Cousin Brady's Birthday Party

September 2nd we went to Cousin Brady's Birthday Party at Peter Piper's Pizza. This was Niran's first birthday party that he was old enough to have fun at. And that's exactly what he did!

Enjoying pizza with Great Grandpa.


3 out of the 4 cousins. The 4th was constantly playing!


I don't think the Birthday Boy would have been able to hold it in much longer!


Look at all his tickets. Dad let him play games that only required pushing a button once!

Niran's First Camping and Fishing Trip

The Wanders go camping in the fall for Jeremy's birthday. The last three years we have been invited. Last year we couldn't make it because they went the weekend before Niran was born and granted there was a paramedic there, I didn't see the need for Niran to be born while camping. This was our second year and we enjoy our time with the Wanders, Bolingers, and Ryan Winslett and his girlfriend Jenn. This year was a little more special since it was Niran first camping and fishing trip.

It was difficult with Niran wanting to get down and crawl around after Aiden, but we wanted to cut back on the dirt, scrapes and cuts he could get. Okay, it was the getting hurt, it was the excess amount of dirt we didn't want to deal with. We knew he'd get dirty enough as it was. We did take his play yard, which he luckily enjoys playing in. We enjoy a lot of lazy time with everyone and stories by the campfire both nights.

The first night, Niran slept on and off for three hours and then was wide awake from 3am to 8pm. Mom and Dad had a very long morning and about 4, Mom put the boy in his stroller and took off for a walk hoping Niran would finally sleep, he didn't. The second night we tracked down some extra blankets and covered his bed. He slept until about 6, with little squeaks here and there! It was wonderful!

Saturday we hung for most of the day and then had an afternoon of fishing. Dad caught a fish, which of course was shown to Niran who wanted to touch it. Mom didn't get to do much fishing since Niran was pretty squirmy. I think most everyone caught a fish or at least got a nibble. I did get a nibble before calling it quits pretty early.

Sunday we ate breakfast and talked around the campfire some more before packing up and heading back into town. Camping with the Wanders is about time together and we're always glad to be a part of their lives.

Now for some photos and a video:

On the way up I saw this mountain which reminded me of Peavine back in Reno. Much bigger, but it still has the same look about it.

The family around the campfire.

This is part of peek-a-boo. Niran will pop his head above the bar and squeal then drag his facce down and squeal below the bar. It's quite entertaining!

Niran got excited when Uncle Ry-Ry caught his fish. I don't remember his reaction with Dad, but I'm certain if we were cheering so was Niran.

I love this picture. I have other angles, but I like this one the best.

Aiden kept wanting to come in our tent to play with Niran when he had free range of the tent, but there wasn't enough room with the play yard taking up half of the tent, so he played with him the best he could. Sorry about this video being sideways. I either need to figure out how to rotate it or I need to remember not to hold the camera sideways.

Pasta & Sausage

Sorry about the formatting on this post. I can't seem to get it to do what I want. I'll try again later.

I've been wanting to post recipes that are quick, easy and/or cheap. I love finding a new recipe or getting one from someone to try. I've been cooking and baking since 3rd grade and I don't mean making mac & cheese out of the box. I'm talk lasagna and chicken cooking! And I really enjoy cooking at home and would rather do that over eating out most of the time. With Dusty taking culinary classes we now make dishes pretty much how we want. We'll look at recipe and follow the idea, but generally we kind of do our own thing with it. I had a hard time with that at first and would get irritated watching Dusty cook without looking at a recipe, but now I will watch the Food Network, like something and then make based on what I saw in the show, but without the recipe. I think we both have come up with some very yummy dishes! I'll post them on here as we come up with them, but you do have to forgive us, all measurements will be approx. We do most things to taste.

I'll start with a dish I made Tuesday night. I actually decided to make homemade ravioli last week with a tomato cream sauce. I got the ravioli recipe online, but I wasn't able to make them thin enough, maybe I'll try again one day, but the cream sauce I did like and I'll keep it. I found how to make the basic tomato cream sauce online and Dusty seemed to like it so I decided to add to it for this dish. I thought it was yummy, better than one of my favorite hamburger helpers

Pasta & Sausage
(measurements are approx and should be adjusted for how much sauce and pasta you will need)


Pasta of choice (I used shells so Niran could pick them up)
1 cupMarinara Sauce
1/2 cup Cream
1lb Italian Sausage
1/2 cup Frozen Spinach
Parmesan Cheese (optional)

Cook pasta according to directions.

Cook sausage thoroughly

Combine Marinara Sauce, Cream, Spinach and sausage. Heat to gentle boil and cook until desired thickness (I cooked mine for about 15 minutes). Add salt to taste. I added some parmesan cheese as well. Mix with pasta and top with cheese.

I was planning on taking a picture of the dish, but Niran didn't want to wait any longer for dinner, so here's the end result!

Enjoy!

Wedding, August 15, 2009

It's official! We are Mr. & Mrs. Dusty McSpadden!

Wednesday my mom flew in and and Thursday my maid of honor, Audrie came in and helped me get some food prep done along with some other minor wedding details. Thursday evening a bunch of my girl friends took me out for my bachelorette party. We started out at Brandi's for games and then headed out to Mill Avenue. The night was so much fun and I am glad Mindy hosted it for me!

Terrible picture of me I know, but I didn't get many good ones off of my camera

Ryan and friends took Dusty out for his bachelor party a couple of weeks before the wedding. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and their time hanging out at Matt's "Train" house and Gameworks! No pictures from that night of course because guys don't use cameras the same way girls do.

Friday morning was beauty prep! Audrie, Megan and I took off to get manicures and pedicures and Dusty went for a bike ride and then got his hair cut, while Grandma Jane kept Niran company. The rest of the day was spent recovering from the night before and getting the last of the food prep done for the rehearsal dinner.

The rehearsal dinner went very well. I have no pictures from the night and I don't recall anyone taking photos, but if you have some will you forward them to me, please. We had a BBQ, manned by McKay Hansen, who is very good on the grill! Kim, Brandi, Audrie, Megan, and my mom helped me get everything done in the kitchen before our Thai family got there. Emon, Apple and Penny made papaya salad and a soup that Dusty and I both love. And now I think everyone else loves too! Dusty and I finished off the night by handing out our wedding party gifts which included flasks for the guys and flasks and silver garters for the girls. Dusty and I are very glad we included everyone in the rehearsal dinner. It gave us so much extra time with our friends and family.

The sunglasses were given to us my the maid of honor! I'll have to get a picture of mine and Dusty's flask so you can see what the guys got.

After the rehearsal dinner, Dusty spent the night at his best man, Ryan's house so the girls could have the house to themselves to get ready. And Dusty was not allowed to see the bride before the big day! The girls and I spent most of the morning getting the last minute details done, such as Niran's walker decorations and ironing clothes. We also did all our hair and make up at the house before heading up to Stonebridge. It also took 3 vehicles to get all of the wedding decorations, dresses, luggage (for those taking off after the wedding), Niran's belongings and the people who had stayed at our house the night before.

The wedding itself couldn't have gone any better.

The Manor looked beautiful. Camille and the staff at Stonebridge did a fantastic job. Everything flowed very smoothly and we were never wondering what next or when.

Chef Ben and his staff of Creative Hands Cuisine did a fantastic job with dinner.

Rev Rich Stoffan was a pleasure to work with.

Zuzu's Petals did a wonderful job with the flowers. I pretty much let her decided what flowers to do since I had no idea what I wanted and only knew what colors.

DJ Mike Mancini did a wonderful job taking our 25 choices of songs and mixing even more in and keeping with the theme Dusty had set up.

Kevin & Amy from Piece of Cake Desserts did a fantastic job helping us design our cake.

And Flint Rogers, our photographer, has done a wonderful job with engagement and wedding photos.

I can't be more pleased with our choice of wedding venues and the choices they have made for their vendors. I highly recommend Stonebridge Manor and their wedding packages to anyone planning a wedding!

After the wedding, Brandi took my mom and Niran back to our house so we could go out to a bar and hung out with some of our friends for awhile, which I will say was a fun little way to end the night.

Here are some pictures we've received from Flint, friends and family. Anyone else who has photos if you could email them to us that would be fantastic!

I am so proud of him for pushing his walker. He had a rough afternoon and I was worried he wouldn't be willing to walk, but according to Dad he was himself as soon as he got a hold of his walker!

The girls and guys

(Niran was a groomsman, but he isn't quite walking yet to stand for a photo)

Garter toss! Those boys sure wanted it!

The place cards, table numbers, programs and favor numbers were handmade by me. Dusty helped with input as far as design and with assembly!

Next we're going to begin planning Niran's first birthday party! Followed by Dusty's going away party and then we'll get packed and moved on to the next big chapter of our life!

Thank you to all of our friends and family who helped make our Wedding Day fanastic!

Niran's First Haircut

We have been putting off getting Niran's haircut so he could have a nice trim for the wedding. The original plan was to wait until Thursday or Friday, but after weeks of being driven crazy by his wild hair I made the decision to have it done today. I chose to go to Snip Its. It's specifically designed for kids. And yes we would have to pay more for it, but I wasn't sure how he would handle it and I figured bright colors and cartoons would help the situation and it did...at first.

So happy watching the cartoons...so happy! As soon as we walked in he was squealing with excitement over the tv. You can also see those three teeth.

Then his excitement mellowed out a little and he was just ready to get his haircut started.

I think he looks very cute here. Dad got another photo that was just a great photo, but you would think he was only wearing a green shirt and not getting a haircut.

Next came the tears

A there were a lot of tears and many attempts to remove the stylists hand from his head.

So we tried animal crackers as a distraction, but that only lasted for a very short time and did include us putting a cookie in his mouth, bubbles didn't help and his elephant didn't even make a dent.

And the final outcome with a little gel and hair all over! He did pretty good, I'm very proud of the boy!

The video of the first trim. I swear I turned it off because he was getting really upset, but the video doesn't show that. Maybe I just anticipated it, but just after stopping the video the tears kicked in.

It's Official!

It's the week of the wedding. The big day is just around the corner. Time to get all those last minute details taken care. Or not! We actually got them all done. My goal was to have all the wedding planning done and to only worry about the friends, family and fun the week of. I started to get a little worried that I wasn't going to get it down, but a certain wonderful man in my life stepped in a helped me. As of today we got some pretty easy things left to take care of:

• Pick up Niran's tux on Tuesday and Dusty's tux on Thursday
• Get Niran's haircut on Tuesday (while we're already in town and boy does he need it!) and Dusty's on Friday (while the girls are getting their nails done)
• Rehearsal Dinner - we're going shopping Tuesday for most of it. Easily perishable items will be picked up Thursday or Friday
• Prep for Rehearsal Dinner - This will be done on Thursday and Friday
• Clean the house - actually it would be better to say, pick up toys
• Pick up Mom and Kyla from the airport - Everyone else is driving in, making it a bit easier!

Not much more to do other than enjoy ourselves, which was our goal! We can't wait to visit with friends and family this weekend!

And the Countdown Begins!

Today, marks the 2 week mark for the wedding! In a week and a half we will begin getting the last minor details taken care of and welcoming people into our home and into town. It's hard to believe that this is already here. We got all the main things done and currently on have a few things left:

• Seating Arrangements - This is actually very hard. Trying to keep people who know each other together, keep like personalities together, the correct number at each seat, this is very difficult to do.


• Place Cards - Okay, this is very easy to do, but you have to make sure the seating arrangement is complete and we're still waiting on a solid answer from one more party.


• Bridal Party Gift Wrapping - The gifts have been purchased...a few months ago, but we are waiting on one more little piece to go with them, but again that is something very easy to do.


• Mauri's Wedding Day Supplies - Mauri has been a big help so far and she's going to be some even more big help the day of the wedding, along with her amazing boyfriend, Chase and another one of our friends. These guys will be the one's putting the favors, programs, place cards, etc (very partial list) out on the day of the wedding. Mauri will be a big "behind the scenes" helper for the wedding and I appreciate her sooo much!


• Dinner Rehearsal - My mom has asked that we wait on this until she gets down here, just in case it costs a lot more than we originally budgeted for. She's trying to help with the errand running for us, very nice of her. I am very done driving into town all of the time.


• Finally, the parties! Dusty is going to his Bachelor Party tonight while Jenn and I have a girls night! And then we a couple of my bridesmaids get into town we'll have a girls outting!

I am so happy we chose a place that had a wedding package with it. This eliminated many meetings, lots of searching and a ton of unneeded stress. It has been very smooth sailing, for the most part. Now we begin count down!