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Sunday, December 26, 2010

Santa's Workshop

Rio really wanted a Nintendo DS for Christmas this year. We knew we couldn't get a new one for her, so we decided to take the one Micah gave me for Christmas a few years ago and fix it up. The casing was cracked and the hinges were broken, but the screens were in great condition. I got a new casing on ebay for only $13. It took about 4 hours for Santa's helpers to dismantle the old one and put it back together again.
But the finished product looked like new! (We were so glad it turned on when we were finished!)
Shh! Don't tell! Sometimes elves have to get creative. :)

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Popcorn Balls

After a nice FHE lesson about how it's more important to give than to recieve, we made popcorn balls! Micah had the great idea to have the kids wear surgical gloves sprayed with Pam so they wouldn't get so sticky.

What a fun, yummy treat!

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Thanksgiving 2010

We were lucky enough to spend Thanksgiving week with our family in SE Idaho. We really appreciate all the time spent and preparations made so that we could have a nice holiday together. Here's Rio making a snowman. The snow wasn't very sticky so it took quite a while to make that little snowman.
And here are some cousins making cookies together at Grandma's house.
Just a couple of pictures of a great week spent together. And together is a wonderful place to be.

Monday, December 6, 2010

My Birthday


My birthday this year was perfect. It started with a super nice phone call from Kendra - one of my oldest (dearest) friends. At noon my 2 friends, Joy and Bridgett, surprised me by bringing over gifts and they arranged for a babysitter for my boys and took me out for lunch. My mom called me with birthday wishes and the activity day girls had mini cupcakes and sang to me. Micah and the kids made a big fuss over me with presents and dinner at a fun place in Cottonwood called The Hangout (you walk in and it smells like Scotty's in I.F. - a good sign). I had cards and emails and Facebook wishes. One friend even made this amazing-on-the-outside, even-more-delicious-on-the-inside cake (seriously - we're talking layers of ganache and raspberry filling here). What a fun day to feel loved and spoiled by family and friends!

Friday, October 22, 2010

School Pictures - Jack

School Pictures - Harrison

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Toilet Paper Pumpkins


Nathan is part of a co-op preschool with 5 other kids his age. It was my week to be the "teacher" and today we made these cute toilet paper pumpkins. Check out this site for more pictures and directions.

Labeled

In case you forgot...

Friday, October 15, 2010

One, Two, Three... FOUR!


Nathan turned four years old on October 6. Happy Birthday big boy!

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Camping at Stanley Lake

My older brother and his wife and 2 kids and my younger brother and his daughter met our family in Stanley, Idaho over Labor Day weekend. We all had a great time camping, fishing, canoeing, 4-wheeling, and just enjoying each others company in the great outdoors. Enjoy the pictures!

Rio and Lucy by the lake
My brother, Cody, and his daughter caught a fish!
My nephew fishing in Stanley Lake

Stanley Lake
My brother, Justin, taking the kids for a ride.
Jack enjoys a hot dog
Harrison trying out the new fishing pole he got for his birthday
Jack and Nathan have a fun time in the canoe
Nate practicing the perfect cast

Thanks, Justin and Cody, for inviting us. It was a great trip!

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Meet Lucy and Fern

We found Lucy (left) and Fern through an internet ad that was placed in Post Falls. We fell in love with these little beagles and picked them up in early July. They are sisters and are 9 months old now. They're very good dogs and hardly give us any trouble. The kids have been very responsible with them and Lucy and Fern even get along with our cat! (My brother, Justin, took this great picture of them while we were camping last weekend.)

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Fantastic #9

Nine, nine, nine. Fantastic #9. It's perfectly consistent - it works out every time!
(All you "Square One" fans will remember that skit.)

Harrison had a great ninth birthday. It was pretty low key. I made cookies for him to share with his school class, he played with friends after school, opened presents, ate at the local Chinese restaurant, and had homemade ice cream cake for dessert.

He was really pleased to get his very first pocketknife and loves the fishing pole from Grandma. He can't wait to try them both out on our camping trip to Stanley this weekend.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

First Day of School

The kids were so excited about school starting today!

Jack - Kindergarten

Harrison - 3rd grade

Rio - 2nd grade

Last Hurrah

On Friday our family and our friends, Kameron & Emily Barnett, went to a super-fun amusement park called Silverwood. We were too busy playing to take pictures there, but we all had a great time. We drove to Spokane when the park closed and stayed at the Barnett's house. On Saturday morning Kameron and Emily made us a delicious breakfast and then we went to a park that had this giant wagon/slide:



The Barnett's watched our kids that afternoon while Micah and I attended the Spokane temple. Thanks for sharing a fun-filled weekend with us Kameron and Emily!

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Culinary Masterpiece

Chocolate and Fruit Trifle. Yum.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Jack's 5th Birthday

Jack turned 5 years old on Saturday and had a wonderful day. He happily opened presents after lunch and then we all went to Lewiston for a Pioneer Day picnic sponsored by our stake who also rented the Aquatic Center for swimming after the picnic. The birthday boy had a chocolate/vanilla ice cream cone with sprinkles at Dairy Queen and then fell asleep with a smile on his face.

Monday, June 21, 2010

Next Best Thing

What can you do when the closest Olive Garden is 3 hours away? Pretend you're there by making your own Zuppa Toscana.
Olive Garden's Zuppa Toscana Soup

Recipe

  • 1 lb. spicy Italian sausage – crumbled
  • 1/2 lb. smoked bacon – chopped
  • 1 qt. water
  • (2) 14.5 oz. cans (about 3 2/3 cups) chicken broth
  • 2 lg. russet potatoes – scrubbed clean, cubed
  • 2 garlic cloves – peeled, crushed
  • 1 med. onion – peeled, chopped
  • 2 cups chopped kale OR Swiss chard
  • 1 cup heavy whipping cream
  • salt and pepper – to taste

Directions

  1. Brown sausage in a pan over medium to medium-high heat, breaking up into small pieces as it cooks.
  2. Drain sausage and set to the side.
  3. Brown bacan in a pan over medium-high heat. Be careful not to cook crispy.
  4. Drain bacon and set to the side.
  5. Place broth, water, garlic, potatoes, and onion in a pot.
  6. Simmer over medium heat until potatoes are tender.
  7. Add sausage and bacon to the soup.
  8. Simmer for 10 minutes.
  9. Add kale and cream to pot.
  10. Season with salt and pepper.
  11. Heat thoroughly.
Add some salad and breadsticks and you just might fool yourself into thinking you're actually there. (I just can't believe I made this today - mid-June - to cut the chill from the air.)

Sunday, June 20, 2010

A Whole New World

Our baby girl said she was having trouble seeing things and didn't pass the vision screening they did at the end of the school year. We took her to Lewiston for an eye exam. Our good friend from Shelley High - Danny Evans - is now an optometrist and did a fabulous job of making Rio feel comfortable at her first ever eye appointment. Here's Rio getting her eyes checked:
and picking out frames with Dr. Evans.
Rio can see again and looks adorable in her new glasses!

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Snack Support

I told Micah that I'm going to be trying to eat better and exercise more with the hopes of getting rid of the extra pounds I've put on recently. He knows that my biggest weakness with that idea is snacks so this afternoon he put all the snacks I enjoy into 150 calorie baggies, labeled with the positives like low calories, high protein, or high fiber and the negatives such as high fat, sodium, or high fructose corn syrup. He is so supportive! I'll post again in 30 days with an update. Wish me luck!

Saturday, June 12, 2010

New Blog

My sister, Ellisa, and I have started a new blog as a way to journal and celebrate our differences and similarities. She's living in the Bay Area in Cal. and I'm living the small town life in Grangeville. You're welcome to peek in and see what we're up to.

City Mouse, Country Mouse

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Number Ten

Love one another and you will be happy. It's as simple and as difficult as that.
~Michael Leunig

Our wedding was many years ago.
The celebration continues to this day.

Happy Anniversary Micah!

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Pork Carnitas

My big brother, Justin, shared with me this recipe for pork carnitas. We had it for dinner tonight and it was so deliciously yummy that I'm thinking about opening a taco truck on the corner. Thanks for a great dinner Justin!

Pork Carnitas

Put a pork roast in a crock pot and cover it with water. Cut up an onion and put in there. Zest an orange and put that and the peel in as well. Boil on low for 3 hours. Add in a can of coke and keep boiling for another couple hours. Just be sure to watch it through all this to make sure the liquid isn’t all boiling off. If it’s looking low just add more water. When it’s ready, drain off the liquid and shred. Put the shredded pork in a roasting pan and put in the oven on 400 degrees for a half hour. Check it every 10 min, stirring it up. You could occasionally pour some of the liquid that it boiled in to keep it moist. The roasting sugar from the coke will make the tips of the meat crispy.

Take it out and serve in warmed corn or flour tortillas with fresh pico de gallo (salsa would be ok, but fresh tomatoes, onion, cilantro is AWESOME on this). You could add guacamole if you want. Cut up some limes and serve on the side. People can squish as much lime juice onto them as they want. (Great with hot sauce and/or chili peppers).


I made these just like it's described above except I used root beer instead of Coke. I made pico de gallo for the first time using this recipe:

Pico de Gallo

8-10 Roma tomatoes (seeded)
1/2-1 red onion (to taste)
1 jalapeno pepper (or more to taste)
2 medium cloves garlic
juice of one lime
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

Seed and dice tomatoes. Chop onion, jalapeno and garlic to a fine consistency. To these ingredients, add the fresh cilantro, salt, pepper, olive oil and lime. Mix well.

Cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours. Best if served the next day.


I made this just like it says to, but didn't have 3 hours to let it sit. I served it right away on the carnitas and it was delicious! We had corn and rice as our side dishes. Enjoy!

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Family Night

Hey, everybody, it's family night!
Before we moved to Grangeville we had a hard time having consistent family home evenings. I can think of a few reasons (excuses) like Micah's erratic schedule and having very small children. But since we've been here we've had it every week without fail! The kids really look forward to Monday nights and are great at reminding us. We have a lesson about the gospel and then a fun activity. Last night we had a surprise visit from the missionaries who taught us about the Savior's gift to us and then we played "Sorry".
Of course, having a yummy treat helps the kids remember and get excited about FHE too.

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Fun Dip

From Wikipedia:

Fun Dip is a candy manufactured by The Willy Wonka Candy Company, a brand owned by Nestle. The candy has been on the market in the United States since April 1942, and was originally called Lik-M-Aid. It was originally manufactured by Sunline, Inc, through their Sunmark Brands division, which was purchased by Nestle in January 1989. The candy was then rebranded as Fun Dip, and added to the Willy Wonka product line, although it retains the Lik-M-Aid subtitle in a diminished presentation.


Fun Dip is similar to fellow Wonka product Pixy Stix, but sold in small pouches, rather than paper or plastic straws. It generally consists of three packets of flavored and colored sugar, along with two edible marshmallow flavored candy sticks called "Lik-A-Stix". It is intended to be consumed by licking the sticks and using the moistened stick to collect some of the sugar. While the original flavors consisted of lime, cherry and grape, the most common flavors are cherry, grape, and a raspberry/apple combination that turns from blue when dry to green when wet with saliva. It also comes in sour flavors, including sour watermelon, sour apple, and sour lemonade. There is also orange flavored Fun Dip. Packets with one stick and two flavors were once the standard, and packets with only one or two flavors are still available with less prominence than the now-standard three-flavor package.


The Lik-A-Stix were introduced in the 1970s. The stick resembles a rather flat stick of white sidewalk chalk (and can be used as such). Recently, fruit flavored stix have been introduced.


The bottom line is this: Fun Dip is fun. But not for the mom of 4 kids who just had Fun Dip all over the house. Fun Dip is more fun outside. Lesson learned.

Sunday, April 18, 2010

FREE Stuff




Back in October I posted a blog about how to use a search engine to earn FREE prizes. Now I can show you all the FREE stuff I've earned since then. A cute Revenge Is... t-shirt, 2 cookbooks, and a couple of amazon.com gift cards. It's not too late for you to earn FREE stuff too! Click on my SwagBucks link on the left and start earning your own FREE stuff. Happy Swagging!

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Easter Dinner

I don't know how I've managed it all these years, but I've never had to make Easter dinner before. My debut Easter dinner was delicious, if I do say so myself. We had ham with pineapple sauce, yummy potatoes (aka funeral potatoes), rolls, green beans amandine and raspberry jello pudding eggs. Even Nathan - our pickiest eater - said, "I love this ham!"
Happy Easter!

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Digital Scrapbooking

I have been scrapbooking for the last 10 years and still love it. I love pictures and putting them all together in a book that my family can enjoy together forever. My mom gave me a fun new program called Memory Mixer to start a new way of scrapbooking - digitally. I was a little hesitant to start, but it's so easy. Micah gave me a laptop for Christmas and it's been fun to put my pages together on the computer, especially since my other supplies are all still packed. Here's a few of my pages:


Thanks Mom and Micah for my fun new toys!

Friday, March 5, 2010

Plant Update

This plant is uber-determined to live! Just 6 short weeks ago it was just a stick in the dirt and now it's shooting out new leaves like crazy.

My great-grandmother, Mabel Andrasen, received this plant as a wedding present from her new mother-in-law on her wedding day on May 31, 1922. I've moved this plant a couple times now. It's climate and surroundings have changed and more than once it's been on the brink of dying. But it keeps surviving. It continually tries to grow and adapt to its new life. Many of us are going through changes and have to learn to adapt to new life situations. I hope we, too, can find the strength and desire to thrive.