pavlova

Have you ever had pavlova?? I had never had it until right after I had Oliver...my friend Molly made it for a party. I tasted it...and then practically ate the whole pan all by myself. She even made me one this last time I was pregnant. Ohhhh it has got to be one of my favorite desserts. Creme brulee and Pavlova. For sure my faves.

We had gotten a bunch of fruit because I decided to try out bountiful baskets. It is a produce co-op and you get a bunch of fruit and veggies for 15 dollars. I can't decide if I think it is a stellar deal or not. I know you get the produce for cheaper than it would cost in a store...but...I probably wouldn't buy white asparagus, or blue berries because they are too expensive. On the other hand...my kids loved having something other then bananas and apples which is the produce we usually have. The first week I did it this is what I got.

7 ears of corn, bananas, cherry tomatoes, cantaloup, brussel sprouts, summer squash, white asparagus, lettuce, oranges, grapes, blueberries and nectarines.

We have ate everything we got in a week (except for the brussel sprouts...I want to roast them but it has been too hot). It was nice to have tons of produce.

Anyways back to the pavlova...I had some fruit and I thought it would be a perfect time to try my hand at making a pavlova. I have always kinda been scared of them...because it seems like the shell could be tricky to make...plus you have to have parchment paper, which I never have.

I used this recipe from allrecipes.com. It was easy and turned out delicious. It is the perfect summer dessert...making fresh produce the star. I used what I had but it would be yummy with just about any fruit (besides banana...yuck). You should do yourself a favor and make this.

Next time I make it I am going to follow this recipe.

p.s. Mine was a little overdone...so next time I will probably cook it 5 minutes less (it shouldn't be quite so brown). I also sweeten my whipped cream with a little powdered sugar and almond extract (I love almond extract)

Even though it was a little overdone it was still so good...even better the next day for lunch.

Now here are a bunch of pictures of my boys playing on the tramp...it might seem dangerous but I was right there and I wasn't letting them jump with henry on the tramp.

This here is a pretty typical summer evening for us. Lucky for you guys...you can hear just how loud it is. hahaa. Looks peaceful and relaxing...pictures can be so deceiving.

Look at that happy face...and you can kinda see his two new teeth.

we have been having shish kabobs like crazy. To me it is the perfect summer dinner. (don't mind the totally dirty grill...yick)

They kept saying that henry looked just like baby Jesus wrapped up like this.

It surprised me just how much Oliver and Henry's profiles look the same in this picture.

They have the exact same eyes...and ears...haha.

Poor baby...he always has someone in his face.

It looks like Henry has had enough.

I don't know what my boys are doing here.

Have I mentioned lately how great Cortney has been doing lately. SOOO much better. He still is really sore (crazy that he can still be hurting) but he is sleeping better at night...and able to help me around the house A LOT more.

We are so grateful and so blessed. A young mom was riding her bicycle this last week here in Draper and was hit by a truck...she died and left behind two little girls. It breaks my heart.

It scares me to know how close that was to being Cortney.

Seriously, it sucks that he is hurt and it has been so hard, but we are SO blessed.

I am grateful everyday that Cortney is getting better. He is such a good dad. My kids are always asking which arm is hurt so they know which side they can climb on. It is pretty cute.