James & The Otter Pop

Otter Pops became the cuisine du jour last week (5/10-11) when Jill was here and everyone was throwing up. James tried one for the first time (video courtesy of Jill)...






James & an Otter Pop from MelinFamily on Vimeo

All I Ever Knew...

Let me preface this post by acknowledging my dear friends who wish to be Mothers and are not, and/or who have lost their mothers and grandmothers. I always think about you on Mother's Day and remember the little squeeze my heart would feel each Mothers Day in my 20's when I thought I might never be a mother. Thank you for your influence in my life and for blessing my kids' lives, too.

Mothers, Grandmothers, Sisters, Aunts, Girlfriends, Stepmothers...enjoy.

Happy Mother's Day

(I know--JCPenney? Really? But it's such a great commercial, and this version of the song is so beautiful when you imagine it's about mothers!)

PS: Read THIS (click).

Dear Gabriel:

I had a great post planned for your birthday, I really did. Aunt Jill and I even talked about it. But you wanna know how we celebrated? Yep, Bowing to the porcelain god. Everybody over here got a wicked Norvirus and our tummies are still queasy! Shucks. But I hope it was an AWESOME day in your world and you can thank us later for NOT coming to visit you, cuz this virus stinks.

Happy Birthday, you big teenager!

Love, Aunt Jamie

Real Quick

Jill is here with her four kids--spur-of-the-moment fun surprise for Mothers Day! YAY! So I am going to be brief and share some pix from our Sunday walk: Going up the hill on Summit street with our house inthe background. Addie is pushing the kids in the bike trailer and I am talking to mom on the cell phone.
This is our town from the hill by our house. You can see I-90, The Melin Agency, and Dairy Queen (owned by a family in our ward) from this angle.
This is looking south of town toward Paradise Valley...so pretty.
And to cheer up your hump day, here's my sweet, smiley boy!

Have a Happy Wednesday! We're off to have some Cousin Fun!

Behold the Cuteness, Old School Edition

Tom Melin, 1950
Rosalie Melin, 1951

Last night we had a Family Home evening honoring Grandpa & Grandma Melin-- it was partly for Mother's Day (Mom Melin's gift last year was dinner and Family Home Evening with us the first Monday of every month for a year-- this would technically be the end of that gift, but we decided to keep up the tradition as long as we can) and partly for teachign our kids family history and learning more about Grandpa and Grandma.

With the help of Rich's far-flung siblings, we made a pretty little scrapbook of favortie memories with Grandma & Grandpa, including letters and photos and interviews with the grandkids (#11 was just born this week--eleven grandkids in less than 5-1/2 years!). Then I printed out some pictures of them as kids and had the kids guess who was in the pictures. When the kids figured out that we were talking about grandpa & grandma, we played a game. The kids drew cards that had statements on them like, "I was born on June 10 1947 in Lewistown, Montana" or "My dad's name was George" or "I married Rosalie Dotson on September 1, 1966" or "I love to eat popcorn!" They had to figure out who made the statement--grandpa or grandma. It was pretty cool. Addie actually remembers a lot of the facts.

Here's the game board--please note that their anniversary is wrong here--it's 9/1/66, and I totally know that--I don't know why I wrote the zero in my delirium!

The dinner was delicious! I made up a recipe for pork roast which I will now share cuz it rocked:

Pork Tenderloin Roast

olive oil

salt & pepper
1/2 yellow onion

1/2 apple, sliced in wedges

worcestershire sauce

Dorothy Lynch salad dressing
a little water

***

Spray your crock pot with PAM, throw in sliced onion. Grease up your roast with olive oil and cut 4 slits across the top deep and long enough to fit the apple wedges. Then sprinkle a few tablespoons of W. sauce over the roast and in slits, put apple wedges into slits. Pour about 1 cup of Dorothy Lynch dressing over the top of the roast, then salt and and pepper. Put on the lid and cook on low for 5 hours, adding water every two hours or so to keep moist.

The drippings made a tasty gravy over rice, and Angie made some delicious rolls. We also had Costco's Parisienne salad (with the feta, cranberries and candied nuts-- yum!) and mom's choclate chip cookies and ice cream bars for dessert. It was great fun and all the cousins had a great time together (but we missed Liana, Sariah, Jared, TJay, Summer, and Matthew!). I am so grateful to have such awesome in-laws! I love that my kids have such rich heritage on all branches of their family tree.

Couch Potatoes

We recently purchased a dirt cheap set of DVDs featuring old skool cartoons like Popeye and Betty Boop. Our girls are instantly sucked into the 1930's tracter beam, which is perfect for when I need computer time or time to cook dinner...
I like this photo just to compare their profiles....look at Addie's cute little Melin lip and Heidi's playdoh nose! Cutie pies.

I also took in a little TV this week--a lot, actually, with The Mormon Show on PBS, plus American Idol and Must-See on Thursday. And here is what I have to say about that:

1. BLAKEIFY: To make something lame (like a mushy country song or an 80's hairband hit) into something hip-hoppity-jazz-cool with some beat boxin' mixed in, 311 style. Okay, I LOVED Blake Lewis' version of Bon Jovi's "You Give Love a Bad Name" so much, I have probably watched it 10 times. It sounded very 311 (I saw 311 back in 1997 and the lead singer was way cuter than he is in this video...I loved thier muzak, but they were way too drug-culture for me) to me and I find Blake thoroughly entertaining and original (at least by American Idol standards). Look:

2. Scrubs (click here) just about broke my heart. You probably know from reading this blog that I feel a kinship to the cast of Scrubs as if we had all grown up together. Seriously. Something about the show (maybe that the writers are all the same age as me?) just hits my young adulthood nail right on the head. So this past epoisode when Eliot gets engaged and JD is trying super hard to get with her friend, and then he asks himself why he's trying so hard, then answers his own question with the heartwrenching "It should have been me"-- UGH! I felt that! I know I have felt that and I know I made someone else feel that when I got hitched (I 've got it in writing). I wish I could fast forward and see what's going to happen, cuz JD still has that baby out there somewhere with that lyin' urologist from last season...

WHAT!?! Did you just tell me to get a life? Okay, okay...I have one, but I was taking a break this week to get over my chest cold! Gimme a break...I have to stop thinking deep thoughts SOMETIME!

Heh-heh.

PS: Happy Saturday, y'all...git your BelBivDeVoe on.

Ah, Friday...

I took a much-needed nap today, hoping while I was asleep the homemaker's elves would come finish my work so I could enjoy the weekend, but those chumps never showed!

It's not so bad here--just some clothes to fold and floors to clean. I have been busy getting ready for the elders Quorum family party tonight--"Fiesta Quatro de Mayo," a Mexican potluck-n-pinata extravaganza. Being the First Lady of the Elders Quorum (okay, there are no ladies in the EQ, but I help my husband be their President) I felt the need to make a giant and fabulous pot of Tortilla Soup, complete with diced avocados and homemade tortilla strips. The girls and I also had lots of fun making huge tissue flowers for the tables. Ole!

Also, ON THIS DATE IN HISTORY...

(2004, to be exact), my niece Summer Melin was born in Texas (she and Heidi were due the same day!). She now lives in North Dakota with her two brothers and has a full time job being Cute and Sassy.

Happy 3rd Birthday, Sum-sum!

Guess what Summer got for her birthday? A COUSIN! Yep, Rich's OTHER brother and his wife welcomed new baby Jared to their family today. He has two big sisters (and we mean much bigger and a little older--his two-year-old sister weighed over 9 pounds at birth, but little Jared only weighed 5-11!) and Uncle Mark sure is glad to have another man in the house!

Congratulations, Melins! Yay for sweet baby boys!

Apron Day

I recently learned that there are indeed other people under the age of 65 in this world who wear and even collect aprons.
I started my collection about 12 years ago and haven't added to it much lately, except for the fabulous set of bright matching handmade aprons my MIL made for me and my girls this past Christmas (see photo). Cjane declared this "Apron Week" on her blog and has been sharing apron memories all week. You should check them out (I LOVE the one about her mom wearing an apron everywhere and keeping a checkbook in the pocket--hilarious! It totally reminde me of Gramareee--whose aprons I inherited--wearing those snapping housecoats with a slip, knee-hi's, and Keds! AWESOME!).


Celeste Arnett Hall & Me cookin' back in 1999
Liz Kersey Dorathy servin' up buns-n-love, 1999

Dinner Club, 3/14/99: [clockwise] Miki Ogao, Liz, Matt McRae, Celeste & Ryan Hall,

Tom Hapgood, Nic Taylor, & Adriane Parry Hapgood

When I hosted dinner club, I used to make my freinds wear my aprons. These photos show some of my favorite people sporting some of my favorite aprons. The brownish one that Grandma Lyn gave me is still the one I use the most. I have another one from World Market made from the same fabric as my kitchen curtains (which are really World Market dish towels) that I use a lot but don't have a photo of.

So...now you all know that I collect aprons. I also collect postcards and stationery, so if you're ever wondering what to get me, or if you ever see a fabulous apron or postcard, bring it on, y'all! I'd be a grateful recipient.

Got any apron memories? What do you collect?

11:20am on Wednesday...

...and Heidi is just wandering aroud the house with her mega blocks chanting, "Order in the court, order in the court..."

11:21am: Now it's "Order in your car! Order in your car!"

How 'bout order in your room, missy? Or maybe order in your brain?

Heh, heh.

Here's another Heidism (while watching "Little Einsteins", the Rossini episode):
"See that, mom? They found the Panda Bear. They followed his Putt-frints...see? There's putt-frints in the ground."

What I Did Not Have Time to Do...

All of Mormondom is a-buzz with discussion of Helen Whitney's "The Mormons" which aired the past two nights on PBS's Frontline and American Experience programs. On my satellite PBS channel, I don't get the second part until tonight, but I thought the first night was not so bad. Perhaps it's because I have heard all the crud and character attacks before, having served my mission in the south where, religiously, it's still the 1840's and I could easily be tarred and feathered (no offense, beloved Carolinians!).

Please click HERE to read the blog I wish I had time to write...I just kept saying amen to cjane's ideas as I read it this morning. I can't wait to watch the other half tonight. And just for the record, here is what I have to say about all the church history/Joseph Smith negativity (I said this to someone on my mission): EVEN IF all the things you are saying about Joseph Smith are true, my testimony still stands. Imperfect people are capable of doing great and divine things and bringing to pass lots of good. I try to. And personal life aside, what Joseph Smith restored and organized MAKES MY LIFE BETTER EVERY SINGLE DAY and BRINGS ME CLOSER TO GOD. Judge it by its fruits. End of story.

***
UPDATE: Here's a comment that was left at the Segullah blog mentioned above. I really love it and I have some loved ones who probably identify with it. YOUR THOUGHTS? Please comment.

This is such a great post! All too often it feels as though the members of the church are almost competing to be the “most perfect”. It’s nice for me to hear people admitting/accepting that the members of the church (including ourselves) are not perfect, and I’m sure it’s nice for investigators to hear as well.

I was raised in the church and sometimes it’s hard for me to deal with the “perfect person” attitude, imagine what it must be like for someone who is thinking about joining the church. I mostly base this on the fact that my ex-husband was investigating the church and I think (he never actually verbalized this) that he was scared away because he knew he’d never be able to do all the things he thought were absolutely necessary. Now, I’m not saying that all those things he thought were necessary aren’t things we strive for, but I think he felt if he couldn’t do them all perfectly he couldn’t be a member of the church. There are so many things, in hindsight, that I wish I could go back and tell him.

Here’s the member I am: I smoke and I’m inactive. Of course I want to
correct my problems (that’s only the two most noticeable), but they are my imperfections and they don’t stop me from believing 100% in the truth of the gospel. They don’t stop me from knowing that WITH the gospel and God’s help I will eventually be able to correct my imperfections. It doesn’t work the other way around…I can’t correct my imperfections and then start trusting in God and His gospel…believe me, I tried that.

Thanks for this wonderful, thought-provoking post.

Stayin' Alive

Photo courtesy of LauraJamie, Laura, Kristen, Sam & Jared on Jamie's porch 04.26.07

The Plague has spread to Heidi, who has a fever but no other symptoms besides a little sniffle and the grumps. We are having a jammie day, watching Playhouse Disney & PBSKids in bed, eating sliced fruit and juice and water and Tylenol and snuggling. I am a little better today (hooray for the upswing!), but I am savoring this time to snuggle my otherwise rambunctious Heidi-Lynners. I told Heidi she's probably sick from all the dirt she's eaten the past week. See her in action HERE at Laura's blog (great pix of their visit with us; scroll down to see crazy video).