Toth Family Vacation

This weekend was my cousin Darci's wedding in Portland. Since it's only about 5 hours away we decided to drive down and have a little mini vacation. It was so fun to be their with the new young couple in La la love and share there big day. My Grandma and Aunt Jan were down from AB and cousin Janell so it was fun to see them too. The Portland temple was gorgeous.... made totally of Marble. So grand. It was a fun day.

It was also great to see how Leo would do on his first big road trip and I must say it was a success. He was a champ sleeping great, napping wherever we had him, car, stroller, playpen, crib. Good thing he takes after his Dad and is such a mellow guy. I pretty much planned the rest of the trip around shopping. There is no tax in Oregon and outlet shopping so needless to say I shopped till I dropped. Our car was PACKED on the way home. It was fun fun fun!! I haven't shopped in forever. People in the states have no idea how much cheeper things are down there.... especially compared to us in Vancouver.

We stayed at the Phoenix Inn. Awesome deal. Comfy king size bed, kitchen, pool, amazing breakfast. Seems like its a chain in Oregon and Washington. We were super impressed.

Took Leo swimming for the first time. He kind of liked it but his teeth were chattering, he was a bit cold, so I just took him back upstairs and let him swim in the warm bath.

Leo's new favorite way to travel:) Love my boys.

Warm beet and Toasted walnut salad.

Mmmmm... I love beets and nuts and salad. So this is one of my favorites and nice and filling too. Thought I'd share the recipe since I know my sister can't wait to try this!!

First roast the beets:

Try and buy beets around the same size. I bought golden and red beets. Wash and dry, then drizzle with olive oil and wrap each one and place in heated 375 oven. Cook anywhere from 20-60 minutes depending on the size. Just poke one with a fork and if its nice and tender its done. Let them cool till you can touch them and the peels should slide right off. Done! I usually cook 2 beets per person.

While the beets are cooking chop up some walnuts. Just pop them in the over after the beets are done for about 3-5 min and they'll be nice and roasted and READY.



Have some nice greens ready on the plate. I added some red pepper today cause I had some. Cut up the beets and add, toss on some nuts. Goat cheese or feta is also delicious but I was out and then drizzle with the dressing and enjoy.

Dressing:
3tbsp olive oil
2tbsp red wine vinegar
2 tsp Dijon mustard
2 tsp honey
Thats enough about 2 salads

Me and My Boys

Sorry but here's a million photo's of our little family. I had a hard time choosing so I just posted lots. Talon's best friend Kristopher Orr http://blog.kristopherorr.com/ shot our wedding photo's and for Christmas the Toth's got us a session with him again. He always does such an amazing job and now shoots 100% film. The colors are amazing. Thanks Fer!! Best Christmas present ever.... specially when you have to carry it home on a plane:)

Kinda looks like Momma..

Leo's passport photo 6 months

Me 6 months

We've been working on getting Leo's passport done so we can go to my cousins wedding in Portland the end of the month. I took him to Sears the other day to get his photo done. He'd been sick and had a fever but didn't seem too grumpy so we headed over. I guess you need to have a picture with the mouth shut and Leo was smiling and being so cute for every photo it was hard to get one that would work!! After about 15 min they finally got one that worked and when I saw it I instantly thought he looked so much like me when I was a baby. I went home and dug out this photo and you can tell me what you think.

Now we're laughing

This morning was total chaos at the Toth house. Started off like any normal morning. Leo woke up and he and I had a cuddle on the couch and watched a show. Then we had breakfast. He chomped down all his food like a champ and then I decided to let him play in his highchair while I went to the washroom. He was happy enough playing with his toys but I decided to try giving him a rice cracker to keep him entertained. He'd never had one before so at least I was smart enough to not just give it to him and leave. He thought it was pretty cool and shoved the whole end in his mouth..... all the way to the back of his throat gagging himself. He starts puking and out comes all of breakfast, all down his front, all over the floor, and all in the highchair. Not a smart move Momma:(. Well I hauled the puke covered Leo down to the bathroom and stripped him down and threw him in the tub. I called for Pops to wake up and come and keep and eye on Leo while I cleaned up the puke. While I was cleaning I heard a commotion coming down the hall. Talon's calling for my help so I go see whats happening. Leo started pooping in the bathtub so Talon pulled him out so he wasn't lying in poop and then he started pooping more all over the bathroom floor. Talon moved him out of the poop and set him down as he proceeded to control the poop situation as Leo start's peeing all over the floor now too. REALLY Leo?!! We both just looked at each other and started laughing. What a gong show. I started a chain reaction of stuff flowing out of our son and a once peaceful morning was over. Its morning's like this that I'm so glad I have a happy helpful hubby who doesn't mind cleaning up poop. No more rice crackers for Leo for a while.

Bliss Balls...

Mmmmm.... so I really can't stop eating chocolate BUT I've found a healthy alternative that satisfies my cravings, are not too bad for you, and are DELICIOUS. I love them and they are really easy to make.

1 1/2 cups Almonds
1/2 cup Pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup Walnuts
20 pitted dates
1/4 cup honey
1 tsp vanilla
4 heaping Tbsp cocoa

First Blend up the nuts and dates in a food processor. If you're using a blender I would half the recipe and it will blend better. Pulse until every thing is ground up fine. Add vanilla and honey. Mix some more and then press into balls. Simple. You can play around and use any nuts you want, more or less cocoa(mine are pretty chocolaty), honey, dates, add raisins, cranberries, coconut, you get the drift. Yummy. Hope you try them and see how blissfully delicious they can be.

First Bites..

Leo was sure ready to eat solids. Right after he turned 4 months I decided to let him try eating some cereal. He's such a big guy and was always hungry so I started with cereal in with his formula for about a week and he seemed fine so I popped him in the bumbo and let him try eating. I've got a hilarious video on my iphone that I'll try and post but I can't figure it out tonight so I've just got some pics. It only took a couple bites before he learned how to swallow and after that he was chowing down. I tried making the cereal runny at first but he likes it nice and thick and its way less messy. Pretty soon he was eating lots of veggies too. Yams and carrots are a fav but he'll still eat peas and kale and beans too. Anything I stick in his mouth he eventually will eat. Here's hoping this means he won't be too picky of an eater. We've been letting him taste lots of stuff to try and get him used to lots of flavors. I think in another month we'll be just grinding up what we're eating and letting him go for it. Man this kid is growing up too fast.