Trick or Treat

We had the "Street-O-Treats" out in front of our house this evening.  what  a great idea.  I think we bought our house just for this very reason.  Everyone from the surrounding neighborhoods comes to our street and just stands and passes out candy for an hour.  I stood in the driveway and gave away all of the yummy candy so it wouldn't come back into the house and tempt me. I'm on a diet, ya know.  Summer and Sierra could hold their own in the candy collecting frenzy.  Cole needed a little help, however.  Rick took him out to teach him the ropes, but he couldn't get Cole to hold the candy bag.  So, Rick looped it around his neck and things worked out just fine.  I hope you had a good one, I'm going to go take down all of the halloween decorations and enjoy a little kitkat.  whooops, don't tell anyone.

My Name is Earl

It's really Rick.  But, the girls thought he looked like Earl.  Not really a compliment.  

Notice the shoes.  They are vintage.  I can't remember what year, but Rick can tell you.

He was so proud of the velour shirt that he bought at Savers.  ohhh gross.  Check out the gold chain around his neck.  He found it at the bottom of my jewelry box.  I think I have had it since jr. high.  And if you could smell this picture, it would smell like cheap cologne that makes your eyes burn when he enters the room.  I think he's had it since jr. high, too. 

I love you Rick.  Thanks for dressing up.

Apron Swap

I participated in a Mom & Me apron swap.  I made 2 kid aprons and an adult apron.  They said they wanted something that was Christmas OR Valentines.  Perfect.  You know how much I love polka dots.  I think these turned out cute and I hope our swappers enjoy their holiday baking this year.  Thanks to Summer for being my model and Cole for being my sewing helper these days.

a little apron tidbit

So, I got up this morning and got ready for the day before I got Cole out of bed.  I had a few errands to run and places to go so I thought I was looking pretty cute.  When I went in to get Cole out of bed he was all bright eyed and bushy tailed.  He looked at me and said, "Did you already put on your apron today?"

I don't know if that means I looked like I was heading for the kitchen or if I just wear fashionable aprons.  Thanks Cole!

Mama called the dr. and the dr. said...

No more monkeys jumping on the bed

or running

or power walking

or skiing

or anything fun 

until after the holidays when she will call the dr. back and schedule foot surgery.

Cole

who is it?

This strange guy showed up at my front door this afternoon...

 

My poor foot

Ok, so I keep hearing of people who have this stinking Neuroma foot thing.  I guess it's pretty common.  The only thing that bothers me is that every single one of them is a grandma with 14+ grandkids and is getting ready to send in their papers for their senior mission.  Well, except Sadie.  I guess I will follow her lead and become an obsessive biker chick.  I would hang with her more often except that she is 6 feet tall and skinny as a rail.  Makes me look 4 feet tall and 4 feet wide.  It's awesome.  I guess I'll see what the doc has to say tomorrow.  I think he will tell me that I have to give up skiing, too.  And probably chocolate.

  

Salsa Verde

5 cups chopped tomatillos


1 ½ cups seeded, chopped long green chiles


½ cup seeded finely chopped jalapenos


4 cups chopped onions


1 cup bottled lemon juice


6 cloves garlic, finely chopped


1 tablespoon ground cumin, optional


3 tablespoon oregano leaves, optional


1 tablespoon salt


1 teaspoon black pepper

Combine all ingredients in a large saucepan and stir frequently over high heat until mixture begins to boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Ladle hot salsa into pint jars, leaving ½-inch headspace. Adjust lids and process in a boiling water canner 15 minutes at 0-1,000 feet altitude; 20 minutes at 1,001-6,000 feet; 25 minutes above 6,000 feet.

I searched high and low for a recipe that I could can and process so that I could leave it on the shelf for food storage.  This seems to be the basic recipe recommended by various Univeristy Extension Services.  I think I have made about 8 batches this fall.  Each time I get less and less particular about getting all of the pepper seeds out of the peppers.  therefore, each batch keeps getting hotter and hotter on the Scoville Scale used for measuring the hotness of peppers (more info here)

If anyone has another good recipe for bottled green salsa, send it my way.  Or just stop by with a bag of chips.

I Heart Canning

I have been obsessed lately. Not with aprons this time--but with canning while wearing an apron. See, I knew that those 45 aprons in the closer would be good for something. We have lived in our house for about 18 months which means that we have been here just long enough to experience a growing season where could actually plant a garden. My grandparents were yard & garden people and so were mom and dad. My mom is still a yard Nazi. And come to think of it, so are my brother and sister. It must be in the genes.
I was so excited to plant my flowers and veggies this past spring and it has been so fun to see everything grow over the summer and to harvest it the past few weeks. My first venture into canning was a few years ago. I started with Jalapeno jelly while in Mississippi. My friend, Kallie, must have grown about 400 pepper plants. She brought the left over harvest to church one day and I ended up with about 30 pounds of peppers. I can't tell you how much I love jalapeno jelly AND cream cheese and crackers.
Next on the canning list was freezer jam. EASY. and YUMMY. My favorite is raspberry, but the kids like strawberry and Rick likes peach. Too bad nobody likes apricot since I do happen to have a tree in the back yard :(
Here are some things that I planted in the garden this year: crookneck squash, zucchini, all sorts of peppers, tomatillos (12 plants) tomatoes (24 plants), spaghetti squash, butternut squash, pumpkins and birdhouse gourds.
The first thing that I canned was zucchini relish. Rick is hoping that there is NOT a natural disaster which will require him to survive on this canned item. I happened to think it was de-lish. Next, jalapenos, jalapeno jelly, tomatillo salsa (salsa verde), bottled tomatoes, bottled tomatillos, marinara sauce, and peaches.
The only problem was that I kept running out of canning jars. Apparently I wasn't the only one! There was an article in the Provo Daily Herald yesterday that said that the Ball canning company has seen a 30% increase in sales this canning season. I guess. There is not a canning jar to be found in this valley. I know because I have looked. I have even checked the second hand stores. My SIL is keeping her eye out down in Las Vegas. You can read about the canning jar shortage here

So, if you have some empty canning jars on your shelf, send them my way, I still need to do a couple of batches of salsa and relish.  Or you can just hang onto them until someone comes along and pays the big bucks for them.  In the meantime, I am heading back to the kitchen.

Happy canning.

See, I'm not stuck in the 80's!

You Belong in 1958

You're fun loving, romantic, and more than a little innocent. See you at the drive in!

What Year Do You Belong In?

Cole's Lesson in Efficiency

Cole's favorite food this month is "Robin" Soup.  You may know it as ramen.

Last time he ate it I asked him if he wanted the Humpty Dumpty Spoon or the regular spoon and he said he wanted both of them.  And then he did this:

 

quinoa

I went to an Enrichment Meeting tonight at the church and they presented some information on QUINOA.  The info was a little vague.  I found this...

Quinoa was of great nutritional importance in pre-Columbian Andean civilizations, being secondary only to the potato, and followed in third place by maize. In contemporary times this crop has come to be highly appreciated for its nutritional value, as its protein content is very high (12%–18%), making it a healthy choice for vegetarians and vegans. Unlike wheat or rice (which are low in lysine), quinoa contains a balanced set of essential amino acids for humans, making it an unusually complete protein source It is a good source of dietary fiber and phosphorus and is high in magnesium and iron. Quinoa is gluten free and considered easy to digest. Because of all these characteristics, quinoa is being considered as a possible crop in NASA's Controlled Ecological Life Support System for long-duration manned spaceflights.

Anyone know any more about this food?

Edit:  I found some quinoa at Sunflower Market--We don't have a Trader Joe's.  It was 3.99 a pound.  OUCH.  We will try it and see if the kiddies will eat it.  What is a "good price" for this stuff?

Henry B. Eyring

I read this quote today and it really left an impression.  Read for yourself:

"When our children were very small, I started to write down a few things about what happened every day. Let me tell you how that got started. I came home late from a Church assignment. It was after dark. My father in law, who lived near us, surprised me as I walked toward the front door. . . . I knew that he had been building a system to pump water from a stream below us up to our property."He smiled, spoke softly, and then rushed past me into the darkness to go on with his work. I took a few steps toward the house, thinking of what he was doing for us, and just as I got to the door, I heard in my mind--not in my own voice--these words: 'I'm not giving you these experiences for yourself. Write them down.'"I went inside. I didn't go to bed. Although I was tired, I took out some paper and began to write. And as I did, I understood the message I had heard in my mind. I was supposed to record for my children to read, someday in the future, how I had seen the hand of God blessing our family. Grandpa didn't have to do what he was doing for us. . . . But he was serving us, his family, in the way covenant disciples of Jesus Christ always do. I knew that was true. And so I wrote it down, so that my children could have the memory someday when they would need it."

I've been tagged

8 TV shows that I watch:

1. CSI

2.  CSI Miami

3.  CSI New York

4.  Criminal Minds

5.  Numbers

6.  What not to Wear

7.  Chuck

8.  Biggest Loser

8 Things that happened yesterday:

1.  I cut Rick's hair

2.  I went to the gym

3.  We had FHE

4.  I vacuumed the upstairs

5.  I took Cole to his Music Class

6.  I made a ton of marinara sauce with my assortment of garden tomatoes

7.  I organized the storage room

8.  I blogged

8 Things I'm looking forward to:

1.  warm weather this weekend

2.  sleeping in this weekend

3.  getting the laundry done

4.  future vacation to Hawaii

5.  when my puppy outgrows the "puppy stage"

6.  Cole getting potty trained

7.  getting caught up on all of my projects

8.  watching my children continue to learn and grow and discover new things

8 things on my wish list

1.  new wheat grinder

2.  new sewing machine

3.  a room for my sewing machine

4.  for my Aunts and Uncles to agree on the "Family Trust"/and property situation

5.  health and happiness for all of my family members

6.  better presidential candidates

7.  that I could survive on less sleep so I could get more projects done

8.  for my foot to suddenly get better w/o requiring surgery so that I can walk and run and do fun things!

8 restaurants that I go to:

1.  Arctic Circle

2.  Arctic Circle

3.  Arctic Circle

4.  Arctic Circle

5.  Sam's Club

6.  Sam's Club

7.  Sam's Club

8.  Sam's Club

8 people I tag:

1.  BK

2.  Amara

3.  Audrey

4.  Janey

5.  LeAnn

6.  Melissa

7.  Savoldi

8.  Corinne

 

Bread is almost gone

Which really means that "the diet" part II will be soon starting.  So, if any of you need some comfort food and you wanted to come to my house to enjoy it, you better get here soon.  Remember I need to fit into a swimsuit by December!!

PS.  No candy, absolutely NO Halloween candy at my house this year.  maybe.

Have a good week.

Sierra's Special Day

We had a fun day yesterday even though it was 30 degrees outside.  Sierra chose to be baptized a member of our church

She was very excited on her special day.  She looked like a little angel in her white dress.  We had a little brunch at our house afterwards with bread, breakfast casserole, cookies, chocolate milk and juice.  

We really appreciated the support of our family being with Sierra on this day.  We were only missing a few family members.  Having not been near our family for all of those years that we lived in the "M" states, it's really nice to feel that love and support that we did yesterday.  Thanks--We love you all!!  (and we missed our Mississippi family who was with us on this day for Summer 3 years ago!!)

comfort food

OK, so I needed a little snack last night and it needed to be something I hadn't had for a while (because of the infamous "diet").  So, I searched and searched and I still couldn't find a hidden stash of cookies left over from the wedding lunch.  So, I considered my options and went for a piece of bread.  WHITE bread.  Can you believe it, Mom? White bread at MY house.  I ever so gently slid a piece of bread out of the bag.  I didn't want to drop even a crumb.  I looked in the cupboard for the ultimate comfort food-Nutela.  But, I remembered that Rick hid it.  From Me.  Because I told him to.  He did a good job.  He probably took it over to Amara's for safe keeping.  Smart Boy.  So, I went for the next best thing.  Homemade raspberry jam.  Made by me.  On white bread.  So GOOD.  I think I need another piece.  Oh yea, the comfort I need is that summer is over and winter will be here tomorrow.  And then i will drink hot chocolate with my raspberry jam and white bread.

guess what I bought...

While we were in Las Vegas last weekend for about 48 hours, I found these and I bought a pair.  I have been looking at them online and I can't find them in stock anywhere.

So, when I found a pair in my size.  I bought them.  They are great--for a shoe with a 3+ inch heel.  I still can't wear them when I run my next half marathon, but they are super comfy for minimal walking situations.  They did wear the skin on my pinky toe a little bit pink, but PLENTY of room for the "foot condition".

And since I was making a purchase, Rick thought he would get in on the action and try a pair of these...

and he hasn't taken them off since he bought them.  Oh, he did when he showered, that's all.

Recap:  both of these shoes are CROCS and were a recent purchase.  We love them.  The end.

  

new favorite book

I'm not even going to tell you what this book is about.  It is 200 pages in a small size book.  I read it in 3 days.  (not my style lately)  But, if you want to know more take a look at this.  

PS. fill your stash of tissues before you pick this one up.  It's worth it.

added on Oct. 8:  This isn't a teary, sad book.  It will make you cry, maybe.  But, it's more of a who cares if there are always fingerprints on the fridge and I gotta remember to take more pictures of my kids and live each day kind of a book.  It makes you want to be a better person and a better parent.  And it doesn't take weeks and weeks to read it, so it's not like you cry for a month, just for a minute or two.  And, Rick was the one who purchased this book, so it's not even a cry baby girly book. 

BIG potty training break through

 
I was on my bed tonight with Cole after his bath.  We were reading a tractor book when I heard him grunting.  I looked at him and his face was slightly red and so I grabbed him and ran to the bathroom.  He consented to drop his drawers.  He let me put him on the pot.  He never let go of my neck through the entire ordeal.  He grunted a few more times.  No results.  But a huge step none the less.  Just thought I'd share.  

PS.  This is not Cole.  It is Sierra when she was 3.  

She was not in a hurry to potty train either.  

But, she sure liked a good book. 

oh my yum

I know it's not "on the diet", but I had a little sample of these yesterday

just in case you can't tell, these are sweet potato fries.

If this appeals to you, get in your car, drive to Orem (1360 South State Street to be exact--you'll find yourself at my second home, aka Arctic Circle), ask for Lanny, tell him Kelli sent you and he might just give you the friend discount (do not confuse that with the "Family" discount, hehe)

And be sure to dip in Fry Sauce.  And lick your fingers.  Ah, heaven.

I'm just not sure how my dad would feel about someone messing with his menu like this...  

It has been confirmed...

Lance Armstrong appeared on the Early Show, GMA, and CNN yesterday morning to confirm that he will indeed come out of retirement and try for an 8th Tour de France title.  WAAHOO.

To find out more about the Cancer initiative or to find our more about what you can do,

go to www.livestrong.org

wedding photo (#6)

kelli, lanny, Mom, Bry, Brandi

Reception Pictures (wedding post #5)

my mom was in charge of the table for the candy favors that they gave to the guests as they left.  I think it turned out kind of cute.  Except that my sister and I watched 2 ladies just scoop candy into their pockets and sleeves and mouth and then run out as fast as they could waddle.  And the rest of the candy was consumed by about 12 different little nieces and nephews (including 3 of which were my little darlings)  Oh well.

And the lady with my brother is his kindergarten teacher and long time family friend, Candy Belliston.

levi quilt (wedding photos #4)

OK, my turn to be in some pictures.  A few months ago I decided that I would make my brother a quilt for his wedding.  why?  I don't know.  Mostly because if I don't have about sixteen projects going at a time, then I'm not completely satisfied with my life...OK, back to the story.  I mentioned this to my mom and she brought down a small stack of my dad's old Levi's.  So, I cut squares from all sorts of old jeans (even some that were anonamously donated my someone in my ward and left on my front porch).  So, I pieced the squares together with the help of Rick's mom.  Picked out a green polka dot sheet (because green was by far my dad's favorite color!) And made a small quilt to give to Brybry for his wedding.  

I passed the camera off to my cousin for the quilt presentation ceremony  and these are just about the only pictures I have of myself from the wedding lunch.  Things got a tiny bit teary, even from my brother.  But, I figured it was my house, I could cause I scene if I wanted to, right?   

Wedding Lunch (part 3)

More pictures of the lunch.  It was tons and tons of hard work.  But, I think it went very well and was much more enjoyable than sitting and waiting for a table at Brick Oven and then yelling at each other up and down the tables because it's so hard to talk and hear each other with such a big group of people on a Saturday afternoon of a BYU football game.  

We had a good time.  I think that I have been around my talented neighbors Amara and Audrey a little too much.  I realize that it takes a lot of talent and skill to pull off something like this where you feed huge numbers of people.  I've noticed that Amara always uses a notebook with recipes, numbers, and notes.  I'm glad I made that observation, because writing things down is absolutely necessary to keep everything straight!!!! 

wedding part 2

These are just a few more random pictures from the wedding.  It was supposed to begin at the brides parents house at 11:00 am. 

Great, except that it was raining.  So, we all ran into the house for about 15 minutes.  When the rain stopped, we all ran out and found a chair, and Mallory's dad quickly performed the ceremony.  Shortly after the ceremony, it started raining again.  The dark clouds threatened until we got to Mapleton, when it really started to pour.  Nice.  By the time the wedding party arrived at my house, the rain had stopped.  We had taken all of my towels and wiped down all of the tables and chairs.  We hurried and fixed our plates while the sun shined for several minutes, before the next downpour.

Bryan's Wedding part 1

f 

Those of you who know me very well know that the past week I have been entirely preoccupied with this big event:  My brother's wedding. Not that I had the whole wedding to plan or anything.  But we have been busy getting things ready.  More on my part of the wedding day events in the next few posts...