Sarah Bates & Addie exploring on Saturday morning
The new pavillion at Pine Creek Campgroud...I smell a family reunion!

My Lovely Mom-in-law turned 60 on June 10th.

We celebrated with a family party at Angie's House

(my SIL across the street).Ang made a beautiful cake...
...and Addie made a super cute card which she addressed in her own handwriting "To the Brithday Girl"--we all got a kick out of that! Our gift was a flower pot with gardening tools.
Angie serving up birthday cake

Mom deserves a cruise, a massage, 6-dozen roses, and a tiara for being so awesome. This party full of love and loved-ones was probably just as good for her...she is the best Grandma and the mother-in-law of my dreams. I am so grateful for all she has taught me and for her example of always seeing the best in others and never giving up on anyone.

She's terrific and we're so glad she was born!

Thursday, June 7, 2007 James loves his new cup!
"See me drink like a big boy!"

Monday, June 18, 2007 was Rich's Birthday.

We celebrated at Chico Hot Springs.

Happy Birthday, Daddy!Addie & Dad at Chico 6/18
On the way to Chico, we stopped at the ranch. I saw these horses grazing on a hill...
....they looked cool.
James was exioted to go swimmin'!
Gram Melin got to come with us and the girls in the backseat watched "Cinderella 3"
Gram swam with James...

Look at his little pink piggies!

---I didn't get a photo of Heidi, I guess, but I got a video, which I will post soon!

It was a fun night and a great way to celebrate the birth of somebody wonderful.

Tuesday, June 19th we had a SUPER FUN Primary Activity Day. The Primary Bike Rodeo was the brainchild of my friend Jennifer and it was tons of fun! It was the perfect day, we had a really nice police officer speak to the kids, and then they did an obstacle course. There was sidewalk chalk and bubbles for non-bike riders, and the kids who did the bike stuff will get little bike drivers licenses on Sunday...Good times! The Flyer
My cute little Addie Rose trying to get up the courage to go up and over the little bike jump on the obstacel course...she had a ball!
Kids lined up to ride the course--it was so much fun thanks to Summer Orton and all the cool stuff she found on their ranch. Our Primary is so cool!

A Birthday Love Song for My Rich

um, hi...

I been chillin over at the new family blog, so I haven't posted here in forever, but I have lots coming down the pike when I get a minute.

Jill posted the JCP father's day ad at her site--they must have a rockin' marketing comm. department over there! You can listen to the whole song here. What a great break for that band! I thought the singer sounded like Katie Melua. Click both links and enjoy!

More to come, after I celebrate my hunny punkin's birthday in style...

Link of the Day

I'm gonna read this after work.

Perfect Day

When the wind stops blowing in Livingston, it's time to get out and celebrate! Today it was 75-degrees and sunny and the wind was "7-10-mph." So I packed up the kiddies and we were off like a herd of turtles at 10am to play at Sacajawea Park and feed ducks at the Lagoon. Look! The water is like glass, and there are NO DUCKS or geese anywhere.
The girls were so excited!
James thought the ducks were so cool!

The girls were thrilled when they finally had some ducks to feed, although they enjoyed eating the popcorn, too... hmm...I really do wonder where the geese are. They practically mauled Addie when she was little and we could come feed them.

Bye, bye duckies!

PS: Looking at these photos, I was reminded of NC...it's so green and lush, it looks like we're down south. But I just wanted to add this exquisite piece of information: it's nothing like the south because there is almost NO HUMIDITY! And therefore few bugs and little sweat. YAY THAT! I think I was sweaty every second Ilived in North Carolina, even in the shower!

What's Cookin'

When I got married, I was a decent cook. I didn't enjoy cooking because I HATE making messes, but I 've come to terms with it. I used to make lots of food I had grown up with (Mexican) and recipes Rich's mom gave me when we got married (casseroles), and they were good...so good that each of us has gained about 60 pounds. So since I am in charge of the food around here and I can't stand for my menus to be boring and our bodies can't stand for them to be unhealthy, I have been on a year-long quest to improve our eating, especially by tripling the amount of vegetables & fruits we consume.

The quest for F&V led us to lots more Asian-inspired foods and vegetarian recipes. Of course we have always been smoothie fans and our girls are, too. Addie comes up with the best smoothie recipes! We try to keep a big tub of vanilla yogurt on hand as well as lots of frozen fruit (we got lots last September marked down, cut it up and froze it)--we LOVE the triple berries from Costco and their blueberries, and of course summer brings so many strawberries and peaches--yay! Rich made smoothies last week that were just peaches, blueberries, and apple juice and we loved it.

I discovered this great recipe for Kahlua Pork cooked in the crock pot. Costco has great little pork roasts, sold in three-packs for around $10--they're so great and usually make 2 meals each. Anyway, you can cook them overnight with just three ingredients: a splash of olive oil, 2-3 tablspoons of liquid smoke (hickory or applewood), and a few shakes of salt. Keep moist by adding a bit of water as needed and in about 8 hours, you've got a luau!

I made up a great recipe for the leftover pork: egg rolls a la Sister Gunn!

I know it's blurry, but the filling is just shredded pork, 1/2 head of cabbage chopped, and 2 carrots grated. Then I put in about a tablespoon of crushed ginger root, a tablespoon of crushed garlic, and 1/4 cup of Shoyu sauce (recipe below).
Then we wrapped them up in won tons and fried them in a little canola oil. YUM! We had the rest of the cabbage with mushrooms and broccoli steamed with Shoyu sauce on the side.

And it was DELISH.

My friend Megan gave us the recipe for Shoyu chicken and I love it because (a) it's tasty (b) I can buy dirt-cheap chicken legs and make a good dinner out of them and (c) I can freeze the sauce and use it in TONS of other recipes.

So here's how you make it:

1 cup soy sauce
1 cup pineapple juice
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 piece crushed ginger
2 cloves of garlic mashed
4 whole green onions
3 pounds of chicken thighs or legs, bone in

Mix ingredients in large saucepan, bring to boil, add chicken, simmer til chicken is tender (falling off bone--about 30 minutes). Then remove chicken with tongs. Allow sauce to cool then strain with collander and pour into ziploc bags to freeze for future use.
(The snack size ziplocs are the perfect amount of sauce for micowaving veggies--just put the veggies in a covered casserole dish with the frozen sauce and microwave for 3-5 minutes [or until tender--microwaves vary], stirring half way through. Carrots are so good if you cook them like this, and then drizzle with a mixture of honey and a little crushed ginger).

Here are some MUST HAVES (hot sauce & cruched ginger from Christpher Ranch--I love the CR garlic, too). We love them!(we have found that if food is flavorful, it's more satisfying--kimchi is a great example: lots of flavor, very satifying, but it's really just cabbage!)

Never Too Young

Rich and I have this running joke about assisted living (actually, it's not a joke because we are freaking SERIOUS): the very second we are eligible, we are moving in! We can't wait!

And we cannot for the life of us figure out why people want to live alone in the middle of nowhere when they are 80-something and in precarious health. I love the idea of having lot of Yahtzee partners around, being able to choose to make dinner or go downstairs to the in-house Luby's, not having to take care of a yard, and having medical care within 100-yards at all times. I may feel differently when I'm 59, but right now, its sounds AWESOME.

So you can imagine how loud I laughed when I saw this excellent Anne Taintor magnet (above). She is fabulous; I love her stuff. Take a peek. I'll be making more "A.T." dedications in coming weeks--but this one goes out to my husband. Hunny, sorry I can't check you in to assisted living for your birthday this year (his bday is 6/18!)....but you're one year closer!