Wednesday, June 20, 2007
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!
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!
Monday, June 18, 2007
um, hi...
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...
Friday, June 15, 2007
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Perfect Day
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!
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
What's Cookin'
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 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!)
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Never Too Young
Monday, June 11, 2007
I'm Everywhere...
I've blogged at Segullah today...take a peek.
I forgot to tell the blogosphere that I started working at the Comfort Inn 3-4 evenings per week from 5:30-8:30om to help with check-ins in the busy summer months. It's the perfect little job for me and I quite like being the hostess-type person in any situation, so it's been fun so far. We'll see how I juggle it with the family & home stuff, too.
We still have no chorister in Primary and only half a pianist (she's gone a lot) and we are fresh out of musical talent in our ward, so I am struggling to do the music in there. It's new to me and it's kinda hard to juggle with the secretary job and having James in there, but we are getting by.
I'm pretty busy but life is good. I'll try to post pix and tell some stories soon. In the meantime, happy family night and have a good week!
Friday, June 08, 2007
Well, Whataya Know?
So, this is off the topic, but I thought I would say I enjoyed your COVER article on mormonchic.com! I go there every so often to see what they have and I was so happy to see your article!! It was very well written and what I need to be reminded of everyday, but especially today. Thank you! And since I am commenting I should also say that I heart your new banner. I was in Tucson last weekend and stopped by the East Stake center and thought of you! :)
Awww...thanks Steph! I think of you as a missionary when I go to Missouri, and try to imagine you have a dinner appointment with my parents, or imagine you throwing sandbags up to save the Arch from the flood of '93! Anyway, I did not know that mormonchic was re-publishing that article I wrote almost three years ago. Cool Thanks for the heads up! I have been so busy at Segullah, I haven't checked Mormonchic in a long time. Viva the 'zines for LDS mujeres! I urge you to click around those links and get inspired. And if you or anyone you know has some gospel perspective to share, Segullah is accepting submissions until Sept. 7 for our Spring Issue, "Roots & Branches."
PS: I miss you, Steph!
FAMILY LETTER 07.28.19
Dear Loved Ones, We have just ...