Hot Meal for a Cold Day

I keep losing this recipe on my computer, so I am going to post it here, then I can find it and you can, too!

***

RL Ranch Cookhouse Chili

2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 large onion, coarsely chopped, plus more for garnish (optional)
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 to 2 teaspoons chili powder
3 tsp brown sugar (Optional--this gives a more barbecue-ish flavor)
1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
1 pound ground beef
One 28-ounce can whole tomatoes, crushed
One 15-ounce can kidney beans, not drained
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper

Grated cheddar, for serving (optional)
Sour cream, for serving (optional)
Chopped onion, for serving (optional)

-Heat oil in a large saucepan. Add garlic and onion, and cook until onions are translucent, about 5 minutes. Add cumin and chili powder; cook, stirring, for 1 minute.
-Add beef, and cook until browned, about 6 to 8 minutes. Add green pepper, and cook for 2 minutes.
-Add tomatoes, beans and their liquid, and cook until thickened, 35 to 45 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.


Just Like Marie’s Cornbread

SERVES 6
1 cup flour
1 cup cornmeal
2/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 egg
1 cup milk
1/3 cup oil

Mix dry ingredients together in large bowl.
Mix wet ingredients in another bowl; then combine with dry and stir till combined. Pour into ungreased 8x8” pan and bake 20-25 min at 400°F.

More Than a Week Ago...

...1. we took down this cute sign that the kids made for us with Grandma.2. It was my brother Sam's 31st birthday (Yay, Sam) and this week he found out that his wife is carrying a MAN child (Yay, Seamus)

3. While Daddy was at Priesthood meeting, we put up the Halloween decorations and the kids dressed up in last year's costumes.
Sillies!
Eerie orange lights and spiders' webs in the front window
Bee, Punkin & Ladybug LOVE!

Monday: FHE with Geese

For Family Night, we went to the firefighter's pancake supper, then we took some leftover pancakes across the street to the lagoon and fed the crazy geese.


It was so beautiful...

***
Tuesday night, Addie did her reading time with her siblings and it was so cute (she's so "teacher-ish" and bossy with them, but they all LOVE it).

Friday: Cookie Stealers

Heidi trying to look innocent with cookie on her mouth
Gotcha!
Heidi reading to James
Cookie Stealers being silly

Saturday in Bozo

It started snowing late Thursday night and it didn't stop until Sunday morning, so we were a little concerned about Richard being in charge of the Emergency Prep Fair in Bozeman (which is only 20 miles away, but through a mountain pass). We drove over Friday night and stayed at the Comfort Inn there with the kids. We swam and ordered pizza and watched ET while Rich set up Friday night, and then we dropped him off at the Stake Center early Saturday morning and had tons of fun in Bozo (well, as much fun as we coudl have as we were coming down with colds).

First we picked out Halloween costumes--this is the first year I copped out and bought them instead of getting creative or buying them the year before, but it's been a busy summer and fall, y'all! So Ad chose a bride costume, Heidi chose a Super Girl costume (and it is SO HER!), and James chose a knight costume (his costume didn't come with a sword, which makes me so sad that we decided against buying the little wooden one at the souvenir shop at Edinburgh Castle!).

Next, we went to Target and got some new snow gear for Heidi and James. Of course Heidi wandered off like she ALWAYS does at Target, but we found her snarfing Oreos after a brief CODE YELLOW (Thanks, Target employees). I wish Target had a clink for naughty kids. Anyway, we used James' birthday gift card from Nana to take some of the sting out of buying two new coats and a pair of snowpants (and two of those adorable $5 Halloween shirts--so cute!).

After Target, we spent an hour at The Children's Museum of Bozeman, which recently moved into a Bavarian-looking building SE of where it used to be. The kids had tons of fun there...

Addie sticking her face over the wind machine
hilarious!
I couldn't tear James away from the Isle of Sodor train set!
(next time you see him, make him say "Sir Top'em Hat"--you won't be disappointed!)
Heidi liked coloring and spinning the rice wheels
Addie had fun on the i-macs playing Kaleido-draw.
***
After the museum, we met Daddy at the Stake Center and had lunch there. From 2-3pm, we helped him clean up the fair, and then we left for home (we were worried the pass would be closed, but we made it!)

My little sleepies on the way home
How Bozeman Pass looked on Saturday afternoon.

First Big Snowfall of Autumn '08

Addie & her snow "sculpture"
Addie sitting in a drift (with dead sunflowers behind her)
Heidi trying to walk in a drift
Heidi cracking up, as she is wont to do
Our little porch has a hat on!
The snow drifted in the oddest places...here's a drift swooping off the roof on the NW side of the house.
***
I kept the kids home from church today because they have bad coughs (and then church was cancelled anyway) but I couldn't resist letting them jump in that fabulous new snow!

Post Script

I have some conference thoughts I need to collect and post, but wasn't it great? President Monson's last talk felt like a hug; Elders Holland and Eyring touched my heart as usual; Elder Bednar moved me deeply to start spiritually creating my day with morning prayers in a way that I had never considered before. I am sooooo thankful for all the counseul and reassurance received this weekend!

Also--does anyone else wish that Elder Uchdorf would say, just once, "Now's the time on conference when we dance!"--or even "Now's the time on conference when we pray," or something Sprocket-ish like that?

My Heck

So Rich is heading up our Stake Emergency Preparedness Fair in Bozeman this weekend. He had to go on the local am radio talk show on Monday and talk about it--he even took calls! We were so proud of him--he sounded so smart-yet-sweet over the radio and had lots of good info to share. I think this year, more than ever, people need to learn about preparedness, especially financial preparedness, although it may be a little late for that.

We were riding the Underground one morning in London and noticed that all the papers that people were reading had panicky headlines about the financial crisis. We thought it was interesting that this thing is indeed global. We also talked about how blessed we are to have counsel and guidance to get us through these times with peace and confidence. Of course there will be sacrifices to make, of course we will feel the pinch in certain areas of our lives, but we know that our home is safe, that our health and our food storage are in good order, etc. We feel concern, but not panic, and that's because the prophets and scriptures are true: "If ye are prepared, ye shall not fear."

We watched Glenn Beck on DVR this morning and he echoed our concerns well. I couldn't find a video clip, but if you click HERE, you can read the transcript of the show. The first few paragraphs really got to me and I think it's important to hear this view even if you don't agree with it. I , for one, (and Glenn, for two) believe this stupid bail out and crisis could be the end of capitalism as we know it. And if you think that's okay, you're WRONG. There are plenty of socialist nanny states you can move to if you believe that, but where are we fiercely independent capitalists supposed to go if the U.S. caves, tramples the consitution, and becomes just like wussy Europe? We've gone as far west in search of freedom as we can go, people (well, I suppose we can move to Alaska and secede; heck, Montanans are so sick of the feds, we may secede ourselves--then I won't have to move at all, and y'all can come live at the ranch!) There has to be one bastian of independence, at least one city on a hill where we can decide how to live our lives without constant supervision and intervention. While I feel a sense of peace, I wonder what my fellow Americans are thinking and wonder where the majority is going to steer this country ("Hey, where are we going? And why are we in this handbasket?").

Again, I can't overstate the moderation I feel in my opinions, but I think it's important to hear all views. So in addition to the poo we're seeing in the MSM and the line of bologna from Dubya, the fed, Barney Frank & friends, and from the presidential candidates, take a few minutes to look into THIS theory. It's out there, and I absolutely, unequivocally refuse to believe the 9/11 conspiracy part (--I think it WAS the event the NWO guys were waiting for, but I don't beleive it was orchestrated by the US--) but everyday the idea of the whole NWO/ global government seems more plausible, even possible (example: yesterday's suggestion of global currency--WHAT? The day we agree with France is the day I'm OUTTA HERE!). I'm just saying awake and arise from the dust and be [wo]men--fight to keep what we have, don't sell out our liberty for security.

End of rant. :)

Now it's time for our family preparedness theme song:

On This Date in History...

16 YEARS AGO, I entered the Empty Sea (MTC) to prepare to serve in the North Carolina Raleigh Mission. WOW! What an old lady I am.

Even better news... our favorite Euro-photos are now uploaded as slideshows at euromelin! YAY! You can watch the slideshows small within the blog posts or you can double click on the screen--it will open to picasa--then click the green arrow in the upper left that says "slideshow" and it will show you the full-screen version. ENJOY!

What Was I Thinking?

They say that east-to-west jet lag is easier to deal with than west-to-east, which makes sense, but for some reason, I cannot get my clock adjusted to home time! I wake up around 4 or 5 every morning and I can hardly see straight by dinner time. I'm dying!


For some reason I assumed I'd be fine and scheduled the kids' well child check ups and flu vaccinations for 11 hours after I arrived home (huh?), so that kept me up Thursday. And then I volunteered to chaperone Addie's field trip to Rocky Creek Farm on Friday. While I was so happy to go, I was really draggin' booty! When I picked up Heidi and James and we all came home around 3:30, I just changed in to my pajamas and forced myself to stay awake until 6:30 or so. Rich brought home pizza and a DVD for the kids, and I was gone to the world. Of course this is not helping me transition very well, but it sure felt good to SLEEP!

I have also drunk more than three gallons of water since I got home, so I think I came home pretty dehydrated. They don't believe in drinking plain water over the pond, so when I did get a drink, it was usually a caffeinated beverage which only added to the problem. Erin did have water at her house and I drank tons, but apparently not enough. I am so glad to have a quiet conference weekend to recouperate!

I am working on the promised photo updates. I will post the photos on euromelin as I get them cropped. As it is (at 8:20am on Saturday) I have been up working on photos for three hours!

For now, though, I must post the adorable photos of Addie's field trip--it was such a perfect fall day, and I LOVED being there with my little group of cute first graders!

Addie & her classmate, Jake, at the RCF sign
Addie's class waiting for their hayride on the haystack
Addie & her classmate, Azalea
Addie amongst her classmates
On the Hayride
My little gang (minus Rylee, our neighbor, who was tying his shoe) at the pumpkin patch:

Jake, Azalea, Casey, and Addie

My group (minus Casey this time) beating up a scarecrow: Rylee, Azalea, Scarecrow, Addie, and Jake As we walked through the raspberry patch, it got very overcast, but in never rained on us!
A beautiful scene at Rocky Creek Farm

(our town is about 15 miles in the distance there)

All the kids brought apples to make cider. Here's Addie putting her apples in the grinder.
Addie watching the grinder
All those apples (about 70) made a gallon of cider
The cider press
After making cider, the kids played on the haystack and in the teepee for about a half hour.

Addie got a bunch of them to be "roosters"

(Brylea, Kendall, Kalob, Addie, Robert, Jolene, Rylee)

Addie & her pal, Casey

***

Happy Fall, Y'all!

Home. YAY!

After nearly missing our plane at Heathrow (we checked in an hour late--a story I'll tell later), we had a smooth and enjoyable trip back over the pond. I am pleased to say that I have no anxiety about traveling at all anymore, so the trip home was much more relaxing than the trip out.

Grandma Melin had the kids nap so they could meet us at 11pm at the Bozeman Airport. It was so awesome to see them again! We must have just sat on the floor and hugged for five minutes! We were all snuggled down in our big king log bed by 12:30am, MDT--only 25 hours after we woke up in Beck Row and headed down to London! Phew!

When I catch up with my jet lag, I will finally crop and post all the pix I wanted to post, especially of the last leg of our trip with the Caspers. It was lovely in every way and we loved being with them and their fun friends, and we loved the spirit of the UK.

We are so happy to be home and even more grateful for the life we have in Montana, but we enjoyed our adventure (and one another's company) so much!