Grateful

I am grateful for a wise husband who reminds me to count my blessings through the business and stress of the season.

I am grateful that we will get to see EVERY member of our families (and I mean everyone) over the Christmas break.

I am grateful for sweet girls who are helpful and so excited for the simple joys of the holiday.

I am grateful for good friends who host fun parties and events that make this time of year more festive.

I am grateful for uplifting music, church talks, lessons, and programs that help me feel the Christmas spirit.

I am grateful for HIM, the Babe in Bethlehem, the Good Shepherd, the Savior of the World, even Jesus Christ, who this Christmas season is really about.

And because of HIM I know that repentance is possible, forgiveness is real, peace is attainable, and hope is alive even as HE is.

Recipes

I am not a natural cook. I can't originate awesome goodness or just throw things in a pot and have it be delicious. But I am a dang good collector of wonderful recipes and, with some luck, can usually follow the directions to have things turn out. Here are 2 of my recent favorites:



Peppermint-Chocolate Truffle Cookies

6 sq. Baker’s semi-sweet baking chocolate (or 6 oz semi-sweet choc. Chips)

¾ c. butter

1 c. sugar

1 eggs

1 ¾ c. flour

½ t. baking powder

1/3 c. chopped candy canes

Microwave chocolate and butter in a large bowl on high 2 minutes or until butter is melted. Stir until choc is completely melted. Stir in sugar. Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing until well blended after each addition. Add combined flour and baking powder, mix well. Dough will be very soft. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roll heaping teaspoons of dough into 1 inch balls and place on a grated cookie sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes or until tops are set. Immediately sprinkle w/ chopped candy cane. Cool 1 min on cookie sheet then remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Chicken or Turkey Parmesan Meatball Sandwiches

1 ½ lbs ground turkey or chicken

1 T. grill seasoning

1 large egg

1 c. grated parmesan cheese

½ c Italian breadcrumbs

Handful of chopped parsley leaves

2 large garlic cloves, cracked and removed from skin

¼ t crushed red pepper flakes

1 (28) oz can crushed tomatoes

1 c chicken stock

8-10 fresh basil leaves, torn

Crusty sub rolls

Provolone cheese slices

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place chicken and grill seasoning in a bowl, add egg, half parmesan cheese, bread crumbs, parsley and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.  Mix meat and form into meatballs (about 12 large ones). Bake for 15 minutes until firm and golden.

While meatballs are baking, heat a medium skillet over medium heat. Add 3 T extra virgin olive oil and garlic and cook 5 minutes. Remove garlic cloves and add red pepper flakes, tomatoes, and chicken stock to the flavored oil. Season w/ salt and pepper and simmer 10 minutes. Stir in the basil.

Add meatballs to the sauce. Cut open rolls and place in meatballs. Melt provolone cheese on top.

Rituals

One of my favorite rituals is making my Sunday night "to do" list for the upcoming week.

With a trusty pen and long notepad in hand I get to work.

I write out chores to do, stores to go to, things to buy, cards to write, church assignments to fulfill, people to call, projects to work on, etc.

J and I talk about plans we have on different nights of the week and coordinate our schedules.

I keep the list up on the fridge and use a sharpie to cross stuff off as it is completed. (I get cheap thrills from crossing things off lists).

And surprisingly by weeks end the items are crossed off the old list and I'm itching to start a new one.

3rd Annual Polar Bear Plunge

The story is this: Andy, the 22 year old, said he was not going to participate in the plunge until Lauren, age 4 and Ellie, age 2 jumped in with no fear. And because the shame of being shown up by children was too much to bear,  he jumped in without complaint.

Thanksgiving 2010, Part 2

On Black Friday we loaded up the van and drove to St. George to meet up with J's parents, sister, brother & sister-in-law, and Grandma for the rest of the weekend. It was wonderful and we're so glad we could make the trip.

We got to eat Thanksgiving leftovers for the weekend and they even saved us some of Mom's famous pies. Delicious! My mother-in-law is a pie maker extraoordinaore. We enjoyed playing settlers, swimming, eating great food, watching a very unfortunate game that can only be mentioned in a long run on sentence so that people will forget about it before they're done reading, and going to temple lights.

I love my in-law family and feel so comfortable with them. Our girls played their hearts out and loved more undivided attention. I incurred a shoulder injury on Thanksgiving day and was kind of crippled and I'm grateful to J's family who was so helpful to me and let my shoulder rest. It was a great rest of the weekend and we can't wait for our Christmas time together.

The HORRIBLE part is that I have no pictures of this event, so if those who do [Jen, Matt?] want to share I'll get some posted ASAP.

Thanksgiving 2010, Part 1

 

 For Thanksgiving my great parents and little brother Andy came down for almost a week. With Dave and Courtney already here, we had more than 3/4 of the family together.  We loved their company and attention.

 

We visited our Grandma, David, Paul & DeNae in Mesa, went out to dinner, played some tennis, served in the cannery, [some] visited the temple, visited with Ky and Brody, went to the Suns game, shopped, watched 3 or 4 movies, and had a great Thanksgiving day.

My parents are wonderful and easy company and my girls were in cloud 9 with all of the attention. The Bot is also good company and is always fun to be around. I am definitely THANKFUL for my parents and family .

Love this girl

 On a Wednesday night in November I got a call from my wonderful sister-in-law. She asked if she could come and visit us. I said that would be awesome. She said, "Well, how about Saturday?" I said, "THIS Saturday?" And three days later Jenny, A-man, and little M rolled into town! We loved their visit and I only wish they could have stayed longer. We made hair bows, visited the zoo, napped,  tended each others kids, went shopping, watched movies, ate good food, and did a ton of chatting. My girls loved having cousins to play with and poor A-man got a makeover, compete with hair bows, jewels, and dress-ups. I guess that is what happens when you come to a girl house. :) Little M was so sweet to get carted around without complaint and her moving skills were truly amazing. Thanks again for visiting us Jenny and please come again soon!

DISCLAIMER: The only down-side to their trip was that I have 5 pictures to show for it!

Genius

This year we are going to try the Christmas postcard. Picture on the front, small message on the back, and return address already printed. The best part, though, is this:

A 28 cent stamp. Yahoo! If you want to be on the receiving end of this Christmas gem just send me an email with your address and I'll be happy to oblige.

3 on 3

Today our sweet Ellie has her magic birthday...she's 3 on the 3rd! She provides light, laughter, love, and a flare to our family that only she can bring. I would not be the same without her and love her so much.

Must have

This stuff is pure gold. I love me some peppermint ice cream during December and the Blue Bell brand takes the cake (and ice cream for that matter). Eat it with a brownie, a cookie, in a crepe, or my favorite melted in a hot cup of cocoa. Delicious!

Happenings

Life has been busy. First, we celebrated her first,

(thanks for the darling cake Kylee!)

and my brother’s 26th.

Second, we enjoyed the state fair.

Third, the Grandparents came to visit.

Fourth, we celebrated Halloween with a spider, witch and ladybug.

Finally, my brother and I took the girls to our sister’s house for a visit.

 

 

Our One and Only

A guessing game

Our 1 year old babies. Can you tell who is who?

Baby 1

 

Baby 2

 

 Baby 3

Birth week

1 year ago a garden was budding and a belly was swollen.

 Clothes boxes were emptied and washed and organized.

2 little girls expectantly awated the arrival of a little sister.
 
Our lives were preparing to welcome a new little wonder into the world. 

Work the polls

I just signed up to be a poll worker in the November 2 general election! The public administrator in me is totally excited to get out and mingle with the community, and as an added bonus I get to work in a polling location that requires a Spanish speaker. So I may even end up getting to hablar espanol as well. I better brush up on some voting vocabulary!

Sister from another mister

I love this girl:

She is my wonderful sister-in-law married to my lucky oldest brother.

She is kind, loving, helpful, engaging, relaxed, and creative.

Last week we spent Thursday together and had a great time.

Shopping at H&M with my friend Hays and girls. Visiting the lovely Hobby Lobby. Crafting. Oh, the crafting.

I discovered in Courtney a girl who loves to create things. We both were lacking in the Halloween decorations department and came up with some cute stuff.

 

 

Thanks for hanging out with me Court and for your excellent crafty ideas.

That’s my girl!

Today I let the girls play with my jewelry while I showered and did my hair. As I’m blow-drying Lauren says to me, “Mom, we are sorting your jewels.” I think, “Awesome!” By the time I’m done with my hair I am presented with this:

  

my jewelry organized by type, color, and size. If that’s not my girl, I don’t know who is!

Our 2 day dog

A wonderful couple in our ward breeds Chihuahua and sells them all over the world. We’ve taken our girls to visit the dogs, but each visit resulted in terror, crying, screaming, and hiding. Because of their fear, Bro. Moore insisted that we “borrow” one of the puppies for a few days. So on Wednesday we came home with an 8-week-old girl puppy and named her Lola. The girls were hesitant at first, but eventually warmed right up to her.

Lauren was by far the most attentive, and wanted to hold the puppy whenever possible. She loved to pet it, hold it, and just watch it play.

 

Ellie loved when the puppy was adventurous and loved to chase it and have it chase her.

 

Ada was interested in the puppy at first, but once it started jumping on her, licking her, and nipping her appendages Ada was sure she’d had enough.

The puppy provided great entertainment and kept my girls busy all day long. I even enjoyed her following me around at night when I was sweeping the floors. J snuggled right up with the dog and she seemed to take to all of us.

HOWEVER, having a puppy was a lot of work and I have to say that when she left I felt like a gigantic weight had been lifted from my shoulders. Having her around was like having another baby. She ate stuff she wasn’t supposed to eat, she pooped and peed where she wasn’t supposed to go, she wanted to be held all the time, and she woke up crying in the night. My visceral response to her whining was almost exactly like that to my crying children and I couldn’t settle down and sleep.  After the 2nd night of fitful sleeping we sent her packing to visit our good friends with timid little girls. It is a relief not to have a dog full time, but I’m glad my girls could have a positive experience with a pup. And if you ever need a dog sitter for a few days you know who to call. I don’t want to own one, buy food for one, or take care of one full time, but I’ll definitely take a dog on short term condition any time.