A Couple of Months in Pictures

First of all, today is April 30th. Fifteen years have passed by since Mom and Dad have been gone. However, it is the April 30th of fourteen years ago when our family was sealed in the temple that makes this a sweet and tender day for me. I'm glad this anniversary is in the spring when all things are growing and becoming beautiful again. It's a wonderful reminder to me that death is not the end. There are beautiful days with amazing blessings to come.

So, on to the pictures that I have procrastinated posting for the last couple of months.

 

 On Sunday, Mike & Sherrie came over for dinner after church. Lydia and Hannah were going to hide the eggs for the littler kids to have an egg hunt, but Hannah didn't want to go outside. She was afraid of the bugs, and I do have to say that we have A LOT of bugs here. So, we all remembered this picture of my dad getting ready to cut the grass, and advised her to take the same approach. She quickly agreed and had a great time hiding the eggs!

 

 We were getting things ready for dinner, and I turned around to see these two cuties up on the counter ready to cause trouble help.

I didn't get a picture of baby Ainsley drinking Julie's salsa, but I wish I did. Julie, I made your fresh salsa recipe and she LOVED it. So did the rest of us, but I got a good kick out of seeing her immerse herself in the bowl!

 I didn't get many pictures of Easter, but here at least is proof that we did dye some eggs.

 We have the coolest children's museum in Raleigh called Marbles. Spring break was last week, so the kids and I headed there one day. They had so much fun, and I did too!

 In March, we took Hannah and Ryan on a field trip to a farm to see all the animals. Ryan could have stayed and played with the chicks all day. He loved it.

 We also took a field trip with a homeschool group to a roller skating rink. Nikki happened to have school off that day and got to come. We were all pretty wobbly, but at the end of the day everyone wanted to go again.

The poor man's recliner. This is Nate watching the NCAA tournament sitting on the girls' beanbags. It actually is pretty comfortable. It gave us a good laugh.

The Guacamole Song

I am no connoisseur of guacamole. I only discovered a few months ago that I like avocados. But I got several avocados in my produce box yesterday from our weekly produce co-op, so I wanted to make some guacamole. When I thought about looking for recipes, this song was the first thing that came to my mind. These guys are actually from the Raleigh area, and they can be really funny. Well, if you're up really late and you're really tired and you're at the stage where everything is funny. :) I like their fast food folk song, and their T-shirt war video is pretty cool.

Anyway, I made this guacamole yesterday and really liked it. Those of you who know good guacamole -- does this look like a good recipe? Anybody have a guacamole recipe to recommend? I still have a few more avocados.

Scotty

Scotty used to bag my groceries before he left for Hollywood. The grocery store is covered in signs and flyers for him. They even have a table of cakes and things from the bakery decorated in his honor as you enter the store. Sadly, this has been one of the few years I haven't watched American Idol very faithfully. But I did vote for him tonight. I thought it was really funny when I read online that you could vote for him as much as you want, but only your first 50 votes would count. They would really let you vote the whole two hours after the show and only count your first 50 attempts?! Thank goodness Nate read the fine print. Anyway, Go Scotty!! It would be cool if he came back to my grocery store, but that would be just too sad. He won't come back though -- he really is good. So, go vote for Scotty at americanidol.com. Just don't waste your time with more than 50 votes!

Umm, what should this title be?

Wow, I really only made one post in March, and here we are well into April. I do have some pictures that I have been planning on posting, but I never seem to get around to it. And I'm not going to do it tonight either.

I guess there are a few things that have been keeping me too occupied to blog. For one, I am trying to accept the fact that I'm going to homeschool Nikki next year. I could spend a long time writing about that one, but I don't have the energy for it tonight. What it comes down to is that it will be really good for our family, and when I can get over my selfishness and complete my grieving process, I will be really grateful for the wonderful opportunity this will be. I get excited about it when I think about actually getting into the material we'll study, and then I get really scared and freaked out when I think about what my life is really going to be like.

#2 big life upheaval in the mix: Nate is contemplating a career change. While we are pretty sure he has avoided the current lay-offs in his office, there still is not much work coming to their department in the foreseeable future. His career path is also evolving more and more into the need for computer programming skills, and he has hated that since the first week he ever took a programming class at BYU. So, he is thinking about going into accounting. Right now he is studying to take the GMAT, which is required for the graduate accounting program at UNC. Although, it is really neat to be sitting in Raleigh, NC where there are so many good educational opportunities around us. We'll see how it all works out. Wouldn't it be great if he went to UNC, though?

So, lots of change, but it's really lots of good change. Wait, isn't that the story of my life? I guess since we aren't planning on moving this year something else big had to happen. I think I have made it sound quite dismal, but that might just be because it's getting late for me. I should have waited until the morning to write something on the blog, but I don't have time to sit down in the mornings!

If You Marry a North Carolina Girl

Last night Nate asked each of us how our day was, and Hannah couldn't think of anything to say, Nikki didn't have anything to say, and I just said, "Ahh, it was fine," and Ryan said he watched Cars (we didn't count how many times he watched the movie). Nothing special, nothing bad, just normal. I guess that's good, but then again, I think we need to add a little spice in our life today. We'll have to see what we can do. My sister sent me this joke today. I wonder if Nate would find it as funny as I do -- might hit a little too close to home for him. :)

IF YOU MARRY A NORTH CAROLINA GIRL

Three friends  married women from different parts of the country.

The  first man married a woman from Indiana. He told her that she was  to do the dishes and house cleaning. It took a couple of days,  but on the third day, he came home to see a clean house and  dishes washed and put away.

The second man married a  woman from Michigan He gave his wife orders that she was to do  all the cleaning, dishes and the cooking. The first day he  didn't see any results, but the next day he saw it was better.  By the third day, he saw his house was clean, the dishes were  done and there was a huge dinner on the table.

The third  man married a girl from North Carolina. He ordered her to  keep the house cleaned, dishes washed, lawn mowed, laundry  washed, and hot meals on the table for every meal. He said the  first day he didn't see anything, the second day he didn't see  anything but by the third day, some of the swelling had gone  down and he could see a little out of his left eye, and his arm  was healed enough that he could fix himself a sandwich and load  the dishwasher. He still has some difficulty when he  pees.

A good consequence

This was so cute, I just have to record it. I was teaching a lesson to the kids at church today, and we were talking about how we are free to make choices, but our choices have either good or bad consequences. The kids listed a bunch of good choices we can make, and I was asking what the consequences would be for each choice. I got to Hannah and I asked her, "What is the consequence of dressing modestly?" She thought for a minute and then said, "You stay warm." Ha! I couldn't help but laugh, and I hope I didn't embarrass her too much, but I loved it! She's right, I just wasn't expecting that answer!

The Food Nanny

I got a chance to see Liz Edmunds speak last night. She is such a fun, cute lady. She has a TV show called The Food Nanny where she does family dinner rescues on families kind of like how the Supernanny rescues families with out of control kids. It almost made me want satellite to see her show (but not quite :}). I think I mentioned before that I've been trying to simplify the whole menu-planning, recipe-organizing process. I was really excited because she basically suggested what I had decided to do. I did pick up a couple of great ideas, and I'm excited that a lot of her recipes are on her website. She demoed making her baguettes that will give you bread on the table in 45 minutes from the time you start it. It was delicious! Her husband was a pilot, so she has traveled the world. Then she would come home and try to recreate in her own kitchen whatever she had tasted in these great places like Italy or France. Sounds wonderful to me, and I am always up for trying a new recipe. She has a book, but I think I'm going to just explore her website for now.

So, here's my plan. I had already decided to do themed days of the week, and that is what she suggests. Friday nights are pizza night, Saturdays will be grilling night (or leftovers), Sundays will be slow-cooker or family tradition night. I really liked the family tradition idea. On Sundays she would cook meals that she remembered her mother and grandmother cooking and meals that her husband remembered from his childhood. What a great way to remember our ancestors and teach our children about their heritage. Mondays are breakfast night -- I usually end up cooking waffles on Mondays anyway, so I think I can mix it up a bit and add a few different breakfast ideas on Mondays. Always need something quick and delicious on that night. Tuesdays will be Italian or casseroles/comfort foods. Wednesdays are meatless/fish, and Thursdays are Mexican. I think it's going to be great.

She had the idea of planning two weeks of meals at a time, and I just thought -- well, of course. I completely agreed with her that planning one month is just too much for me, and I get tired of having to come back every week and make a new plan. Hopefully, two weeks at a time will help solve that problem.

As far as how I'm going to organize my recipes, I have decided that a binder just doesn't work for me. The old-fashioned recipe cards really are the best for me. I'm going to separate my dinner recipes into categories that correspond with my weekly themes. Then, when I'm planning my menus I will just take out the recipe that is at the front of each slot, and use that one for the week. Then, when I'm finished with that recipe I'll put it at the back of it's category and I'll be able to rotate through without ending up eating the same things all the time. We'll see how that works out.

Anyway, it was a really great experience last night to just be reminded of the importance of bringing our family together around the dinner table. It really is a wonderful work of love that yields incredible benefits for everyone in the family.

Chocolate party

This was such a fun cake to make. I don't even know how many heart cakes Hannah has had over the years, so when I saw this cake that looked like a box of chocolates I knew it would be perfect for her. She wanted to make it a chocolate party, so we served chocolate waffles for lunch and had chocolate ice cream to go with the cake. It was such a beautiful day, and the kids all went to the park across the street from our house and played for a while. I don't think that's ever happened before with her birthday being in February. :) It was a lot of fun. Thanks to the cousins and aunts and uncles for making it a fun day (we missed you, Sherrie).

On another note, just because I don't have time for a separate post, can I just say I LOVE HAVING NATE HOME!!! He is so wonderful, and I think there were over a hundred different ways he served me the past few days. Don't you know my kitchen counters are clean, the laundry is folded, the dishes are done, and the kids got some great time at the park with Dad yesterday. How does he do it? Thanks for everything, Nate!

Happy Birthday, Hannah!

Happy birthday, Hannah! Wow, 10 years old!! Her birthday party isn't going to be until Saturday, so my cake pops came in handy this morning. At least she got to blow out one candle on her real birthday. She has so many qualities that I wish I had. She is loving and caring and always thinks of others first. I have never met anyone so naturally unselfish. I am so glad she is in our family. What a privilege to be her mother.

Cake Pops

I was swallowing one of these when I started my workout this morning. There is something seriously wrong with me.

 I love food blogs. I'm always amazed at the pictures. They are half of the fun of checking the websites. Obviously, I won't be starting my own food blog anytime soon. :) I've seen these cake pops in several places, but I think Bakerella gets the credit for them.

They look so cool and can be decorated in a thousand different ways. Nikki wants them for her birthday, and I thought I would go ahead and give them a try for Valentine's. Good thing I did. They are not nearly as easy as the beautiful pictures on the food blogs might make you think. These are the kinds of pictures they don't show you:

What happens when you don't follow directions.

And then what happens when you just don't have that hand-eye coordination and gift of art that probably comes along with the gene of great photography. And also what happens when your cute little helper just can't wait anymore!

In the end, I finally got some to turn out alright. I learned a few things, and maybe with a little more practice by the time May rolls around I'll be able to present some at a birthday party.