24 December 2010

Graham cracker houses

It's that time of year again when the Watson family gets together and makes graham cracker houses. Mostly we just eat the candy (check out Ted in the background) and talk, but we did manage to make some pretty sweet creations (literally).
Paige and Kyle

Brays Reindeer


This is Paige and Kyles creation. I have to say it is my favorite.


My little cottage.


Reindeer poop... I am so juvenile




Julia, Ted, Sara and Jessica came out from Virginia to visit. It was so nice to see them. Here is Levi with Julia.



12 December 2010

A few pictures from Thanksgiving

Justin and Liz were nice enough to invite the whole Zimmerman family over to their new house for Thanksgiving dinner. We ate, chatted, played games (those of us who can stand games....Not Justin), the little ones watched a Christmas movie and tore the house apart, all in all it was a great day!




08 December 2010

My mom is old.

I planned a birthday party for my mom a few weeks ago. My sister Lillian was visiting for Thanksgiving and it seemed like a good idea at the time.... Until mom got sick, and a bunch of guests were snowed in.
Regardless, we had a good time with family. I made a pumpkin cake with cream cheese icing I call it a "chalkboard cake" for my mom who is a 5th grade teacher.



Uncle Andrew with Kennedy, Jocelyn, and Charlotte who is 2 days younger than Levi, but is half his size.

Jeremy, Elena, Kaia, and Jamison are all saying "I'm making a mess" as per my request :)

Playing games with the fam... Sorry Ryan, I had to put this picture in... I couldn't resist it since you look like a giant, clothed praying mantis.
Here is the cake! I made the apple, books, and the chalk out of fondant, the border is Twix and raspberry sticks (which made cutting the cake a bit of a chore) But it was sooo good.

And this is Lillian's masterpiece.

01 December 2010

A little Christmas cheer.

Unfortunately this is rapidly becoming a family tradition to do this....

23 November 2010

Pet Cemetery?

I meant to post these pictures at Halloween, but obviously I am a little behind lately... This miniature graveyard is on the side of a house in Clinton Utah. If I was bored enough I would have actually counted how many crosses there are, but I am guessing that there are well over 50 of these little wooden crosses. Things that make you go hmmmm? This is a year round sight, not just up for Halloween (I took this picture in July).
I assume that these people either have really bad luck with pets, or they are ahem.... psycho.
So glad they aren't my neighbors!




03 November 2010

Halloween and stuff.




So this blog is a little late, messy, and a combination of a few things. That seems to be the way my life has been lately... A little late, crazy and a mess of different things. Andrew and I ran the Halloween half marathon, and despite our legs being out of commission for a week, we both decided that we were up for more punishment and registered for the Salt Lake Marathon in April. I have done 7 half's, and never have my legs felt so awful after a race. I'm thinking that this is due to the steep down grade of the race. Here are a few pictures of our costumes.



Kennedy and Levi dressed as glow in the dark skeletons for Halloween. Kennedy did her first round of official "trick or treating" and loved it! I'm so glad that she forgot about that pumpkin full of candy that sits up in our cupboard.... She was obsessed with it for a few days. We have pictures of them dressed up somewhere, but I can't seem to find them.

Judd finally had his tonsils out last Friday. He is still stuck in bed most of the time, but that will be over soon. Poor guy can't eat anything and I am pretty sure he has lost a good 15 pounds. If only all diets were that easy ;)



My book is still not in print... I have an investor who wants to foot the bill to print, but I would really like to find a publisher so that I don't have to worry about distribution/sales/marketing etc... So no book for now.



















07 October 2010

An ode to my friend.



Although you have only been in my life for five years, it feels like you have always been there. I'll miss you, but I know that your life in New York will be an amazing adventure.

These are a few of the reasons I adore you (I couldn't possibly list them all.... Just not enough time)

1- You order your food in Japanese when we go out for sushi.
2- The laugh you get when you really think something is funny...
3- Your ability to make friends wherever you go.
4- Best white chop stick user I have ever seen ;)
5- You are SO generous.
6- You have THE most amazing singing voice.
7- Best roommate EVER!
8- You can just tell when I am not OK.
9- Because you like random
10- Because tennis is your middle name... I think.
11- You are so strong and stoic in the face of adversity.
12- You always try to make others feel welcome.
13- You have an extensive disco-skating wardrobe, and you aren't afraid to flaunt it.
14- Just because you are you.
I miss you already. Although our lives have already taken different paths, just know that I am immensely grateful for your friendship. I would not be the person I am today with out you. You have always been there when I needed to talk, or a shoulder to cry on.






































































04 October 2010

I made my cake... And ate it too.

As promised, here are pictures of the cake I made for my 28th birthday. I guess there is some rule out there floating around which states "a person can not make their own cake". Well I have never been one to concern myself much with rules, besides I wanted to make it!
I did a chocolate cake with butter cream frosting, and my very first try at fondant.
I have to say that I love fondant! It's like playing with play doh... Only fondant tastes better.
This is my version of a "hobby cake". Complete with mountain bike, racing bib and finish line, stethoscope, band aid, lacrosse stick, fish, and fishing pond. The fishing pole has real fishing line on it :)

I had a ton of fun making it and I can't wait for a reason to make the next one.



10 September 2010

Long Over Due

Yes, this blog is long over due... But in all fairness, I have been busy.

First off, our computer decided that it was done with this life and hopped on over to the other side to computer heaven. We didn't get a new one until today.

Levi is now almost 5 months old, and the size of Kennedy when she was a year old... After all his favorite thing to do is eat, and he does it A LOT. I'll post some pictures of him so you can see all the wonderful chub :)
















Here is a picture of the kids doing what they do most often... Levi drooling and Kennedy Jumping. I swear that girl has pogo sticks for legs, remember those? She is always jumping.


Kennedy turned 2 :(. We had a Curious George party for her. I made my very first "non-rectangular" cake, and I have to say it looked and tasted amazing, I thought that I got a picture of it when it was all done, but I didn't. This was before I put George and the other monkeys on. She made out in the gift department, basically she got spoiled rotten. We got her one of those play kitchens, complete with pots and pans that make boiling/frying noises. Now she cooks dinner with her plastic food while I am cooking, unfortunately sometimes both dinners come out tasting the same.


















I painted the house. Literally. I just couldn't stand how sad and dreary looking it was. It looked like a slightly under decorated haunted house. I have to say that our house is much more inviting now.




BEFORE











AFTER






Our bathroom is FINISHED! This was the very last room in the house which needed to be conquered. And conquer we did. We did hang a mirror after I took these pictures, but eh, I'm too lazy to take more pictures.
I will let the BEFORE and AFTER pictures speak for themselves.


BEFORE























AFTER























I started school again. It takes so much longer to do school when things like cooking dinner, changing diapers, laundry, changing more diapers, and doing more laundry get in the way. I should have been done with my BS (Love that it's called this :O) degree 2 years ago, but I took a much needed detour into motherhood. Only 6 more classes and I will be done, so look for a graduation announcement about 3 years from now.

Judd and I are now the proud owners of a fishing license. My dad left his little farm in Montana for a couple days to come down and take me fishing. I packed both kids with me, and even though you could hear the kids for miles away, and Kennedy spent most of the day wading through the water, we still managed to catch our limit. Judd caught his VERY FIRST FISH. Yea, the man is almost 30 years old and had never caught a fish. The look on his face was priceless, I felt as if I were looking at a 6 year old boy reeling in his first catch. We spend most of our free time fishing now, Judd has become addicted.
Our first fishing trip. Judd: one. Leslie: seven. :)

















Judd's first fish!!!





























My dad finished the illustrations for the children's book I wrote. Planning on getting it published, hopefully by Christmas, but who knows how long it will really take. Here is one of the finished pictures.














I have been training for a few half marathons. Last weekend my brother and I ran 10 miles through Provo canyon. Here is a picture of us after... He died along the way, it was nice to finally beat him at something (not that I am competitive or anything) I ran my first half marathon since having Levi, and I can't say that I was super happy with the time of 1:58.... Almost 20 minutes slower than my normal time. Oh well, wish me luck on the next one and hopefully I don't putter out and die... at least not until I cross the finish.















All in all things are going well here at the Zimmerman house.