Family Star of the Day!

Today, the award for Family Star of the Day is......................

*~*~*~drum roll*~*~*~*

My wonderful husband, Bill!!!

The tub faucet in our bathroom has been leaking forever!  The water flow started out as a trickle and as time has passed, it slowly became a constant stream.  We drove to a couple different places looking for the right parts (I don't know what they are called - I should have paid more attention to my childhood of growing up with a plumber father).  We found something that has worked - at least temporarily.  But Bill walked ALL the way to the end of our property to the water shut off valve.... doesn't sound bad, right?  Well, we have some scary weedy areas.... which would be bad enough.  To make matters worse, it was snowing.... SIDEWAYS!

I would have just scrapped the idea and waited until another day, but he was hellbent on getting that thing fixed.  When he turned off the water, it was just flurries.  It was sideways when he turned it back on.

So today's Family Star award goes to Bill for trudging through our wilderness of a backyard, in windy sideways snow, and working on plumbing stuff!!

Love you, Bill!!

July is Almost Over

It is crazy that July is almost over!!  This month has FLOWN by.  Between preparing for camp, attending camp, celebrating Bill's 40th birthday, going on the road with Bill, reorganizing my house (still in the process), trying to squeeze workouts in at least 3 times a week, and the Tupperware party last night, the whole month is gone.  The cool thing is that tomorrow is Sarah's baptism (my cousin's daughter) so the end of the month is ending with awesomeness! 

Today I am babysitting an adorable little baby named Lyla.  She is 7 weeks old and so itty bitty!  She seriously looks like she could be one of my own babies! 

In a few minutes, Rebekah's best friend (Alison) is picking her up to take her on the ward camp out.  I am bummed I can't make it but glad they offered to take Rebekah.  The reason we can't go is because I won't be home in time to be ready for Sarah's baptism.  So instead of camping tonight, the rest of us are going over to the Gerber's house and having breakfast for dinner.  Soooo excited! I am making buttermilk syrup and coconut syrup.  Plus french toast, bacon, and maybe some eggs.  Bonnie is making waffles. Yum!

Once again, my heart it filled with gratitude for the Lord's hand in preserving Bonnie's life.  She is one of my best friends.  Yay for Priesthood Blessings, faith, and prayers!

Hmmmm....

I realize I haven't really posted much lately.  I have been insanely busy but want to try to keep up on the things going on in my life.  I have been trying to clean out the game room so I can paint the room for Bill.  We are turning it into Bill's music room.  Plus I am having a Tupperware party at my house tomorrow so I am trying to clean up everything.


Last night the girls stayed over at the Gerber's house and tonight the Gerber girls are staying the night over here.  I am so grateful that Bonnie and Larry moved back to Cedar.  Our girls really missed each other.  Bonnie is such a miracle; she is one of my dearest friends.


I should be going to bed right now but instead my inner child is throwing a temper tantrum and wants to stay up.  I think I am going to attempt to update daily on here, even if it is just a blurb.  I won't beat myself up if that doesn't work, but I will try to at least once a week try. :)

My Tastebuds Have Taken Over My Blog!

"Well, smack my ass and call me Judy! These are fantastic!"

These new Mint Oreo Fudge Cremes are SOOOOOOO good they're gold!! "It's gold, Jerry! Gold!" Why yes, that was another TV sitcom quote, you are quite perceptive. I'm impressed. If you didn't get that TV sitcom quote, please click here and never come back to my blog again! Ok, you can come back, but only after you set aside the next 200 million hours of your life to watching TV sitcoms.

Now that things have been cleared up, back to the star of this blog entry: OREOS. First off, Bill does not share my enthusiasm for all things mint. If anything, he detests it. Well, I talked him in to trying one of these flat orbs of chocolaty mint cookies of dreamy goodness. He said exactly what I was thinking (see, that is why I married him! He can read my mind...), "These taste like a York Peppermint Pattie with a chocolate cookie!" Now if that hasn't sold you, then feel free to click that link in the earlier paragraph.

Now for you others purists out there, the confections sent to us directly from the Nabisco gods, also come in regular Oreo Fudge Cremes. To be honest, I didn't care for them as much as the (insert heavenly music) minty ones. That is probably because I tasted the minty ones first and no other cookie can ever (and I mean EVER) live up to its delectable benevolence. They are even better than.... **looking side to side to see if any Girl Scout is around** .... dare I say it? Thin Mints! The Mint Oreo Fudge Cremes blew the Thin Mints out of the water and left the cookies crumbs floating around to get soggy.

I am serious, these new Oreos have changed my life. From this day forward I vow that I will be a better person: I will not sweat the small stuff, I will be more generous and giving, I will be a better housekeeper, I will not run any stop signs, I will stop and smell the roses, I will tip my waiter more, I will put my shopping cart in the cart return, I will donate more of my time to charitable causes, I will clap and say "I do believe in fairies," and lastly, I will go to the gym more to burn off the calories that I know will inevitably try to migrate to my waist.

So, what are you still waiting for?? Go to Wal-Mart ASAP and pick up your very own bag of Mint Oreo Fudge Cremes right this instant! And while you are there, you might also want to check out the new Pretzel M&Ms, too! I will have to blog about those next time.

Text Conversation

Here is a text conversation between Bill and I from today:

Me: "The bishop came to our house."

Bill: "What for?"

Me: "He was looking for you. You are speaking on Sunday."

Bill: "What?"

Me: "The topic is 'The Love of God' by Uchtdorf. You'll do well :-)"

Bill: "That makes me mad that you accepted a talk for me :-("

Me: "I'm totally messing with you. Think about it. What does the bishop do for a living?"

Bill: "Dunno."

Me: "Yes you do. He drives for who?"

Bill: "Oh I thought you meant as bishop :-P"


(side note: Our Bishop is a Schwan's driver.)

Family Home Evening

Ok, I have meant to post about last week's FHE (Family Home Evening) and kept forgetting.

We had a lesson on the Plan of Salvation. Bill dug through his old mission stuff and found some cool things he drew to explain the plan of salvation. He was in charge and apparently we need to have more spiritual lessons with the kids because it was a difficult evening. Mostly for FHE we just watch a movie together or something, but we realized that we needed to step it up. Wow, we are glad we did, but it proved very trying on our patience. The kids acted crazy all night. Guess that means FHE was normal :-)

Here is Bill after the lesson (which took twice as long to get through because of the kids' behavior):

You got to love the look of exasperation on his face. :-)
His little props were awesome and this picture does not do it justice.
I just love when Bill shares his testimony and knowledge with the kids.

Justin and Bill

Two days before Thanksgiving, Bill got home from work at a decent hour and asked Justin if he wanted to go see "New Moon." Justin was way excited and they went on a Father-Son date. Nathan had no interest in going and I saw it with Bill the day before.

I giggled when Justin came home and Bill told me that Justin looked away when Belle and Edward kiss after she saved him.

Here is Justin at the movie theater in front of one of the displays.


By the way, is it weird that Bill likes the "Twilight" series more than I do? :)

Halloween

Halloween was bittersweet for us this year. The night before, one of our dear friends, Bonnie, was hit by a car as she was walking her dog. All day Saturday, we were worried that we were going to get a call that she died since she was in critical condition. Thankfully, she is still hanging in.

So all day, between cringing every time the phone rang, we tried to do Halloween stuff.

Rebekah carving her pumpkin.


Rebekah cleaned out her pumpkin well - ok, I helped some.


Should I be worried that Justin is smiling with a knife in his hand?? LOL


I love the look of "ew" on his face as he cleans out his pumpkin.


Lily working hard at cleaning out her pumpkin.


She is bringing the guck out through the mouth.


Bill and his pumpkin.


Then it was time for trunk-or-treating.
Bill as an awesome bow hunter.... wearing MY camo suspenders... Yes, everyone, those are mine!


All the kids. Nathan and Justin don't really like to dress up anymore, so thankfully Wal-Mart had these shirts that did the trick. And gone are the days where the girls want to dress up as princesses and girly things. Rebekah is the grim reaper and Lily is a vampire.

After trunk-or-treating, we ran to the store to get milk and a few other necessities. While we were there, I was reminding the kids that the next day was Fast Sunday. Justin argued with me and said, "No it's not." I tried explaining that it was. Finally he protested, "But tomorrow is October 32nd!" I started laughing and told him, "Uhhh, Justin, October has 31 days. No month has 32 days." He looked bewildered and said, "I thought some had 33."

After Wal-Mart we went home and the kids dumped out their candy to sort it.






I asked the kids what their favorite candies:

Nathan - His favorite are Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. He mostly got Reese's.
Justin - His favorite are Snickers or Hershey's. He mostly got Tootsie Rolls.
Rebekah - Her favorite is Kit-Kats. She mostly got Pixie Stixs.
Lily - Her favorite are Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. She mostly got Reese's.
And surprisingly enough, NO ONE got candy corn this year!!! That was a first!


As usual, we put a big bowl in the middle of the room for the kids to do their candy trading. They could put candy in and then take some out. But they began to trade amongst themselves. That is when it got amusingly interesting. I loved watching their bargaining and trading skills. Things worked out ok and no one got gypped.

Bill and I usually troll the candy bucket for rejected candy that only he and I like. We came across wax lips. The kids weren't too excited because they never played with them before and put them in the reject bucket. So we took them out and had a blast. I think that next year, they will not be so quick to discard their wax lips because they were loving how much fun Bill and I were having.

Yes, I know I am sexy!!

Bill is hot!! Rawr!

Justin is so cute.

Justin and Bill

Justin and Bill

Bill is trying to "kiss" Justin and Justin is not sure what to think about that.

So I kiss him instead. :-)

The Morbid Part of Me

When I got remarried, I told myself that being married to me must be so stressful that people only have a certain life expectancy. I know, morbid. Well, I counted up the days of how long Adam and I were married and told myself that if Bill could make it past November 24, 2009, that he would break the "curse." Today is the 25th! The curse is lifted!
I told you I was morbid.

Monday Menu Done on Sunday (10/18/09)

Well, with the kids having a 5 day weekend (gotta love Harvest Holiday, AKA Hunting Holiday) we decided to have our new menu food on Sunday and take it to a friend's house to enjoy the Sabbath and not worry about having to get to bed early because there was no school the next day.

Bill has been dying to have Shepherd's Pie since we got married. I didn't want to make it because his version sounded gross to me and what I grew up with sounded gross to him. However, he was so insistent that he wanted Shepherd's Pie that I finally told him that if he wanted it then he could make it. While this isn't a new recipe, per se, his version was new for me.

And even though I don't have exact measurements for most of the ingredients (or pictures, I was too hungry when it was finally done to think about taking any pictures), you can adjust it to your tastes.

2 1/2 lbs (or less) of ground beef
1 packet of aus jus mix
Garlic Salt
Pepper
Frozen Corn
Potatoes
Butter
Milk
Salt
Bacon
Cheese

Peel and cut up potatoes. Boil until soft enough to mash. While they are boiling, brown ground meat, garlic salt, and pepper. When meat is done (or almost done) add aus jus packet. Then stir in frozen corn. Heat on low until thoroughly warmed.
Drain potato chunks and begin to mash them. You can use an old fashioned potato masher or electric mixer. While mashing, stir in butter, salt, and milk. When mashed, stir in bacon bits (not the fake ones, these ones) until thoroughly mixed.
Spread meat mixture into 9x13. Sprinkle some shredded cheese on top. Then start plopping on the mashed potatoes. Cover with foil and bake at 250°F until thoroughly warmed. Sprinkle bits of bacon on top of potatoes, then cheese on top of the bacon. Bake until cheese melts. Serve warm.

Now for dessert we made those Cookie Dough Pies. Granted, I have made the original recipe before, but wanted to try some fun variations. You will need to click on that link to get the recipe, but I will tell you the variations here:

I got a bag of Keebler Chips Deluxe Coconut Cookies. Between each layer of whipped cream and cookie, I sprinkled some sweetened flaked coconut on. Then when done, I drizzled chocolate syrup on top and then sprinkled a bit more coconut on top. I LOVED this one! It was VERY good.

I was going to use the Keebler Chips Deluxe Peanut Butter Cookies but the ounces of the bag were only 15 and I didn't want to buy two bags and have extra cookies to tempt me.... so I just bought the original kind and then a couple Reese's Peanut Butter Cups (I ended up using 8 PB cups). So between the layers of whipped cream and cookie, I sprinkled some chunks of chopped up Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Then I also drizzled with chocolate and sprinkled with more chopped up cups. This one was FABULOUS! It went the fastest.

Things were yummy that night. It is nice to have one day off a week from my diet. :-)

Gobble, Gobble, Gobble

No, I am not talking about Thanksgiving.... although I did eat a scrumdiddlyumptious salad at The Garden House today called the Thanksgiving Salad. But that is neither here nor there. I am talking about the turkey-pigs I have living in my house!

I have a house of teenagers.... well, technically only one true teenager: Nate, 14. But the other kids act like teens already. And appetite is just one of the main teenage hormones rampaging through our house.

I cooked 16 hot dogs for dinner.... SIXTEEN! Lily isn't feeling well so she didn't eat anything. I am not a huge hot dog fan, so I had leftovers. But between Nate, Justin, and Rebekah, 14 of the 16 are GONE! Nate had 6, Justin had 4, and Rebekah had 4. I thought I would have leftovers in the fridge for later, but there are only two left and Bill will probably scarf them down when he gets home from work.

Justin's New Do

Bill chopping off Justin's mangy hair.

But for fun, Bill took the center strip and made it a Mohawk.

As you can tell from his expression, he is NOT happy about it, even though we told him it was just for fun.

Here is Mr. Cutie Pie, er, I mean.... Mr. Tough Mohawk Man

My Birthday Last Week

I had a pretty awesome birthday last week. Bill, the big sweetie, surprised me with so much stuff! He registered the car for me (it expired in June LOL), bought me a 2 GB mini SD card for my phone to hold more songs, ear phones that I have been wanting, fixed the defroster in the back window of the car (been wanting that done for AGES!), and he took me out to Chilis! Oh, he also gave me a dozen roses!!! They were beautiful! I have the bestest husband!

For my birthday cake, I actually had birthday brownies. We had it on Saturday night, in celebration of my birthday with Bill's sister and her family. It was a great weekend. Every year I get conference around my birthday time and I love it!!