces and eat up.

outside

we all had a fabulous saturday spending time in the great outdoors. the whole family caravanned up to the cle elum cabin to sit in the sun and ride around on the four wheelers. it was all fun and games until i turned around for one second and the next thing i saw was craig taking tagg up a SUPER steep hill on the four wheeler. i kinda had a meltdown. 

the lure of the big swimming pond was too much for tagg. he was constantly turning his little body around (just like when he goes down stairs) in an attempt to go off the deck into the water!

on the way home, i saw this little beaut of a photo op. craig thought i was crazy when i made him turn around and take this shot of me. but i think it looks pretty cool. there are a ton of good places for pictures in cle elum. i need to do a whole session up there. 

spring-y flowers. i am ready for summer-y sun.

tay tay. i could maybe do without the jewelry, but he is still one handsome man.

another sweet one

my family found a pizza place in chicago that they became obsessed with. i think they went there three times in three days. one of their favorite parts of the menu was this amazing cookie/ice cream dessert. it is pretty  straight forward but super yummy (the cookie MUST be hot out of the oven). so naturally, megan and i had to recreate this dessert the second they got back into town. 

happy easter

we had a wonderful easter sunday. church had a special spirit about it and in the evening we went to the youth choir easter program to watch tucker and anna sing their little hearts out. and what day could be bad when it starts off with loads of candy, plastic eggs, and fake grass?

tagg made a b-line to his birdie basket and dug around until he found his elmo easter egg. now, if an ELMO EASTER EGG isnt the biggest example of a commercialized holiday then i dont know what is! but taggy loved it just the same.

the easter bunny brought tagg some blue rabbit socks too.

but nothing compared to the candy. ahhh the candy. tagg loves his sugar. which drives craig up the wall. good thing tagg loves his toothbrush too!

sun + barbeque + mariners = true love 

for our last hoorah  before the famdamly blew back into town (everyone went to chicago for spring break), we cooked up some bbq and watched the first mariner's game of the season. tagg broke out his mariners hoodie (j, i forget which way you prefer that to be spelled) but couldnt seem to break out a normal face. i guess this is his "drunken fan" face. 

tagg's first official word is "hhhhhaaaaa". which of course means: hot. any time he gets close to a fire or a heating vent or anything warm he says, "hhhhhaaaaa". it is SO cute. so naturally, he loved helping craig with the bbq-ing.

louis was dying to get outside too. poor fluffy kitty.

tagg loved being outside but wasnt too keen about walking bare foot on the grass. so we mostly had to carry him around the backyard. 

i had to bribe tagg with an m&m to sit still long enough to take this picture with me.

i loved watching my two boys bond over sports. we cannot wait for tagg to start t-ball!

my little cherub. he keeps me SO busy. and i could not love him more. 

put your blinders on!

is what i am sure people were saying to each other when they drove/walked by the smith family today. could we GET any whiter? today was the first sunny day of spring so we picked the moss off of ourselves and squinted out into the sunlight.

tagg loved running around the park and getting some fresh air.

he liked climbing up the slide just as much as sliding down it!

but to be honest, we were only outside for thirty minutes or so. we (especially tagg) are little freaking moles and arent used to all that sun. we have to take it in small doses at first. tagg loved the refuge his stroller offered him from the hot sun. and yes, he is that big of a geek: he sucks those kind of pacifiers upside down.