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We were invited to attend a taste testing for the new Kid's Menu at P.F. Chang's and we were more than excited! We were referred by Stephanie, and we were supposed to have a few other friends attend as well, but they all couldn't make it. The first Saturday it was scheduled for was cancelled last minute because the chef's wife needed to go to the emergency room last minute. They wanted the chef to be able to present his creations and be there to answer any questions we might have so they had to reschedule. They were very apologetic, but I was impressed with their committment to their employees as well as their committment to a high quality of food and service.

I want to start off by saying thank you to everyone that referred, invited, or dealt with us at the restaurant. It was a great experience and we are so grateful we were a part of it. I hope I can experience something like this again, and I swear I will post it sooner than I did this time around! This semster has been the craziest of my life and I feel like I haven't slept in months. The chance to go do this was a nice break and memory-maker in the middle of our hardest time as a family to date. Here is JJ showing you the sign in an oh-so JJ fashion. (Ya that's right, he's jumping.)

In case you haven't been to a P.F. Chang's,(and if so where have you been?) you can usually recognize them by the large horse statues in the front. JJ wanted to pose by them. Of course he wanted to sit on top of them, but that didn't happen. Love his Joe Cool face.
Side story that made me feel dumb- When we first walked into the restaurant, I was asked to do an interview. I humbly accepted and we went outside for the interview. I have always thought of myself as a good interviewer. One of my five strengths is communication, but man did I feel dumb this time around. The first question was about my name and my blog, and I couldn't even get that right. "My name is Tiffany Pierce and...wait a minute, I'm sorry, that's not my name. Well it is, but it's my maiden name, well now my middle name, so it's kinda my name, I just didn't finish the whole name." (paraphrased from memory of course) So they nicely let me try again, and this time I did get my name, but how do I describe my blog? I'm not really even sure. It's just a mod podge of our daily life stuff, struggles, random thoughts, and what we do as young, student parents of two boys. From there I just answered the questions as best I could. Pretty much that we love PF Chang's, our kids do, Jake and I usually go there for our fancy dates on anniversaries and that is where I tend to get jewelry from Jake. I'm not sure where this interview is posted, but I walked away thinking I must have looked pretty dumb. I've been interviewed for TV a few times and everytime I say something dumb and can never live it down with my family. Oh well, I tend to do good for job interviews, but I'm never going to get famous with interviews like this. I think it's time to brush up on my celebrity interview skills.

One of our favorite things(cause it feels all fancy) is when they mix the sauces for you at your table to your liking. This is how it comes out. I believe it's chile oil, soy sauce, vinegar, hot mustard, their sauce, and chili paste, but don't quote me. :)

The server will explain what each one is and what they are there for, such as making it salty or fixing it if you've made it too salty. They will ask how spicy you want your sauce, and then they willl mix it right there in front of you. We put this sauce on EVERYTHING from our noodles, to rice, to lettuce wraps. You really don't need to because everything tastes good as is, but we like the taste of it.

This is the Kid's Chicken, one of the options on the kids menu and it really does come with more, but the boys I was sitting with took them off the plate so fast that this is all I could get. It comes with the chicken plain and then your choice of either sweet and sour dip or honey sauce for $4.95. I don't think I've ever met a kid that didn't like to dip their food.
This is their Chicken Fried Rice for $2.95. They don't put any veggies in it for the picky eaters out there, but we would have like some in there. One thing I learned was that any time, for adult and kid's meals, if you want to add something, like say veggies, just ask and they will make it for you. I was stoked to find this out and we will probably use this sweet service in the future.
This dish is the Baby Buddha's Feast and it is the vegetarian option. It comes with snap peas, carrots, and broccoli and can be either steamed or stir-fried. I think I might order this as a side even if my kids weren't with us. I thought it was a great variety and at a reasonable price.
Our family always loves noodles of any kind. Here's JJ eating their Kid's Lo Mein(noodles, chicken and sauce) with the kid's chop sticks they gave us. I always eat chinese food with chopsticks and JJ always wants to do it, but it's pretty hard, so the child training ones are a great way to get them to try something new. I didn't get to take a picture of this dish because we got to it so fast. It had noodles and chicken and a light sauce coating it all. This one was my favorite!

Their kids menu looked nice and was well put together. It had a variety of colors that made it intriguing to the kids, and activities for all ages. JJ's favorite was the Tic Tac Toe.

One of the ladies that could come was Lori and her two little guys Nathan and Gavin. While she fed Nathan, I made sure Gavin got fed.

The P.F. Chang's food, of course. Gavin was great and he impressed everyone there on how well he ate everything that was put in front of him.

JJ ate his fair share too. Here we are enjoying the games on the menu.

Here are the other bloggers and their kids that came. I didn't really get a chance to talk with them, unfortunately. Maybe next time!

At one point, Chef Gregg busted out a laptop and gave us a few pointers. If you go to the website, you can access this feature yourself. You can put in your allergies and/or preferences, and it will create a list of what you can eat at the restaurant. You can print the list off and bring it in and have a personalized menu for your family. There also is an expiration date on it because sometimes there menu changes and they wouldn't want someone bringing in the same printed menu over and over and not know that the menu had changed. Another thing that we are for sure going to do in our fam is sign up for the Warrior Card. You can go online and do it, no strings attached, and if you present it when they bring your check you will get 10% off your bill! I know, sweet, huh?!

We ate one of their dessert shots, which is a small glass with a fancy dessert layered in there. I think I've tried all the flavors before; there's quite a variety. We ate the chocolate cake one, but it was gone before we could picture it. :)

After we ate everything, JJ wrote P.F. Chang's a thank you note, and of course, he delivered it by paper airplane. It's the only thing that makes sense to a 6 year old. Just make it pointy and throw it at them. Chef Gregg was great about it and showed JJ another plane design. JJ was so excited about it that is was hard to get him to stand still and pose for this picture. He just wanted to fly that puppy!

On the way out, JJ got a goodie bag. They must know how to win JJ's over, because they were spot on. It even came with a free kid's meal certificate, which I know they have more of, so keep your eye out! The big wigs from there might look at this, so if you're interested in doing this in the future, want to comment on the menu, prices, food, or options, want to say whether or not you would order from the kids menu, or just want to tell them how great my review was(wink, wink), this is your time to comment! They are the best about pleasing the customer and they really do want feedback and are open to changes. You're the one's who go there and they want to please. Do it! :)

For this event, we went to a P.F. Chang's in Scottsdale at The Waterfront. There was a large statue in front and JJ and I took a few pictures for fun. We thought it looked like a door so we tried to open it. It was pretty stuck though.

Even though the door was stuck, JJ got to the inside with mirrors somehow. :)

JJ took this pic of me by the flowers

Here's JJ by the flowers, and no cutesy picture for him.

We had a lot of fun and are so glad we got invited to come. JJ and I called this our date, and as soon as we got out of the car and started walking to the restaurant, he said, "You want me to kiss you? Thats what you do on dates." and then giggled for a while. How does he even know that? Man, Jake and I will definitely be double dating with him until he's married, he's too much of a ladies man!

One the way back to the car, JJ was thirsty and we thought we'd stop for a drink.
Not really, that would be gross!

We're still standing...

I was told by my sister in a loving manner, that I REALLY needed to change my picture on my blog because it had been so long. So, here you go Michelle! Alacey took this one last time we got pictures and I think it is so cute, even with JJ's cheesy smile in the middle. As for the title, we have been having a really busy, crazy hard semester, and everyday I feel like we are not going to make it. I haven't been able to update like I always plan on, and I wanted you all to know, that we are still alive, and we're still standing...at least trying to.

Catching up

JJ's class went to a dairy farm at the end of last year for a field trip and I was able to chaperon(that's how it says it's supposed to be spelt, but it looks weird to me). It was a lot of fun to go with JJ and his classmates and even better that my friend Jennie was there with her son who is one of JJ's best friends. I had grand plans of telling fun facts I learned, but it's been so long, I'm positive they wouldn't be that accurate. We did learn that we only get milk from pregnant and nursing cows, the milk they get will be in stores usually within one day, there are only certain stores in the valley that carry local milk, and that they feed the cows a variety of foods provided from the farmers that are around so they don't waste anything. We live so close to it, and smell it all the time, it was nice to go learn about what in right in our backyard(it's not really, but pretty close). We took a tractor tour, fed some animals, played in a hay maze, ate lunch, got flavored milks, and had ice cream. Fun was had by all!

One night at book club...

...we somehow got to joking about naughty pop-up books and of course I was the only one who knew that they really existed...at least one.

Background story

We were at Jake's house for a holiday, I think Easter, and Jake's mom was telling us about how the elementary school that she works at took book donations from families to add to their school library. While looking through the books, she found this one and had to take it so the kiddos in the school wouldn't find it. We couldn't figure out who would donate it. Ya, it's a pop-up book, but it says on the cover that it is for adults only.

Everyone at book club told me I had to post it, so here you go. You've got to believe that I would never do this. I am being forced by peer pressure. I guess it was just convenience that I had taken pictures of the whole book already. :)

I apologize for the spacing of everything, blogger won't let me change any of it. Erg! Sometimes I really hate blogger.

"The Naughty Nineties

A Saucy Pop-Up Book for Adults Only"

"Toward the end of the prudish Victorian Age came the "Naughty Nineties." Nobody remembers, however, why they were so naughty!"

(After pulling on the tab on the right, his stick or whatever it is touches her behind, his face changes, and hand moves by her neck. )

"After all, modesty prevailed. Necklines were carefully examined for good taste...and women wore long skirts when they danced."

(The men's heads go in and look awfully round if you know what I mean, and the girl's show some leg.)

"Elegant manners were essential...and social etiquette was strictly observed."

(Pretty obvious. Pull up the flap and he's touching her leg and pull a tab and he's touching her behind.)

"People appreciated Mother Nature. Birdwatching was a prim and popular pastime...and people enjoyed playing demure outdoor sports with shuttlecocks and balls."

(Pull a tab and he's looking at more than birds. Pull the other tab and I think he trusts with more than just the stick.)



"Indoor sports were also strait-laced...and sometimes unlaced! No matter what the situation, a gentleman was willing to lend a helping hand."


(Pull the tab and the dress comes down and the fan covers stuff. Pull the tab and a man comes up and the women goes down.)


"And bedtime, of course, wasn't naughty..."

(Pull on the tab and "just Nice!" finishes the sentence and the couple go under the covers.)

I feel so dumb that I've read so much on people's blogs about the article in the Ensign about sharing the gospel on your blog, and this is what I come up with. Sheesh! I promise, I'll do better, and like I said, this was requested. It was out of my control.

Maybe it's just me...

but it never fails, every year here in AZ I'll be dying of summer heat, and then it feels like the weather changes to Fall overnight. And yet, I'm suprised at the quick change every time.

I feel so vulnerable

So, we woke up this morning to a call from USAA. We have accounts with them and they called us to notify us that someone was trying to steal from one of our accounts. I guess they traced a few attempted transactions to an Desert Schools ATM. Someone tried to take out $800, then $400, then $200, then $100. Too bad for them, we only had $6 in the account. We were lucky, I guess, if you call having no money being lucky! :) The bank thought that the person must have tried the first amount, and then kept trying smaller amounts hoping to get something. Well we showed him alright! It's all been taken care of now, but I can't shake this feeling of being totally vulnerable. We didn't have any cards stolen, I have no clue where this person got our info, and it bothers me to think that someone had access to our info somehow. It just creeps me out! I pray that this situation doesn't go any further than this one instance!

JJ's Birthday Party

JJ's party this year was a "messy" party and here is one of the invites he made.

A lengthy agenda:

• For the party we started with bubbles and some water balloon hot potato.
• Then the kids ate some spaghetti with no utensils. My plan was to also have spaghetti tacos like they eat on icarly(a show JJ LOVES), but I totally forgot to bring out the taco shells. So...we're going to do that for dinner some other time.
• After eating spaghetti, we painted on our bodies with pudding- butterscotch and chocolate in case you were wondering. :) I think this part of the party was the biggest hit! We brought out a mirror so the kids could look at how messy they were.
• After pudding painting with brushes, we moved onto finger painting on a large roll of paper.
• After making a huge mess with that, we hosed them down to get a little clean and then moved onto pinatas. Yes, that's right- plural. JJ had his own pinata. He LOVES pinatas and we didn't know if we should have him go first to make sure he would get a chance, or if he should go last after possibly 20+ kids, so we just got two. They were really cheap and kept breaking off the rope, but not breaking open, so we mostly just had to shake the candy out of it.
• Then it was onto the cakes. Yes, that's right- plural. Jake thought we should do a dirt cake because it's totally appropriate for this theme, but I was hesitant because I think we have done a dirt cake for every birthday JJ has ever had(It just describes JJ to a tee). We did do it, because it's just perfect, but I also wanted to try one that I had seen in a book I have and I thought it would go with the theme too. I made a spaghetti cake out of cupcakes and candy. I think it turned out really great, and I can't wait to find a time to do it again! The kids ate the cakes with their hands again, and then they just played in the water.
• We finished off with a silly string fight and goody bags.

Here's a slide show of all the pictures I have from the party. It might be a little long, but there are some really great ones! Thank you to everyone who came and we missed all of you who couldn't make it! Now you can see what you missed out on! :)

My dad with Luke and covered in silly string
JJ with a pinata on his head
The spaghetti cake with the "cheese" and grater on the red plate, and the dirt cake and shovel
The kids and their masterpiece!
JJ's grandma painted that on him, her leg is pictured here :)
Thank you sooooo much Mom and Dad for helping me out, it would have been even more crazy without you! Love you!
Here's the loot JJ got at Jake's house. Thank you Downey family!! We had such a fun time celebrating with you, love you!!!
Card and money from Great Aunt Guk! Thank you!!
Aunt Meg sent him a special card from college! Thank you and we miss you Meg!!

Cards and check from Great Grandma Downey and Berber in Cali- Thank you, he was soooo excited!!
His loot from the party! Thank you to all!!
The presents Jake and I gave him.

And now a word from JJ.....