Making homework fun with puffpaint

Olivia did not want to do her homework ...until we got out the puffpaint. Then it was fun!

We will be who we've always been

It's so easy to judge people and think everyone else's life is so much easier than my own. I went out last night with a friend (who I'm just starting to get to know). She lives in a million-dollar home and seems to have more money than I can imagine. I think it's easy to start thinking "oh, if only my life was as easy as so-and-so" but "so-and-so's" life may not always be what you think.
So she started telling me about her childhood, that her dad was an alcholic, abused her mother, left when she was 2. She wasn't saying it like she felt sorry for herself, she was just telling her story as someone might relate the places they lived when they were younger. Her mother married a few years later to a good man. One Saturday a few days after they were married, he told his wife and 4 girls he would take them all out for breakfast. He hopped in the shower, had a massive heart-attack and died. My friend was in 4th grade. Her mom worked temp jobs all her life, moving her 4 girls like a gyspy all over the country. She fell behind in school and grew a dislike for it because of always moving around. Her real dad, when he would take them for the weekends, told them he wished he never had them and didn't know what to do with them. And here she is, sitting accross the table from me, positive, happy, talking lovingly about her husband and 6 (!) kids. Life is good, she says. She just doesn't understand why her dad hasn't ever seen it that way, and doesn't appreciate the adults they've become.
Just goes to show we have personalities that were formed before we came here to earth and while parenting and upbrining affects us, we will be who we've always been.

I gave in

I don't usually by my kids toys for no reason (birthday,  Christmas, etc.) But we were at the 29th street mall in Boulder at a toy store and found this cool track.  Evan was medmerized and I couldn't resist. He needs something to do while the girls are at school.  He starts in 2 weeks but just mornings.

Evan having fun at back-to-school night

Lettuce Wraps

Oh, and I forgot to post about the lettuce wraps. They were awesome. I forgot to take a picture, but they were unbelievable good and I will make them again. Delish.

Sunday night

Whew. What a weekend. I'm exhausted, but posting. I'm laying here in Olivia's bed typing from my nexus. The reason my eyes are shut in the picture is the bright flash in a dark room.
Olivia's baptism was today and it went really well. My parents both spoke and Emily sang. I made brownies. Griff and Michelle and their four kids and Taylor's brother Jordan all came too. And several families from the ward. The room was packed.
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If you want to get your honey to do some things around the house, make him a honey do list. Then invite your parents to town. And watch how fast he gets stuff done;). This was Taylor the morning my parents came. Busily working on the list so he could cross things off. He even did a few extras so he could write them on and cross them off. Just for extra points. And when my dad said,"I see you've got a honey do list" I look over and see Taylor smiling with satisfaction at all the crossed-off items. Yep, that's my man.
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Okay, what's worse, seeing a bedroom scene (pg-13) with your parents or your inlaws? At 32 I'd still prefer not to believe my parents actually do that. J/k but really. Gross. We watched Blinside last night which is a really good movie but maybe as a rule don't watch movies with bedroom scenes with your parents. Or inlaws.

Primary temple trip

I took our primary kids on a temple trip last Saturday. The weather was perfect and the kids had a good time. 

Mertle Moose Wins the Lottery

When Mertle Moose had something on her mind, which was often, she starred up at the clouds. On a particularly cloudy day in October, she was gazing up at the sky when her sister Maggie wandered over. "What are you thinking about?" Asked Mertle. "Oh, just daydreaming." Mertle mused. "Maggie, have you ever wondered what it would be like to live somewhere else? Somewhere exotic and far away like.. oh, perhaps Kansas or Kentucky or maybe Conneticut?"

"Never did wonder." Maggie said in between bites of scrub oak. "We've got everything we need right here." Mertle looked from Maggie to the clouds. She dreamt of a bustling city with tall buildings that reached the sky and she dreamt of living next to an ocean and feeling the cool salty breeze on her face. She could see all kinds of different places in the clouds.

"Well someday I might go." Said Mertle to no one in particular. "Hmph. Impossible." Mertle heard a voice say. It was her sister Marge, behind a pine tree. Myna wondered what everyone was talking about so she wandered over too. "How would you ever get there?" She asked. "I'd take a bus, or a train, or maybe a taxi" replied Mertle with a faraway look in her eye. "That's nice" her sisters said. But none of them believed her.

She didn't exactly have a plan, but she decided she would start in the morning. So the next morning, she said goodbye to her sisters and set off down the side of the mountain. When all the cars were gone she started crossing the road.

But something in the road caught her eye. It was red and had numbers on it. Mertle picked it up with her teeth. I'm going to hold on to this she thought. "I don't know how, but a red ticket with numbers on it must mean something."

Mertle continued across the road and into the forest of pine trees down the mountain. After walking for a few miles, she saw a gas station and decided she should ask someone what this ticket could mean. So she went inside with the ticket in her teeth. A few people ran away. Some took pictures. The man behind the registers cleaned off his glasses and put them back on. Mertle slowly walked over to the counter and set her ticket down. "Well I'll be darned" said the man behind the register. "It's a lottery ticket."

"And they're about to read them off" said a customer, who was watching the TV. "And the winning number is...9855677" said the announcer. That was the number on Mertle's ticket. "You won, you won!" the man behind the counter yelled. Mertle didn't know what any of this meant but it seemed the red ticket with numbers did mean something. "Call the nightly news, call the newspaper, call the lottery!"

Next thing Mertle new she was on a bus, with her ticket, and riding to a place called L.A. When she got there, there were cameras flashing everywhere. Everyone wanted pictures and interviews with the moose who won the lottery. Mertle was having the time of her life. There were people in fancy suits who took her to swanky restaurants. She got to ride in a bus, a train and a taxi.

"Well, here I am" thought Mertle as she looked around. "I'm someplace exotic. There's lots of strange people and tall buildings and all kinds of things I never even imagined." She walked through the crowded street to her hotel, smelling roasted peanuts and hearing sirens and feeling a little dizzy. She rode the elevator up, up and up.

Back in her hotel room, the lottery prize was delivered just as they had told her. It was piles and piles of green paper. Cash, they called it. "What's a moose supposed to do with piles of cash?" Mertle asked no one in particular. She thought for a minute then her stomach growled. "Maybe it tastes good" so she ate it.

"Yuck" she said after a few mouthfulls. Which reminded her, she really missed the scrub oak and water lilies and Aspen trees and especially her sisters. She left most of the piles of green paper in the room. "Maybe the housekeeper will want it" she thought to herself.

She picked up some of the green paper in her teeth, just in case it was lucky. And she headed back into town. She found a bus that said, "Out West" and there was where she was headed so she climbed on and dropped the green paper onto the busdrivers lap, like she saw someone else do. He looked up with big eyes and started driving. "Must be lucky green paper" she thought.

When he dropped her off, she was so happy to be back home that she ran all the way up the mountain, back to her sisters, back to the aspens and to everything familiar. "Look who's back" said Marge. "We missed you" said Myna. "We were worried about you" said Maggie. Mertle was glad to be back home. Now she would think of adventures that were close to home, becauase that is where she wanted to stay. Maggie was right, she did have everything she needed right here.

I have a new technique for cleaning out your computer tower. Well, new to me- maybe someone else out there is as crazy as me. Forget the wimpy little air can. Take the thing out in your backyard (or front yard for all the neighbors to see). Grab your power blower and extension cord. Take the side off (duh) and blow 'er out. Works great. Much better than the can. You can really see the dust fly.

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Today I was running around town this morning, doing my usual erands (bank, Cartridge World, post office, etc.) when I thought to myself, "I must be loosing wieght, my pants are feeling really roomy". After all my erands I am driving home and glance down in my lap and guess what? My fly's undone. Awesome. We're talking totally unzipped. These are linen pants and there's a button at the top- the only reason they stayed on. I'm on a first name basis with all most everyone off all the places that I ran erands because I'm always in- you'd think someone would say something. Nothing like running around with an unzipped fly for the ego.

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My parents came into town this afternoon for Olivia's baptism on Sunday. I made a delicious dinner of braised beef with garlic over rice and squash from the garden. Then we went to the Cheesecake Factory in Boulder for -you guessed it- cheesecake. We got 5 different kinds and I'd have to say my favorite was the Godiva, but then I am partial to chocolate. Tommorrow morning we're headed up to RMNP way up to the top, Trail Ridge Road. I'm glad we live so close to the mountains, mostly for Taylor's sake because I think he'd go nuts if he didn't have the mountains to escape to weekly. If it weren't for me he'd probably be a forest ranger living in a trailer in some national park- and perfectly happy.

PF Changs Lettuce Wraps

I will make these Saturday and post results.

PF Chang's Lettuce Wraps Recipe

Pouring sauce
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup warm water
2 tablespoons gluten free tamari (or regular soy sauce if you're not concerned about gluten)
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons ketchup
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon hot water
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
2 cloves garlic, minced

Chicken Stir-fry
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons sesame oil
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cubed to 1/2″
1 – 8oz can sliced water chestnuts, minced to the size of corn kernals
1/2 cup mushrooms, minced to the size of corn kernals
1/2 onion, chopped fine
3 cloves garlic, minced fine
6 large leaves of iceberg lettuce or nappa cabbage

Stir-fry sauce
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon rice wine vinegar

Begin by making the pouring sauce. In a large bowl, dissolve sugar in 1/2 cup warm water, then add soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, ketchup, lemon juice and sesame oil. Mix well and throw in the fridge until you're ready to eat.

Combine 1 teaspoons hot water with dijon mustard and garlic and set this aside in small bowl.

Combine oils and add to wok or large frying pan. Heat oil over high heat until it glistens, about one minute. Add chicken and saute until cooked through, then remove from the pan and cool. Keep oil in the pan, keeping it hot over a low flame.

Prep the stir fry sauce by mixing soy sauce, brown sugar, and rice vinegar in a small bowl.

Take pan that you cooked the chicken in (with the still warming oil, riiiight?) and turn it up to medium-high heat. Add another tablespoon of olive oil to the pan, wait one minute, and then add chicken, garlic, onions, water chestnuts, mushrooms, and the stir-fry sauce you prepared earlier. Stir-fry everything until the mushrooms have cooked, about four minutes, and remove to a serving dish.

Add mustard/garlic mixture to the pouring sauce, 1/2 a teaspoon at time to taste.

My two favorite men sacked out after a long day

Happy Birthday Olivia!!!

Ice cream sandwiches in the mountains

Taylor and I in Jackson Hole

Taylor and I went to Jackson Hole this last week. All by ourselves. My mom came from Texas (where my parents are living at the moment) to watch the kiddos. That was the first time she's watched them for more than a few hours. I think we might make this a yearly tradition, Taylor and I going to the Tetons. We did a 20-mile hike in Paintbrush canyon and Cascade Canyon. We started at String Lake. This was really our first backpacking trip together. We've done day hikes and car camping, but never a 3-day backpacking trip like this. After the second day Taylor told me he decided I was a keeper. 12 years, 3 children and a dental practice together. But it was the hike that sealed the deal.

It was really good to get away from everything that fills my life for a few days. It's healthy to take a break once in a while from EVERYTHING (even our lovely children) and just be in nature. It was so beautiful there. Our friend Rob came with us too. It was supposed to be Rob and Shauna but for now it's just Rob. They're separated but he came anyway. Taylor's known Rob longer than he's known me. I think it was good for Rob to get away too. I hope he and Shauna can work things out. It made me think about Taylor and me. I know I've been frustrated with him before and sometimes get really mad but I'd have to say that through it all I've never wanted to split up. We have our differences, trust me, but we're still two peas in a pod. I can't imagine being with anyone else or being without him. And I know he feels the same.

When we got up to Lake Solititude we were hot and sweaty and the lake looked so inviting. From a distance. So we decided to jump off a rock into the glacial water. Taylor didn't hesitate, just jumped right in. Rob stood there for a good 3 or 4 minutes then jumped. Then I came over fully intended to plunge but had to stand there for a few minutes too. Then I jumped. It was take-your-breath-away cold. Refreshing though.

Last night we lay in bed, me drifting off to sleep. Then he says,"you could just go for months and months without it, couldn't you?". Uh-oh.. guess I'm not going to sleep after all. "It's only been 4 days" I protest. "Seems like months to me", he says, snuggling up. He could definatly not be separated from me for more than 4 days. This makes me smile.

Olivia and Lucy at Elithces

We're so sad Lucy and her family are moving:(.  They're good friends.  Now we'll have penpals in Pheonix.