Wall Street and New Suits

These are your first peek into the boys' newest "threads!" Ike was so excited because he thinks these suits make them look like princes and that mommy is the princess. Needless to say, he insisted ALL of us wear light blue to church on Sunday! He was also THRILLED about this suit because he knew his Sunbeam teacher (who is a little fashionista:) would love it! Funny boy. I'm so glad they let me dress them up (so far)! We actually had to coax Ike out of the suit, he loved it THAT much!

Sunday was also Ike's first opportunity to speak in church. I'm trying to get video of his primary talk online because he has had it memorized for a week now. Unfortunately, when it came time for game time, he pulled a regular "Ben Pieper" and wouldn't say a word into the microphone. He did, however, hold the visual aides while daddy gave the talk. I should also mention, that he sat on his teacher's lap with his visual aides and gave the talk "at least 70 times," according to her. I'm glad he took it seriously:) and I'm glad that he tried to redeem himself! We'll try again next time... with a better bribe (it was smarties this time... next time, maybe a cheesecake or something!)

Ben's buddy commented that the boys looked like they were fresh off of wall street... good thing they aren't quite that deceitful!

Bravo Farms

Just wanted to respond to a couple inquiries to that awesome Cheese factory in Central California (this is also where the cool petting zoo/5 story tree house/crazy eclectic store/ wine and cheese tasting place was... Oh, it also had a little grill and a gas station on the other side. Yep, like I said, eclectic;) Anyway http://www.bravofarms.com/ should answer any questions you have;) It really is a good way to spend a couple of hours, if you're ever in Central Cali (Traver to be exact)!

California Dreamin'

I guess I never did say anything about spring break, so here it goes... Ben finished up with finals Feb. 24th (Wednesday), so we hit the road Thursday morning... I guess I'll just give the run down (since this dubs as the only way I can seem to keep a journal of events!

Thursday Feb. 25th- Bye Bye Valley of the Sun! Ben hadn't left Phoenix since Thanksgiving! That is so nuts! We are not homebodies, so that was a huge stretch for him going so long beating down the same path, back and forth on Union Hills, the 101 and back. Sometimes switching it up on Bell, but that's about it! I think he went to the Airport and the Temple a couple times and that pretty much sums up THREE MONTHS of his life! So, you have never met anyone so excited to take the drive between Phoenix and LA! This day of driving took us all the way to Bakersfield, CA where I got a sweet deal on a hotel at the Marriot. We LOVED exploring a new part of the country! California is beautiful, if but broke. At least she'll always have her good looks! Anyway, I have to tell a funny story... We decided to pack a lunch for Thurs (just call me thrifty... we took lots of packed breakfast/lunch options...) Anyway, we didn't know where we'd end up at that time, so as we were traveling along the desert we FINALLY found a town called Blythe, CA (right across the border from AZ). It is an armpit! Seriously. I thought Rawlins was an armpit. This is 100 times worse (no offense if you are from here, but you know it is)! In fact, I mentioned to Ben that I thought Rawlins was about the top of my list and right then, we actually saw a car from Rawlins! What are the odds:) Anyway, Rawlins, you are a beautiful gem comparatively speaking:)
    Ok, so we stopped at Blythe to eat lunch. I used the GPS to find a city park (what a feature)! It was not far off the interstate, so we plugged right through and ended up across the street from this 6 ft. cinderblock fence with barbed wire curled around the top... I thought, what kind of place is this... Turns out, it was the city pool! Wow. So, the park itself consisted of two broken picnic tables with marijuana drawings all over it, a lawn of partial grass, mostly dirt with cigarette butts everywhere, two dead trees, and 3, yep 3, old rusted out swings. Awesome. I decided there was no way we could actually get out and feed those dearest to me in this little hole. Unfortunately, a 3 year old ruled that day and INSISTED on eating on a broken picnic table! It was even more ghetto than words can describe, but we were together and Ben didn't have to run off to study, so turns out, it was wonderful:) and short lived. We ate quickly and got back on the road!
    The rest of the day was spent pretty much in the car and at another park outside of Pasadena, CA. The boys were SO GOOD in the car! I have some great little travelers so far!

Friday Feb. 26th- We drove to visit my favorite chickee mama in the bay area and her beautiful baby boy outside of San Francisco. I'm telling you there are some parts of the world that just speak to my soul (I just don't know how else to say it...) Anyway, this is one of those places. Maybe it's the agriculture, maybe it's the farmers, maybe the lush green-ness or the mountains in the background. Maybe it's just all of it or the fact that we got to see it for the first time as a family, but it was beautiful to me. I loved the almond groves, walnut groves, apple orchards, vineyards, etc. Gorg! I could live here... in our friend's back yard to be exact:)

    We had a wonderful visit with my mommy friend. I love how there are people like that in my life that we can just pick up like I live across the street and see her everyday. I know if we ever had the chance to live close by again, we'd be best friends. I'd watch her kid all the time and we would barbeque in the back yard while our kids played... something like that. Anyway, it brought such comfort to my soul. I love it!

     After leaving our friends' house, we traveled up a canal on an old scenic byway that is actually on top of the levy to Sacramento. It was BEAUTIFUL! The bay/canal was on one side and walnut groves with old plantation-like houses on the other. There were cute little towns with cute little storefronts not yet monopolized and turned into baby gaps, but little antique shops and old mom and pop bars... cute. I could go back there and spend some time too. We met Andy, and later Amber, and just caught up. It was great!
                                                                                                                   Along the Levy
Saturday February 27th- Andy and Amber had to work today for a bit, so we took the opportunity to do some touring on our own. We went to Old Town Sac, bought up some blue diamond almonds (my new favorite flavor is cinnamon brown sugar- just a light dusting, not too carb-y). We went to some cool parks, and walked along the river downtown and across the famous golden bridge. It was great. Sac is very pretty. It was really fun to watch Ike, Zach and Andy interact too. I know Ike misses Andy like crazy (I think Andy might miss them too)! I have to admit, it was also nice to get to know Amber better. I feel like we didn't really spend much time with her until this week. She is really great, and so good to our kiddos! Oh, also, Ike is still afraid of dogs... even a little pug named Maddie. He is trying really hard, but got very nervous with her coming around sniffing in his business:) By the end of our trip, they were on *better* terms:)

Sunday February 28th- Went to church bright and early (compared to our usual 11am start time). It was great. I always like visiting other wards and knowing that really, it's always pretty much the same... except in English, Indiana... but that's a different story:) Anyway, afterwards, Amber and Andy took us to Amber's favorite hangout as a child... Fairytale Town. It is this great park with park features themed to different fairytales and kid's stories like the old woman who lived in a shoe, winnie the pooh 100 acre woods, jack in the beanstalk (or asparagus... Ike was sure it looked like asparagus!) Anyway, it was really fun and a beautiful day outside! We drove out to the new temple overlooking Sacramento. It was beautiful! That evening we met some of Amber's family and played games. I loved it!

Monday March 1st- Big Day! We went to San Francisco for a bit today. We stopped at the jelly belly factory on the way and had an awesome time taking the tour and taste testing new jelly beans. Andy had Ike try one called "baby wipes" which he actually didn't mind... weird kid! Andy tried "skunk spray" and Amber tried "dog food." They were really really bad! Ben and I liked the "chile mango" and highly recommend it!

In San Fran, we did lots of touristy things (my first trip there). We went to pier 39 for lunch and entertainment, saw cool street performers, walked along the warf, walked up and down lombard st. (the steep switchback street that I want to live on), sang "Everywhere you look, everywhere you look there's a heart a hand to hold on to... Everywhere you look, everywhere you look..." with Amber and Andy and tried to find the Full House house... Then we drove through town to the Golden Gate Bridge, took pics and made a big loop back to Sac. That's a really condensed version, but it was really a great day. Even if it was the coldest I have been since living in Phoenix! What a beautiful area! We finished off the day with a trip to the bowling alley for Ike's first bowling trip and Amber's best game ever (I think 200)! 

Tuesday March 2nd- we started our descent, but only went back to Bakersfield. It was really sad to leave A and A (and M), someday maybe we'll all live closer... I found this weekend that we have way more in common than we could've guessed. I would feel privileged to have AAand M closer! I'll keep dreaming:) Anyway, we got an even more posh room for the same price. Note to self- this is a cheap city to stay in! We really took our time driving through the San Juaquin valley stopping at farmers shops and the cutest gas station, weird funny farm petting zoo, cheese factory ever! Ike could've played in the giant treehouse forever, it was so cool! You MUST stop there if you are ever driving through:) We also stopped at the Raisin Capital of the World and took pics at the Sunmaid raisin place. We were really excited about food on this trip, if you couldn't tell.

Wednesday March 3rd- Drove the rest of the way to Phoenix. It was a little depressing to leave an area that "spoke to me" so much:) I guess I will have to love it from the desert for awhile! We did stop in Joshua Tree National Park to do some hiking and driving. What a beautiful desert! I guess I can love both. It is a cool place to stop, if you ever find yourself in the middle of the desert needing something to do... 

Cholla Garden- Joshua Tree NP- we couldn't believe how tall these chollas were! It was a cool little hike and a great reason to stop and get out of the car!

If you read all of this, you deserve a prize! I doubt anyone in my own family would even read all of that! It was a great trip and a great time to be together as a family. I am so enjoying this phase of our lives because even though we are working really really hard, we get a chance to really focus on each other too. Life is so good.   

9 Months...

Here it goes... I'm starting to get really sad that my baby is growing up so fast! I don't think it's very fair that these precious months seem to be flying by. I remember my mom saying that it seemed like just yesterday I was a baby... I'm afraid I know what she means now.

Anyway, Zachary recently had his nine month birthday! Not a lot has drastically changed this time around, but there are a few new things to report...

Zach has his first two teeth popping up (bottom fronts of course). He had a night that was bewitching to say the least. He ended up awake and fussy from 3am to 9am. Cah-ray-zee! I tried every trick I know from the traditional nursing, to rocking, to giving in and letting him lay in my bed, to giving in and letting him watch the portable dvd player with baby einstein (this is an absolute end of the line trick for me)! Nothing worked. He was not too sad, but just wanted to be held and did NOT want to be put in his bed! After 4 hours, my brain finally thought... hmm... Maybe he is teething... I think I'll give in and let him have some tylenol. Genius! Though he still didn't sleep much. Poor baby. Poor mommy:) The teeth are still coming in and giving him fits because they won't just stay in already! But, we are having a great time letting him gum everything in sight (as usual)!

While we're on the subject of food, Zach has tried a few new delights this month... (I'm choosing to believe my husband does not feed him junk behind my back... I'll leave it at that)! Anyway, to my knowledge, he has tried and liked everything I have given him. This month we added to that list: artichoke hearts, cucumbers, and this earth's best baby food with salmon in it. He wasn't a huge fan, but he still ate it... good for him, that's a pretty refined taste for a 9 month old! We'll keep trying and I'll keep my fingers crossed that my kiddos have their daddy's taste buds:) Sure makes my job easier.

As far as motor skills go, Zach is creatively trying his best not to crawl. He is finding ways to continue the scoot and possibly stretching his arms out reaching SO FAR for things. A few times, I have caught him completely toppled over face planted from reaching a little too far. I guess the problem is that brother is very good about helping Zach get things, so they make a perfect team! Zach is getting really good at putting foods and other objects in his hands and mouth and switching them around from one hand to the other. He's also learned several binky tricks, but my favorite (delightful and cringe-worthy) is he has learned it is funny to try to put his binky in other people's mouths. He will try his best to shove it in and then laugh and laugh! Silly boy!

Zach has all of a sudden come up with several new sounds this month. Ike was a faster talker, but Zach's talking is coming in bursts and I don't think you've ever seen a crowd so enamored than us! He is mixing consonants and vowels like nobodys business and has learned how to be LOUD to get his point across. Just ask the people 5 rows in front of or behind us at church!

Zach loves his brother and has shown a lot of interest lately in trying to tease Ike. We play a game where we chase Ike around the house and then Ike lovingly lets Zach tackle his head and put goobers all over his poor head while he pokes and prods. It is hilarious to watch both of the boys laughing so hard at each other. It makes my heart melt! Oh, and before you go feeling sorry for Isaac, I have explained to him day one and every day since, that for everytime he bugs his brother, I will remember and let brother bug him back someday. Paybacks are coming:)

Speaking of these two brothers, I just can't say enough about how fun it is to watch them delight in each other. Zach watches Ikes every move, for safety's sake and enjoyment, I'm sure... Anyway, Ike has found that making Zach laugh is about the best thing in the world and so we constantly have a "show" going on where Ike is yelling random words that have, in the past, made Zachy laugh or doing any number of crazy stunts to try and coerce a laugh out of him. It is hilarious to watch and I'm thrilled to have these two sweet, crazy boys to share my days with. What a blessing.

Zachary at 9 mos

and Ike at 9 mos (below)

Valentines Day Pieper Style

Gotta play catch up with some of my posts... It seems like I have been slacking off in the blogging department. I think it's because Zach is so interested in the computer now that I have to blog when he is not eating, which means times like this... when both kiddos are in bed:) So, for valentines day this year, Ike and  I homemade valentines (ok, granted, mostly me... I know, I'm a LITTLE OCD- I'm sure it's inherited, but don't tell my mom)! Apparently the glitter was really popular among Ike's little friends who are girls, so he has figured out that you can win girls over with a little bling bling... an important life lesson, lets be honest! Anyway, we also went into Glendale to a chocolate factory and saw them making some of the delicious goodness. Then, just in time for Valentines Day, Ike came down with croup, stayed home from church and made a trip to good night pediatrics for a breathing treatment! Ben and I have a history of poor Valentines Day showings, so chalk this one up to another year for the books! It could always be worse, and luckily, the night before we were able to go out "kid-less" to dinner and walmart (we needed groceries on Saturday night)! Thanks to some awesome neighbors!

    Anyway, while we are talking of croup, Ike was kind enough to pass it along to Zach... those two boys, always sharing! So, we ended up with two weeks of good night pediatrics and coughing and hours of hot steamy showers- I'm sure Ben will appreciate our water bill this month- oops. Needless to say, we aren't that sad to watch February go! The good thing is that the weather has been amazing! We have had RAIN in Phoenix at least once a week and have been hitting 60's and 70s everyday. How can we complain, really?

8 Months Old!

How did I get a little 8 Month Old? I can't believe how fast little Zachary has grown up! I know people say this all the time, but it really does feel like we brought him home from the hospital yesterday. I keep thinking he's still a newborn. I have to admit though, I LOVE every minute of life with Zach-y (Ike's affectionate nickname for him).
Zach has now officially boycotted tummy time, which means he is not crawling (and I'm not complaining). One less little boy mobile is a good thing around here, I'm sure! Instead Zach loves sitting up, looking around and reaching just as far as he possibly can until he has disrupted everything conceivably within reach. He is starting to scoot on his bum to get closer to things, so I think we may have a little "alternative transportation" on our hands. He is manipulating smaller things now from hand to hand and LOVES when I give him the spoon so he can put it in himself. It's pretty funny to watch.
As far as eating goes, Zach LOVES sweets (already). I'm not sure if this is a Pieper curse or a Pokorny curse because I think we all LOVE sweets too much, so he was doomed from the start. He actually spent some time this month trying to boycott non-fruits, but mommy has been around longer and as such, is more bull-headed. So, we played food roulette so poor little Zachy never knew if the next bite would be "yummy" or "not so yummy." Anyway, he's finally given in and is an equal baby food eater after all. I would say, though, fruits are still his favorites and green beans are a close second. Do you think my kids love green beans so much because I eat them so often when I'm pregnant and nursing? Just a thought... I have tried my hand at making his baby food too and it's going pretty well (thanks to a special "magic bullet" gift- thanks Rach- if you don't have one, you should seriously consider it!) Zach eats cereal in the mornings and then eats fruits and veggies (with some nummy meaty mix ins- shh! He doesn't know) at lunch and dinner times. Luckily, he is also still an avid nurser several times a day and once during the night (unless I'm lucky).
Zach has also just started saying "Dada" last week. He jibbers all day long saying most sounds, but he definitely knows what "dada" means. Ike is also convinced he said "egg-ie" today, but I'm pretty sure that's not really the case:) Our little man also just learned to click his tongue, which is pretty cute. Now his talking sounds a little bit like the aliens on "Signs."

This little guy has also figured out how to give us high fives. He will all of a sudden reach one hand straight out (and sometimes up) and smile until we say "high five!" He plays peek-a-boo with a blanket too. Zach is waving "bye bye" too, but not necessarily when we're leaving. I just want to say how much I LOVE this age. Zach is such a treasure and can always light up a room. I know things are busier with the second munchkin, but I love him to pieces and just can't imagine our world without him. He was certainly sent to our family at this time for special reasons. He is still Ike's favorite toy. Today Ike said "Oh Zachy, you are my bestest friend in the whole wide world!" and I believe him. Zachy, in return, replied "Grezuzzle ba pfth" which must me something really great. It's so fun to watch them grow up together. What a blessing and a light. Happy 8 months little man! Now slow down! I need to enjoy every last minute:)

P.S. notice his little Valentine's Day shirt... it says "Wanna Date?" Too cute to pass by...

To Stay Out of the Rut...

Just wanted to let you all know I have started a recipe blog: www.saltandpieper.blogspot.com. So far, I have several family and friends who are contributing recipes along with me. If you would like to join in as a contributor, let me know... or if you just want to follow us, we are having a pretty good time putting it together. Rest assured, all of these recipes are tried and true:) I LOVE finding new recipes:) Let me know what you think!