Merry Christmas

Hope you and your families have a peaceful and Merry Christmas and may God bless those less fortunate.

Happy Thanksgiving

To all creatures great and small!

Kittery Point

We made it back east this summer to visit family and the kids got to spend time at two beaches. It was a lot of sight seeing but a lot of fun. Wish I was still there.

St George Ironman.

Saturday my brother Kent (L) and his friend Jared (R) competed in the St. George Ironman.  

He has trained for months, maybe closer to a year. You start with a 2.4 miles swim, 112 mile bike ride and then a full 26.2 marathon. He had some finishing goals he hoped to achieve and was able to meet them all!

The day started out beautiful and 2 minutes into the race the wind kicked up so badly officials stated if it had been that way prior to the swim, that portion would have been cancelled. Winds were clocked with 20-30 miles per hour with a few gusts up to 40. It was amazing anyone could swim those conditions. They've been called the worst in all 110 Ironmans.

This is the start of the swim

This is the swim finish.

They crossed the finish line together in 13:56:08!

April

Maybe I should just try to post once a month... I just finished looking at our pics from Moab over EJS. How ever was nice enough to snap this one of our family on top of Dome Plateau overlooking the Colorado River is a pretty decent photographer - Thanks!

My favorite place in Moab: where Hatch Creek meets up with Kane


The boys playing while waiting for the jeeps to catch up.

And someone turned eight! And he wanted to mini golf for his party and fortuantley it was an absolutely beautiful day and probably the nicest so far this year. Happy Birthday little guy.

catching up

So I thought last year was busy when I was covering for a co-worker on maternity and then my new job has had me out of town three times in Feb. I think it's settled down for now. I really didn't intend to just quit blogging.

Paul had a need to go to the junk yard a few weeks ago and asked if the boys wanted to go and

Andrew excitedly screamed yes - he was more excited than when we told him we were taking them to Disney last year. Sadly went they got there the boys couldn't go in, apparently there is a new law that you can't enter if under 18. Paul made it up to them and brought home distributors for them to "work" on the next week. And yes it has been warm enough all winter to wear shorts, up until last week, when we finally got enough to make a real, real snowman. Not like the pathetic thing I tried to do a few years ago. We've also made it out to the Aquarium to check out the new Otter exhibit, which was awesome - but those little guys are just too wiggly to get a decent picture.

all I want for Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone!

Got it in writing :)

Nathan kept telling Andrew not to sign this and I said no, honey sign it, it's fine. I think Nathan was possibly quite concerned. When Andrew left the room I told Nathan it wasn't like I was really going to enforce it and then Nathan let me know the date is wrong so I said see honey, it's void anyway. But I am going to kept if for about twenty years and pull it out if need be :)

MIA

I should blog more. One of my co-workers went on maternity leave the week before Halloween, and so I haven't blogged or done much of anything since then besides work. It was starting to get back to normal, oh, but then the holidays came up. I was almost of top of things. Then Paul had surgery... it did give me a chance to read in the hospital. I finished The Help, which was wonderful and then my dad loaned me One Second After. A complete 360 from The Help. The later book promptly threw me over the deep end. It's hard to be in the Christmas Spirit when you are reading a book about the end of the world as we know it (and not like the happy song about it). I think my Mormon friends are amused, I'm inquiring about food storage and cooking with powdered egg (which I tried and it really isn't that bad). It is a really good book, just wait until January to read it.

Happy Halloween

I got most of Perry done (two of them) before heading out of town for a conference last week and finished the rest of the costumes the night before the school parade (and Andrews shorts the morning of - although they are "finished" with safety pins). For the those who don't watch Phineas and Ferb on Disney, Phineas is the one with red/orange hair and Ferb has the green, and they have a pet platypus named Perry. But we couldn't have just one of those. Phineas and Ferb spend all summer trying to not waste their summer vacation and come up with cool inventions. I must admit I am proud to say that we saw tons of vampires, pirates and little red riddling hood and not a single other Phineas or Ferb (and people actually knew who the kids were dressed as). Nathans did tell Andrew at one point that he wouldn't make a good Ferb because Ferb doesn't talk (at all) and Andrew won't shut up (at all). We all got a chuckle out of that - including Andrew.

This is the result of a very messy kitchen Saturday night. In order from L to R are Nathans, mine, Andrews, and Pauls (and he didn't carve all the way through, he used the technique where you scrap the skin to let the light shine through). We were excited to say we vetoed the boys picking any design marked more than moderate on the difficulty scale and they both managed to carve their pumpkins by themselves this year with very minimal (and no entire hand off) to mom and dad :)

We also made it to the boys scouts haunted house on Friday. I was wondering when they'd be old enough to go and not get too afraid and figured the boy scout one wouldn't be too scary. We took a hay ride that broke down next to a zombie grave yard and then we went from cabin to cabin to find a cell phone to call for help. The kids all thought the cabins were scary and all of us adults were more leery of walking through the dark forest. At one point a witch (?) came down a hill toward Andrew and said she loved sweet little boys and he said "lady you got the wrong kid, I'm not sweet" and ran toward the front of the pack. I thought he might end up in our room that night but he stayed in his bed the whole night.

catching up.

I really didn't mean for it to be this long.... the pile of fabric has mostly been cut, although not yet sewn. See nothing is getting done. We put the kids in soccer for fall. It was supposed to be two games a week for four weeks. Didn't sound so tough. Add to that a practice a week they didn't mention and a class I decided to take at the U for continuing education and there goes four nights a week. Ugh - note to self, don't do that again. Their last soccer game was tonight and actually it is a little sad. They really have improved a lot and they have so much fun and we LOVED our coach, she said we could request her again in spring so we might do this again.

Right after my last post I came across a blog post for a recipe that sounded so good I bought the ingredients on my way home from dropping the kids somewhere and made it that night and it was excellent. And I think Andrew licked his plate (no surprise I know)

Here's the recipe:

Enchiladas Verdes
Ingredients:
3 cups Shredded Cooked Chicken
1 cup Sour Cream, divided
1 Red Bell Pepper, chopped
1 can (4.5oz) Chopped Green Chilies
2 cups Shredded Cheddar Cheese, divided
1 1/2 teaspoon Minced Garlic
1 teaspoon Ground Cumin
1 jar (16oz) Salsa Verde (green salsa)
1/2 cup Water
1 package 6-inch Flour Tortillas
Shredded Lettuce
Additional Sour Cream
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.
Puree salsa, water and 1/2 cup sour cream in a blender. Spread 1 cup of the mixture over bottom of prepared baking dish.
In a large bowl, mix chicken, 1/2 cup sour cream, red pepper, green chilies, 1 cup cheese, garlic and cumin.
Spoon 1/3 cup of chicken mixture down center of each tortilla. Roll up and place seam side down on sauce in baking dish.
Pour remaining sauce over enchiladas; bake uncovered 35 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining cheese and bake 15 minutes longer until bubbly.
Serve topped with shredded lettuce and sour cream, if desired.

And here is where I found it: http://www.polishthestars.com/

She has all sorts of good looking food are really cute craft ideas. I need to spend more time there. I might if someone I know didn't side track me with Pintrest.

Projects

I always have a handful or ten of projects in various stages of finished. This is the beginning of two Halloween costumes. I had a bizarre idea and my mouth opened with out checking with my brain first and my kids fell head over heels in love with it. I now get to creatively turn this pile into two costumes (with out a pattern) that most people over the age of ten aren't even going to get, even if I nail it. If you are under the age of ten the color should give it away. Any guesses what it is? Hint: "P"

The Art of Racing in the Rain

A few months ago a friend loaned me this book. I wasn't sure I'd like it. It is written from a dogs point a view - markedly a little different. I was worried more because it isn't my usual genre which is serial murder mysteries. It was so profound it was the first book ever that about four chapters from the end I was so afraid it wouldn't end the way I wanted, that I considered not finishing it so that in my mind I could end it the way I wanted. I finished it and was so glad I did. I recently mentioned to a different guy friend that it was a good cry. I went through most of a box of tissue in the last four chapters. He said that's not how you sell a book to a guy. Did I mention the friend that loaned it to me was a guy.... and it's written by a guy. I got to meet him tonight - the author that is. He did a reading at Kings English tonight. Wow! He was witty and charming and very funny and down to earth. He might disagree with me that he comes though in the writing at all, but I think I can see where Enzo's personality comes from (Enzo is the dog). I could have listened to him all night. If I hadn't read his book already I would now. Come to think of it, I might read it again.

Nesting

I LOVE this time of year. It's cool enough to sleep with the windows open again and back to school. Back to a normal routine. Especially this fresh into the new school year. I haven't messed the kids homework routine up yet and in fact we have it down pretty good. Andrew has had 100% on his spelling tests the last two weeks as well as both math tests. Nathan rocked his volcabulary test and also did really good on his spelling.

I also like that all the yummies in the garden are ripening. I've been taking advantage of them and cooking them up and trying new things. In the last two weeks I've made a peach and blue berry cobbler, a plum and cinnamon baked crumble, peach crepes, a pear tart, gazpacho and zucchini bread. I also tried a couple new main dish recipes but they didn't require any fresh garden veggies. My neighbor might be nesting too, she brought us over cookie bars.

If you are wondering what to do with all that zucchini. Here's the recipe for zucchini bread and the recipe for lemon zucchini cookies I made earlier in summer.

Zucchini Bread

3 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 cup cooking oil
2 cups grated zucchini (peeled and seeded, if you wish ~ I seed my but don't peel it)
3 cups flour
2-3 t. cinnamon
1 t. salt
1 t. soda
1 t. baking powder
½ cup nuts, optional

Beat eggs until frothy. Stir in sugar, oil and vanilla. Lightly spoon flour into measuring cup – level off. Stir in remaining ingredients until well mixed. Pour into 2 8 x 4 or 9 x 5 loaf pans that are generously greased and lightly floured. Bake at 350 for 50 – 60 minutes. Cool 10 minutes in pan. Turn out onto wire rack to cool thoroughly before slicing. I've also made these into muffins and then put then in the freezer so I can take a couple out for breakfast here and there.

Market Street Lemon-Zucchini Cookies

1 1/2 C (3 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 C. sugar
2 eggs
1 t. salt
2 t. baking soda
2 C. zucchini, grated, drained and squeezed dry (really really dry)
2 t. grated lemon rind
3 1/2 C. flour
1 1/2 c. chopped pecans

Glaze:
1 C. powdered sugar
2 T. lemon juice
1 T. light corn syrup
pecan halves for garnish

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly oil a baking sheet. Place all cookie ingredients into large bowl. Mix until ingredients are well combined and a soft dough forms. Scoop the dough into balls the size of a golf ball. Place on prepared sheet and bake 10-12 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool for 15 minutes. In a bowl, combine powdered sugar, lemon juice and corn syrup. When cookies have cooled slightly, spread glaze on top of each cookie. Top with pecan half. Makes 3 dozen.

Hope

My post yesterday was about children brining hope. My cousin Angie gave birth to a little boy yesterday morning ~ Wyatt Leo.

9/11

These have always been some of my favorite pictures. I remember the day like it was yesterday, just as clearly as I remember where I was the morning of 9/11. I took these on a beach at a near by lake on a camping trip we took that weekend. It was September 9th 2001. I loved watching Paul and Coty play on the beach without a care in the world. They were so free, so full of energy. I was pregnant with Nathan at the time. We had my ultrasound scheduled for the next afternoon. I used to wonder before I was a parent if it was really fair to bring a child into the world with all the turmoil going on. Poverty and hunger and diseases. That day the world seemed so full of hope. A few days later made me wonder again. I remember reading every word of the paper on September 12th and when I got to the obituary section looking at my husband and saying "all these people, they don't know what happened yesterday". I can only assume that the feeling was similar to ones felt by our grandparents when Pearl Harbor was bombed or what our parents felt when President Kennedy was shot. My children will never know what the world was like prior to that day. I wonder what events will shape their lives. When hurricane Katrina hit Nathan was only three. He couldn't figure out why my husband and I watched the news constantly. He himself caught the news last week of hurricane Irene and was glued to it asking us if all the people were okay and if they needed food and homes and where they would go. I've realized the world is a good place to bring children. And it's better just because of them. They bring hope to it and make me want to be a better person. I hope I don't leave them too many mistakes to fix. For the families more directly affected by 9/11, I hope time has brought them some peace. For the rest of us God Bless America.

Coty

I ran Coty to the vet last Friday. He had a bump on his hip that we noticed earlier in the week with a little scab. We weren't sure if he snagged it on something or got bit by something, or what, but he needed his senior wellness visit anyway so I made him an appointment. I'm glad I did and I wish I hadn't waited. The vet thought he might have an abscess and was was going to make an incision and try to drain it and turns out the poor little guy had a botfly larva burrowed into his skin. I'll save you the details. It's disgusting. If you like disgusting you can google it. The kids were with me and they were enthralled by the whole thing. We have said insect in a jar for show and tell. Also found out the poor little guy has degenerative trachea collapse, which makes it hard for him to breath and he starts to cough. I know he's getting older and there is nothing you can do about that but it's different to *know* it. He is often my shadow and as much as I don't always like him right under me, I can't imagine him not there. Anytime I go out the back door he follows so Sunday night as I headed out to the deck he came with me. I read a little, but I watched him more. Sadden to know he is getting older every day but I really enjoyed just sitting and watching him enjoy the evening. He was SO content. He would twitch his nose every once in a while and he would hold close his eyes and hold his head up with when the breezes picked up a bit and let the wind ruffle the fur around his face. He looked so peaceful and full of joy. He was truly enjoying just sitting there.

not afraid of heights...

My kids didn't inherit my fear of heights, for which I'm grateful ~ I think. Nathan has spent most of summer pushing himself a little more each time we go to the pool. I like that he goes out side his comfort zone. I try and do that, but I couldn't do this. He started on the diving boards last year and was quite confident jumping from the first platform earlier this summer. As summer progressed he made it to the second platform and last week he jumped from the highest one. He flailed his arms and legs like his life was depending on it, but he didn't scream (I would have, not that I would have ever made it up the ladder). What made it even cooler is three of the kids he goes to school with saw him jump and were super impressed.


Why is that while Monday was the last day the pool was open it was barely made 80 degrees and now that the pool is closed it's back up in the low 90's?

lost tooth

Andrew lost his third tooth! Actually more like he made it come out. He was eating nimonnims (M & M's for those of you who don't speak Andrewese) and must have felt a pop. He checked and there was a little blood around his tooth. I'm pretty sure it wasn't ready to come out yet, but he spent the next two hours pushing it back and forth with his finger until he made it come out. He really wanted the tooth fairy to come.

City of Rocks

Remember last year on this post when I said I needed to get back to City of Rocks..

http://isteppedout.blogspot.com/2010/08/twin-falls.html

Well, we made it back there a couple weeks ago with my honey this time. The weather was ridiculously hot and we spent Saturday afternoon in the fifth wheel with the A/C on watching a movie but it was still fun. We timed the trip also to watch the Perseid's meteor shower that we usually view from Payson Lakes but the full moon illuminated the whole sky, almost to the point I could have read my book by moon light. I was still able to see five shooting stars the first night ~ one that was spectacular, but it would have been nice to see the twenty or so we usually see. With out the full moon it would be a great place to watch from and with the full moon... well it reminded me of when I'd go camping in Goblin Valley when the moon was full to play hide and seek in the dark (it was when I was in college). We had a very nice campfire the last night, but the kids opted on their own to go to bed instead of making smores. What's up with that?