if looks could kill...

Wow, this one would could cause sudden death! I found this beauty today, and I don't know why I was giving Jared such an aweful look, because I remember this moment, and I was not mad at him at all. I think I was actually getting frustrated with the bike helmet buckle at this moment. And yes, I am preparing Maddie to take off on an electric scooter in her swimsuit. So not safe! What was I thinking? If she had fallen the road rash would have been painful, about as painful as the look I'm giving the camera. Yikes!

But look at that green grass, and tan lines on my feet. I am really longing for a little sun and warmth today.

wow, food friday already...

So I am kind of surprised at how fast Friday seems to roll around lately. I don't have any pictures today, my camera was out of batteries all week and it took me a while to find the charger. We had taken it with us to AZ and it was still in the van.

I did have some success this week. I made Navajo tacos minus the ground beef. I used re fried beans and offered kidney beans as a side along with lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, olives, and a little ranch. I thought I had thrown out all the Hidden Valley, but wouldn't you know my Maddie would search one out in the food storage. I was all excited to use the homemade stuff, and she pulled her stash out of the fridge. No wonder she has been eating organic carrots all week, which by the way were at Broulim's for $1.29 a bag. That was a screamin deal, and you all had some at Bunco. I know you could taste the difference. :)

I had a little setback at one of my favorite stores today though. I went shopping on an empty stomach, and couldn't resist the popcorn at Target or as Kate likes to call it "the circle store". It was super salty, and Gavin's little lips turned white from all the salt. Have you ever seen that? I quickly gave him a drink of the sprite that I got with the popcorn, fully realizing he was taking in a lot of sugar and high fructose corn syrup. Yeah, I'm not perfect, but baby steps, right?

Meals on the menu this next week, vegetarian chili (an awesome recipe I got from a professor at ISU), meatless lasagna with bread sticks, homemade chicken nuggets for Maddie, and chicken enchiladas to share with a couple that just had a baby.

And last of all did you all get your February issue of the Ensign? In the VT message Sister Beck says, "I asked several bishops what self-reliance skills the sister in their wards needed most, and they said budgeting... and the second skill bishops listed was cooking. Meals prepared and eaten at home generally cost less, are healthier, and contribute to stronger family relationships." Well, I'm working on one of these, now to focus a little more on budgeting. :)

bummer...

So, you know the documentary I posted about recently, Food Inc. Well, they were the topic of Oprah yesterday. I totally missed it, I was playing in the snow with my kids (much better use of my time than watching Oprah), but I did catch the last 5 minutes where she announced that Amazon has the movie on sale for 10$, or a free digital download. So check out her website for the details. It is really interesting, has totally changed the way I think about my next meal, and I highly recommend it.

surprises...

So I came home from swimming Saturday morning to find Colin in the kitchen making waffles. I guess he learned how to do this at Aunt Devanie's. It was a nice surprise for me, and the waffles were really tasty.

Maddie enjoyed them too, although it hurt later trying to comb all the syrup from her hair. By the way do you know how much sugar and high fructose corn syrup is in this stuff? Too much.

And for another fun surprise, Jared was a top producer in life insurance in the state, so we get to fly to Seattle for a weekend thanks to Farmer's. I'm super excited for a little getaway without the kids, and some sight seeing. The only catch is the main dinner/company party is business casual. What exactly does that mean anyway? It's not dressy, it's not casual. To put it simple I can't wear my usual jeans and a tee, and I can't really wear any of my church outfits. I'm excited to pick out a new outfit, but where to start? So if any of you have a favorite place to shop that would have something appropriate, let me know.

food friday...

So I haven't had a lot of success this week in the meal department. This however was a mild success, which means Jared, Colin, and I enjoyed it, Kate and Gavin hate half of it, and Maddie wouldn't touch it. The best part is I threw in some grated zucchini, and no one knew! They were too busy searching out the tomatoes and black beans to notice. I felt a little sneaky. You can find the recipe and a better picture of it here. I actually really enjoyed it, and I calmed down the enchilada sauce with a little homemade ranch dressing from Kate Lees.

Homemade Rance Dressing: 1/2 c. mayo., 1/2 c. buttermilk, 1tsp. parsley or 2 tsp. fresh parsley, 1/2 tsp. onion powder, and 1/2 tsp. garlic

I also made spaghetti minus the meat for dinner one night, and homemade bread sticks to go with it. I was so proud of myself, it's the first time I've ever used the dough hook to my mixer. My mom and Jared have used it several times, but it's always kind of scared me to try anything that needs to rise. After making these bread sticks and watching them rise, I wondered why I was so worried about it. It was pretty easy, too bad the bread sticks tasted awful! But hey, they did rise. So if any of you have a yummy bread stick recipe, please send it my way.

Colin wanted to knead the dough. I kept telling him to act more natural, but he was quicker than the camera and kept turning to smile. He likes to tease his mom. It turned out the smiling picture was better than the natural. Who can resist that smile anyway?


And while we baked, Kate was happily placing her littlest pet shops in a nice row. She started asking each of them what their names were. I tuned in because having only a handful of friends I wondered how many names she'd come up with. She started with, "Julia, Everett, Rebekah, Kaleb", then she started over "Julia, Everett..." I thought it was funny. And just in case you were wondering, I really don't buy those little guys individually at $4 a pop. Gavin bought her a big bag for Christmas, much cheaper that way.

And in case you wanted the recipes from Bunco, here they are:

Spinach and Artichoke Dip from Food Network

Chocolate Chip Pudding Cookies from Very Culinary

food friday...

So this has nothing to do with food, other than he might have been a little hungry, but this little man put himself in the corner while throwing a king-size fit. He stayed there for about five minutes just sobbing, until I put the groceries away and Kate begged me to "hug him cause' he's so sad". Every time we come in from the garage Gavin screams and cries because he'd like to stay out there and ride in his little red car. He'll be so thankful when spring arrives!

So on to the food. I was all prepared to share the recipes I've tried in the last week or so, and tell you how wonderful they are, with awesome photography, but I am sad to say they weren't too successful and I'm not a photographer. I don't think it was all me either, I'm just not sure I know how to pick a recipe out, they look great in the pictures but when it comes down to it, they don't taste so good.

So this is a cheesy broccoli noodle casserole from Real Simple, that looks o.k., but was totally disgusting. The only person that asked for seconds was Kate. She said in her sweet voice, "more please!" I had a slight heart attack and replied, "More what?" She answered simply, "Bwoccoli." So I didn't mess up that part I guess.

And this is a salad I am pleased to share, because it is truly yummy. I have had this for lunch the past few days, and am still loving it. It's pretty healthy, if you go light on the dressing.

Red and Green Salad from Ruth Lybbert (my mom)
-Red and Green Leaf lettuce, and iceburg lettuce (I just bought a bag of 7 lettuce blend)
-craisins, feta cheese, red onions, pecans or sliced almonds (no set amounts, just play around with these, depending on your likes/dislikes)

dressing: 3/4 c. sugar, 1/3 c. vinegar, 1 tsp. dry mustard, 1 tsp. salt, 1 tsp. poppyseed, 1 1/2 T. red onion, 1 c. oil
Blend and serve to side of salad.

And I found a few sites for your culinary reading pleasure:
Delicious Living
Simply Recipes
The Pioneer Woman (my new favorite, she also has a list of her favorites)
Joy the Baker
Food Network (Ellie is a favorite)

And, if you're not sure what the dirty dozen is, or need a reason to think organic, here is a little info. for you to check out. Organic food is still pretty expensive, so I'm not getting everything organic, but we eat a lot of fruit found on the dirty dozen list, and that's where we are going to start. Here's the link.

And as far as my last post, the info. out there is a little overwhelming and scary, but I really think that is how Satan would like us to feel, so I'm going to just take things slow using the word of wisdom as a guide. I think the biggest step is start making things homemade, reducing the processed foods, and limiting our intake of meat. And hopefully by next Friday I'll have a few success stories to give you.

this couldn't wait until Friday...

So I just finished watching this little documentary via netflix' watch it on your computer mode, and I'm just a little repulsed, scared, and angry. It brought me to tears in a couple parts, and had me shaking my fists and getting completely mad at people and corporations that I don't even know. I knew they genetically altered chickens, but I had no clue there was a company out there that genetically altered soybeans, and is now controlling every soybean farmer in the U.S.

I'm also quite lost as to where to start making changes. I'm feeling even more overwhelmed. I'm thinking I'm going to re-read Section 89, and start from there. The documentary reveals a lot about how our meat is treated, before it heads to the butcher, and after. It's kinda disgusting, and I'm ready to omit it from our diets. It's the ammonia soaked meat fillers that are supposed to kill the E.Coli in the beef that I'm a little worried about. But I have a meat and potato kinda husband, and I'm not sure he'll like the change. I'm going to coerce him to watch the documentary and then discuss our new dinner plans. :) I guess we could go the less extreme route and find someone who sells grassfed beef.

On a more pleasant note, I've also made some yummy cookies lately.

You can find them here, and here.

friday...

So, yes Kate has been singing a little ABBA all week. I liked Mama Mia, but only because it reminded me how much I love ABBA. I remember listening to them as a little girl, and then again as a teenager, and since I can't remember buying my ABBA gold cd, I'm thinking I must have stolen that from home to add to my college collection. Maddie and Kate are now becoming little Dancing Queen fans too. I think I might have converted Jared too. He still can't handle Celine, but I can get him to listen to ABBA. I consider it a small accomplishment.

Now to share what I'm currently reading, and a funny story. So I've wanted to learn a little more about nutrition, and looked into taking a class, but that thought came to a crashing halt when I figured out it would cost over $300, then I considered buying a textbook which would still cost over $100, so then I looked at the library and found this book.

I've been carrying it around with me, reading when I get the chance, and learning quite a bit actually. Colin saw it on the couch the other morning and with a smile asked me, "So, if it's Nutrition for Dummies, does that mean you are the dummie, mom?" tee hee hee.

Isn't he a little smarty pants.

I replied, "No, I'm actually learning about Nutrition to make you healthier, so the dummie must then be you." :)

We went back and forth for a while teasing each other, but really I've been trying to help them eat a little healthier lately. I've kindof made a slow progression as a mom. When they were little, it was more about just making sure they were fed, bathed, had clean clothes, and a clean home all while finishing school, and working. Not that I don't do those things now too, I'm just trying to do those things a little better, with more knowledge, organization, and still try to keep it fun.

Also, I don't think we've eaten super unhealthy in the past, I've just never really put a lot of thought into it, how varied our diets were, or how much processing their food went through. And I don't want to go overboard now, I just want to take baby steps and improve the way we eat. So, yes, I might be the dummie, but not for long.

You can't be a dummie if you're trying to learn right?

With this in mind, I thought I'd share what I'm learning with each of you. I'm going to call it Food Friday. Each Friday I'll post any recipes that I've tried and that our kids actually liked, any info. that I think might help you, and just keep a little journal of our progress in the food department.

name that tune...

So this weekend we had the pleasure of hearing Kate sing this lyric over and over again. I'm not sure what put it in her head, but it was super cute hearing it come out.

Kudos to the first person to guess the song.

And here it is: "oooooh, all the fings I can do, if I had a little mummy, it's a wich man's world!"

January craft project...

So for my first craft project I'm going to try and make these cute little bean bags for Kate, only hers will spell Kate, because I wouldn't want her learning to spell someone else's name. I think they are a fun way to teach her how to spell her name, and they could come in useful when you need a quick game to play, they are bean bags after all. And they are square, quick sewing, and I can use up some scrap material, not that I have a lot. I found the idea here.

Happy New Year!

December 22nd - the kids were so happy to open gifts early. (Please excuse the red eye, I was too lazy to fix it)

Gavin sporting our best investment this year, a nerf gun. Well, two nerf guns actually. Colin has wanted these since kindergarten, and me trying to be the perfect mother had banned any sort of gun from our house (o.k. so we do have a few water guns in the garage). I caved this year when we couldn't think of anything to get him. They were a hit. Colin and Maddie played with them all night, and other than me getting hit in the face (Colin claimed to be aiming at the camera), there were no casualties. All in all the gift giving went well this year.

So Christmas is gone, we opened our gifts early and then headed to Arizona where we visited Jared's parents and enjoyed leaving our snow clothes at home. My favorite part of the trip was riding a roller coaster with Kate and listening to her little screams of joy/panic. We played lots of games, enjoyed lots of yummy food, and good company. The drive was super long, but getting out of the cold made it worthwhile.

And now we're home, the laundry is getting done, I've cleaned out our kitchen and mudroom drawers, and I'm ready to set some goals.

I'm thinking this year will be a year of learning for me. I love that the curriculum for Relief Society is Gospel Principles, I really want to get back to the basics.

Also I'm going to take a photography class at BYU-I, I want to learn how to make bread, and I'm going to find a craft for each month, to inspire my creative side. And who can forget I get to start the year off right by hosting Bunco!

I love this time of year to reflect on the past, set goals, and look forward to the future!