Nerds

Miles loves nerds. Nerds the candy. And since he loves me, he also loves people nerds. But today I'm writing about candy Nerds. Yesterday Miles asked me, "Bagel grocery store?" Which means, "Can we go to Smiths and get a bagel?" I told him, "tomorrow." Well, tomorrow is today so I kept my promise and took him to Smiths to get a bagel today. Of course, I shopped while he munched his bagel. He was so good in the store that as he spied the Nerds as we walked down the candy aisle, I couldn't resist and bought him a treat (I was only on that aisle because I was looking for garlic Triskets, one of the few foods Miles will eat, but evidently they have been discontinued. Thanks Nabisco. There's now one less food on this earth that Miles will eat.). Miles waited until we got home to open his Nerds. Here's what we found inside the box. Last time I checked, Nerds were supposed to look like the stuff on the right. So, what is the stuff on the left? I know they are multiple conjoined twin Nerds, but they look nasty, like chewed gum, and are HUGE. I'm not usually a whiner, but I called Nestle on this one. I nicely asked the customer service rep if Nerds had undergone a renovation lately. I described the many, many mutants in the box. I gave him the SKU number and the batch number. He's sending me out a replacement product. Miles won't eat the big Nerds, he's a traditionalist, but will he still eat the normal Nerds when the replacement product arrives?

Oh, and my bill at the grocery store? $162, but I paid $69 for Tide (4), Herbal Essence (4), Crest ProHealth (4), Old Spice body wash (4), Duracell batteries (4 packages of 4 batteries), Lean Cuisine (10), Skinny Cow candy (2), Tillamook Cheese (5#), Lunchables (4), the Nerds, and the bagel. It's been a long time since I coupon shopped- saved a lot!

Merry Christmas Miles!

I wrote last week about how Miles didn't care about Christmas and how he wasn't interested in opening his presents. As I cleaned up Christmas, I put his unwrapped presents away for "later". They were in my closet. Last night, Miles was happily playing in our room. Eventually he reappeared with new toys in tow. He was very excited. I went into our room and found that Miles found all his presents and opened them. He was especially excited about the car hauler and the xylophone. Well, Merry Christmas, Miles, a week and a half late!

Browned Butter White Chocolate Blondies

I'm not a big white chocolate fan. I'm not a Craisens fan either. However, I really like this recipe. I think it's because it has macadamia nuts! These Blondies are loaded with chunkies. So good.

Brown 1 Cup butter until it's golden brown. Remove from heat and cool.
Combine butter with 1 1/2 cup brown sugar.
Add 3 eggs, one at a time, until batter is light and fluffy.
Add 2 1/2 tsp. vanilla, 1 tsp salt, 1 1/2 tsp baking powder.
Add 2 1/4 cups flour.
Add 8 oz. coarsely chopped white chocolate, 3/4 cup chopped macadamia nuts, and 1 cup Craisens.

Pour into a lined 9x13 pan, bake at 350 for 30-ish minutes. Cool completely before cutting.

2012 Free National Parks Days

Okay, this post is for me. I need to put the list of Free National Parks dates for 2012 somewhere where I won't lose them (and now you have them just in case you were interested)! The free days for this year are...

• January 14-16
  Martin Luther King Jr. weekend
  
• April 21-29
  National Park Week
  
• June 9
  Get Outdoors Day
  
• September 29
  National Public Lands Day
  
• November 10-12
  Veterans Day weekend

A Manly Man

Jonathan decided that along with a break from school came a break from shaving! He grew out his facial hair until New Years Eve when he decided that he'd spare the ladies his scruffies and shave for the NYE dance. Here's his 2-week growth. Dan thinks that Jonathan looked like Shaggy from Scooby Doo. What do you think?

This is What a Sunbeam Looks Like!

Here's Miles releasing some stress/anxiety after his first day in his Sunbeam class. His nursery teachers "graduated" with him. Miles reluctantly went to class, but once he got there it must have been okay since he stayed the entire time!

Happy January 2, 2012

First post of 2012! This winter's weather is psycho. Can you guess when this picture was taken? If you guessed "today", then you are right! Welcome to our weird Utah winter. Today was such a warm and beautiful day that Miles got to play outside in his underwear with water from the hose. He had a great day!