Showers affect my mental health. Enough said.
P.S. Not my bathroom.
Monthly Archives: January 2009
BBQ Chicken Pizza
Last night I made BBQ chicken pizza and it was delish! Because I’m always in need of a recipe I thought I’d share this one. (I’m hoping y’all will post some recipes in return.)
- First I made the crust. I got the simple recipe from EasyPizzaCrusts.com
- Spread BBQ sauce all over.
- Top with cheese and canned chicken (made it even easier) and black pepper. Onions would have been great too.
SIMPLE and Yummy!!!!
Pictures, Pictures, Pictures
More pictures of our baby. Ahh we love her!!!!
Hallie wearing her Sunday dress.
Naked play time is the best!
Amazing Homemade Vegetable Soup
Last week we were on a soup fix. This recipe comes from Ben’s family. It is our favorite and it doesn’t take long to cook.
6 cups beef stock
2 cups water
1/3 cup Barley
1 diced carrot
1 T. dried green peppers (or ¼ fresh green pepper diced)
1-2 med potatoes diced (too many potatoes make the soup starchy)
1 finely chopped onion or 2 T. dried onions
1 ½ stalks celery finely chopped
1 T. dried parsley
1 bay leaf
1 clove garlic finely diced
¼ tsp thyme
1 ½ tsp salt
Bring beef stock and water to a boil, add barley and cook 15 minutes. Next add carrots and cook 5 more minutes, then add the rest of the ingredients and cook for approximately 15-20 additional minutes. Check vegetables (as soon as they are tender the soup is done). For extra flavor, add a Tablespoon or so of butter. This soup actually tastes better after standing in fridge overnight.
Quick and Spontaneous Trip
Well if you read the last post by Ben he mentioned our plans for the inaugration weekend. Because we live in DC the inaugration affected us in a drastic way. Our plans changed suddenly when Ben called me from work on Thursday informing me that road closers were forcing him to take the next Wednesday off. This meant he had a 6 day vacation from work. My parents are always talking about how much they miss Hallie and wish we could go back and visit (even though we were just there for Christmas). So after checking flight prices and yo-yoing back and forth whether to go or not we called my parents. They were thrilled and couldn’t wait to see their little princess.
Our trip started off before the sun was up Saturday morning and dragged on until the sun had gone down. Our first flight was rerouted and delayed. We waited in the DC airport for 3 1/2 hours. Unbelievable!! However the rest of the trip wasn’t bad, just long. We counted up all of Hallie’s plane rides and our return flights were number 11 and 12. She’s such a good sport!
Here are some pictures of the trip.
Hallie got her own seat on one of the flights
Looking out the window
Four Generations of Crane’s
Hallie got to meet her Great Grandparents
Hallie also got to meet my old companion Honivah Rafaranirindraibe
There were a lot of things that we did that unfortunately we didn’t take pictures of. With the help of babysitters Ben and I were able to escape and go to lunch and later bowling. (Our first date since Hallie was born.) Thanks mom for watching Hallie. We were also able to go to the Temple-thanks LaRae and Kyle. And last but not least Ben talked me into skinny dipping in the hot tub! Ahhh so funny, but also very enjoyable. Swimsuits are a pain! 🙂
I think that sums up our trip, except the fact that our flight home was also delayed but only for an hour this time. Lucky us! Ugghhh
Now we are home and oh so grateful we live in the DC area. It is home to us now and we love it. (Besides the missing family part.)
Thanks Mom and Dad for flying us out. We love you and miss you already!!
The Presidential Inauguration
by Benton
I promise I’m not taking over Britt’s blog. It’s just that living and working in the DC area has exposed me to a bunch of wild facts about the upcoming inauguration and I want to share them. I keep thinking, “Wow! I should tell Dad about that.” or “Burt would find this interesting.” I decided I would write a quick post to share with everyone.
All 1600 Capital Police Officers will be on duty that day, but they will relinquish control of the building to the Secret Service and its roughly 5500 agents.
DC has roughly 50 different law enforcement agencies. Pretty much every officer/agent will be active.
Extra military and law enforcement are being brought in from states throughout the country.
All residents within a few blocks of the capital or White House either have to find remote parking or not drive for 36 hours before the inauguration. The Secret Service will use that time to sweep every building in that area for any threats.
Every storm drain and man-hole cover in the same area will be welded shut.
All major roads into the city will be accessible only by vehicles with permits. Buses, taxis, and limos all had to apply in advance to get a permit. Civilian cars will not be permitted.
The current attendance record for a presidential inauguration was set in 1965 at Lyndon B. Johnson’s inauguration. There were 1.2 million people in attendance. We’ve talked to friends who attended George W. Bush’s inauguration. They said it was insanely crowed and getting around was super slow. Estimations for this inauguration are over 3 million!
All non-security type federal employees (like me) get a paid day off.
Needless to say, we are staying home. Just me, Britt, Hallie, netflix, and redbox if necessary. 🙂
5 Months
Hallie is now five months old. It’s amazing how much can change in such a short amount of time. We can’t remember our life without her.
The NFL is way better when you live in DC!
by Benton
Brittany took a more family approach with her blog than I did with mine. My blog is a bunch of rants about my two favorite things: cars and liberty. If that sort of thing interests you, please come join the conversation. If, however, you just want a little Crane family gossip, this is still the place.
Brittany is allowing me to join her in posting things that family and friends would enjoy. I will still leave the “Hallie rolled over” posts to Brittany, but I will chime in occasionally when I have something I think the family would like to hear about . . . you know, Hallie might flip the bird or fart really loud in church.
Today’s post is directed mostly to my brothers. Being an NFL fan in Utah sucks! The closest teams are 10 hours away in Denver or Phoenix. By comparison, we now live in football’s promised land. There are 15 NFL teams within a similar 10 hour range:
- Washington Redskins–right here
- Baltimore Ravens–45 minutes away (still in the playoffs)
- Philadelphia Eagles–2.5 hours (still in the playoffs)
- New York Giants–4 hours
- New York Jets–4 hours
- Pittsburgh Steelers–4.5 hours (still in the playoffs)
- Cleveland Browns–6.5 hours
- Carolina Panthers–6.5 hours
- Buffalo Bills–7.5 hours
- New England Patriots–8 hours
- Cincinnati Bengals–8.5 hours
- Detroit Lions–9 hours
- Indianapolis Colts–9.5 hours
- Tennessee Titans–10 hours
- Atlanta Falcons–10 hours
Today at work I went to the gym. One of the personal trainers was giving me some tips when a guy stormed in the gym wearing a Baltimore Ravens jersey. He was yelling, taunting, and dancing like he just scored a game winning touchdown (black guys can get away with random public dances). My trainer, probably a Steelers fan, yelled at him from across the gym and all of the sudden all exercising stopped for a massive trash talk session. Men, women, black, white, everybody joined in. Some of the one-liners were great:
“Maaan, You would’n bet 2 dawlas on yo own team!”
“Ya man, dat’s all I can affode. Da rest is goin fo my super bowl pawty!”
Don’t get me wrong, Utah’s sports scene gets really good once a year when the Jazz are in the playoffs. There is always some passionate trash talk that seems to bring out all the Lakers’ lemmings. But what we’re experiencing out here simply takes it to a higher level. We’re surrounded by people who seem to live for next week’s game. They plan huge parties, buy insane amounts of alcohol, schedule “sick time” for the day after, and are always willing to speak their football minds.
So, if you’re planning a trip out here, you ought to check next year’s schedule for Monday night football games. We’ll let you take us with you :). Make sure to get your ticket well in advance, the games always sell out.
Good Times
On Saturday I was able to drive down to the district and see two great friends that I haven’t seen since my mission. (2 years-crazy!!) My last companion Sister Maxwell who is from Salt Lake and Kessia Cruz who was a delight to teach.
Driving there was a breeze and Hallie even fell asleep. However parking was a whole other story. After driving around for 30 min with Hallie now awake and screaming I found a parking garage and consented to paying the 16 dollars it cost. I figured it was a small price to keep me from swearing.
With that said it was so worth it. Sarah (Sister Maxwell) is amazing. She was in town for a school trip and set side time to see us. One of my favorite things about her is the fact that she always follows through with what she says-amazingly dependable! On top of that she is hilarious and so fun to be around. Kessia is one of the most genuine people I know. She is unbelievably positive and I would even describe her as perky. Kessia was baptized about two years ago and is now considering a mission. Wow, she would be unstoppable! What a blessing it is to have good friends. Thanks Kessia and Sarah.
Sarah, Kessia, me and Hallie
Kessia and Hallie
Hallie insisted she chew on the straw
Update for the New Year
Welcome to the new year everyone! I thought that I would post a few updates on our little family.
The most recent Hallie news is that she learned to roll over yesterday. Yeah!! Dad has been practicing hard with her. She is also sleeping through the night as long as she is next to me. She still fights naps during the day because she is afraid she is going to miss something. She loves watching people and for that reason she also loves the mall. Good for her and mom! For Christmas she received a completely new wardrobe thanks to Nanna and her new favorite book is Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See which Grandma Crane gave her. (Her eyes never leave the book and its bright pictures.) Hallie turns five months next week! Crazy how time flies.
Ben is still loving his job at the Census Bureau HAHA. He is going to start trying 10 hour work days (which really means 12-13 with his commute). This would mean he could take every Wednesday off and spend it with me and Hallie. (I’m a needy wife who can’t get enough time with my sexy husband.) He has also been regularly attending the gym at work and I am reaping the benefit of his tight abs. Mmmmm 🙂
As for me, I went running by myself today. Since Hallie was born I haven’t been exercising as much as I should. I gained 40 pounds during my pregnancy and I still have 12 lbs to lose. I realize that I am back to the weight I was when I left on my mission, but I lost a lot after I got married and once you drop to a size 2 you can’t go back to a size 8 and be satisfied. Anyway, the whole reason I’m writing this is because I haven’t felt comfortable leaving Hallie with anyone yet-she’s way too cranky. However, today I changed my mind and my friend Stacey watched Hallie so I could go running. It was AMAZING!! I hated running until my mission. I think all the rules made running seem almost freeing in a way. I remember longing to run, which was COMPLETELY foreign to me. The past four months the longing has returned. I’ve been able to go on walks with Hallie and sometimes I’ll run behind her stroller, but today, ohhh today, it was amazing! To be by myself and run was therapeutic. I swear I’ve heard a thousand times that I need to take care of myself first, but I just didn’t think it was possible. Although I don’t think any mom could put herself first, I do believe that every mom needs to take some time for herself. I’m hoping that my ‘alone’ running time will help me emotionally and mentally as well give me back my body that I so desperately long for. Thanks again Stacey I owe you!
That’s what we’ve been up to so far in 2009. We hope you are all doing well and we look forward to seeing as many of you as we can this year.