Happy New Years!

Happy New Years Everyone! I hope everyone that is planning on partying tonight has a great and safe time!

We will be staying home and just celebrating with our family. We really are homebodies and enjoy spending time at home with our family.

Tomorrow I start my new quest to loose weight... a friend and I are going to do a "biggest looser" competition. We both have some extra weight on that we need to loose, so I'll eat junk food tonight for the New Year celebration, and then I'll be good and stay away from it for a while and hopefully with that and a bunch of exercise- loose this extra weight. :)

Merry Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas here at home with our little family, and a great relaxing weekend as well. I hope to get the pictures up on the family blog in the next few days.

I was thinking today that I didn't get any cards or christmas letter out. I'm sorry I didn't get it out to those who really enjoy receiving christmas cards and letters. I was talking to a friend and we were saying how that is a tradition that sadly seems to be dying down. In our parents time it was the important thing that I remember my mom making sure she got christmas cards out on time so they would reach their destinations before Christmas came. Many times it was one of 2-3 letters per year she would have or share with old friends and aquainances.

In this new age of internet and email and blogs and facebook- it seems less important to write out a letter about what our family has done in the past year. Most of the stories that might have been mentioned in a christmas letter are told in great detail on blogs and through emails.

So I did not get a christmas letter, or card sent out to our family and friends, but I want to share my love for all our family and friends. Merry Christmas to everyone. May the joy that we have felt this month as we celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ; be a joy that we can take with us throughout this coming year. May we keep his examples of love and charity with us through the cold dreary days of winter, and the sweltering days of summer. We have been given many blessings, and some of the greatest blessings we have are the love and friendships of our family and friends. Thank you for your love and friendship and I hope you had a wonderful Christmas!

Julie

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!

I got an early Christmas Present yesterday. A box was delivered with my name on it, and I had no idea what it was. So I put it aside to ask Rich about it when he got home. He said he didn't know what it could be, so we opened it up and to our great surprise found... The oven part!!!!!!!

So Rich was able to unplug all the wires to the old control panel, and plug them all into the new control panel...

And I get to bake today! WOOOO HOOO!!!!!!!!!


Merry Christmas everyone!!

It's been a week

I was so blessed last week by wonderful friends who had me bring over my laundry to wash at their houses.

I'm pleased to announce that today I'm back in the laundry buisness again. :) We just got our new washer and I've already got a load in it! :)

Now we just have to wait for the oven part to fix that appliance. Oh... I don't think I mentioned it on here, but the oven part is backordered until.....























jan 5th!!!!! I know, I cried when I heard that. I was a little depressed about it for a few days, but I'll survive. We will get through christmas without an oven, and still eat a bunch of yummy food.

I found a microwave cookbook in my cabinet the other day that I had forgotten we had, so I've been getting some ideas from that. I've made biscuits and cornbread in my electric skillet, and grilled cheesy garlic bread on the griddle... I've got friends passing me their tried and true and favorite crock pot recipe's, and generally I can make a regular meal off of the stove- so I've just been cooking as normal and trying to figure out optional ways to make our bread portions of meals- or skipping them.

Stop signs...

Okay... so somethings are speed bumps... and others are stop signs.

I've got a part ordered for the oven, we haven't gotten it yet, but hopefully it will be the right part, Rich can fix it and it will come soon.

Yesterday we discovered out Washing machine is broken... so there's a stop sign. I'm searching for a decent laundromat to use until will solve that problem and probably get a new washer. We've repaired this one so many times we don't feel it's worth putting any more money into it to repair it again.

Thanks for all the comments... I am waiting patiently until I get the oven fixed and then I'll probably go on a baking spree! :) So everyone that is local- watch out I may have to send my extra goodies to your houses. lol!

Speed bumps

We are all given speed bumps in life. Some are larger than others. Some we are able to slow down, but generally speed back up afterwards, and others are so large that if we try to barrel over them we take out the fender in our cars...

Today we were given a speed bump. And it's a small speedbump, but one that definitly bums me out. I didn't sleep well last night, and was laying in a bed with a little girl for about 2 hours and while I was laying there I thought- you know what... I'm going to make cookies tomorrow.

This morning we discovered that our oven wasn't working. Sometime in the middle of the night it stopped working. The display has gone out, and since that controls the oven, we are ovenless until that get's fixed.

So... no chocolate chip cookies, or sugar cookies for me today...

I can still make no-bake cookies though! :)

This speed bump should be short in the grand scheme of things. Hopefully my great fix-it hubbie can replace the part on his own and we can save the money the service call would have eaten up.

I'll just have to live without an oven for a little while.

Food

So this morning I was pulling out a tub of hazelnut cream cheese that I picked up at Panera Bread Co. this week. I've had a gift certificate in my wallet since APRIL that I finally got myself to stop in at Panera and use, and I got a dozen bagels and two tubs of cream cheese. Of course I had to get unique cream cheeses- Hazelnut, and Honey Walnut. I'm enjoying them and having bagels for breakfast this week instead of my normal bowl of cold cereal.



But... I'm rambling. As I pulled out the hazelnut cream cheese and slathered it on my chocolate chip bagel (doesn't that sound yummy! Not really a breakfast combination, but good nonetheless), I was thinking how much I LOVE the hazelnut flavor. I love nuttella- which is chocolate and hazelnuts. I buy the hazelnut creamer to add to my hot cocoa so I have hazelnut hot cocoa... and when I saw that they had hazelnut cream cheese, I had to choose that.



Then I thought. I love this so much, but I don't even know what a hazelnut looks like! Do you know what a hazelnut looks like?



Here they are:


So... what other food items do you LOVE the taste of, but have no idea what it looks like in it's original state?

Anyone??? Or am I the only one that had no idea what one of my favorite flavors came from. lol! :)

What I did today.

There's a popular email letter that goes around in "mom circles"... I think it might have originally been a cartoon or something?

Basically the premis is that a dad comes home from work one day and finds an absolute mess in the front yard, kids sitting in diapers and dirty clothes and the door is wide open.  Walking into the house the mess continues, and he finally finds his wife.  He asks her what happened, and she replies that normally each day he comes home to a generally clean house and generally clean kids and he asks her what she did that day... but it's hard to see what she had done.   She say's that today she did nothing...

Well the last few day's that's what I've done... Nothing... :)

Rich is a very understanding and patient and wonderful man, but I'm looking around the house today and I'm thinking that even his patience has some limits and I need to do Something today, that may look like I've gotten nothing accomplished at the end of the day, but it will keep our house from looking like a bomb of food and toys went off in it.

And perhaps some clean clothes in our room instead of in the laundry room would help too... :)

So... That's what I'm off to do... I'm sure everyone is so excited to hear about that. :)

Reflections

This summer I found out that a lot of old Highschool friends were on Facebook. The reunion commitee from a few years ago had even set up an account to pass information about the reunions in the future and to keep the class more informed and connected.


So I set up an account. At first I really didn't pay attention to it much. I checked it about once a month, even went two or three months between logging into it.

Then a good friend from Texas requested to be added to my "friends list", and I posted messages back and forth with her for a while, and then went back to my once a month checking again.

Slowly more and more friends from my past requested to be added to my friends list. I also through common friends found other old friends from HighSchool and requested to be added to their friends list. So Slowly I've added quite a few people to my facebook friends list.

I still don't get on it a lot, perhaps once a week or so to see what people have posted. This morning I went to it and a girl from highschool posted a bunch of old pictures of her and her friends from Jr High, and highschool. This girl and I weren't close friends, but we did things in groups together a lot, and some of the people in her pictures were good friends of mine. It was so fun to look back and see those pictures. It made me want to get my yearbooks out and look at them.

So... why am I posting about this? Well... it just got me thinking about my life. I remember my first crush. It was when I was in 5th grade! I went from crush to crush in my life until I was in 9th grade. Then in 9th grade I had my first "boyfriend". Nevermind that our relationship was basically us talking on the phone for hours each night and attending 3 church dances during the 2 or 3 months that we were "boyfriend/girlfriend" We only held hands and danced together with a balloon width between us. It was probably the first time in my life that I developed a friendship with a boy- thus... boyfriend. Then he moved away, and I moved away, and I went back to crushes from afar for a few years.

Then I got into Highschool, and I turned 16. Now all of a sudden I didn't have to have crushes from afar. I was 16 and I could date... right? Something magical happened in my life. Instead of jumping head first into dating, I became friends with a wonderful group of kids. A lot of them were dating, they paired off into couples and dates, but a lot of us weren't. We got together as friends to go to football games, and dances. I went to every single girl ask boy dance in highschool after I turned 16, but I only went to two dances that I was asked to go to. Prom, my Jr and Sr years. Of course I would have liked to have been asked to go to the other dances, but it really didn't bother me much. I had a great group of friends and I went out and did things with them at least once a week. I also had a part time job, and usually volunteered to work on nights of the dances I didn't get asked to. I was just a friend to everyone, and in retrospect it does sound a little sad, when I say that I was a "safe girl" in that if a guy friends girlfriend was out of town, I was safe and they could ask me to go with them to some activity and do something, and their girlfriend wouldn't get upset that they asked me out. Looking back it seems like maybe I was the ugly one of the group or something. lol! I don't think I was, I just think for me I just had the basis of friendship with these guys and there wasn't any connections more than friendship.

A sweet story that I should write down for my journals... As I said before I only got asked to two dances. The first one was Jr. Prom. I really really wanted to go to Prom. I didn't have anyone that I wanted to ask me, I didn't have any crushes or anything. I just wanted to go and have a fun time that evening. So, I prayed. I told my Father in Heaven that I would really like to go to this Prom and just have a fun evening with friends. I knew it was a small non-important event and that in the grand scheme of things it didn't really matter if I went to Prom or not, but that it was something I really would like to do and if he could help make it possible, I would be very grateful. The days were getting closer and closer to when the Prom was, and I still hadn't been asked. One evening, as I was resigned to the fact that I probably wouldn't go, a friend of mine called. He asked me if I would go to the prom with him. Of course I said yes. We went and we had a great time. There was no pressure, he was just a good friend and we were comfortable with each other and everyone in our group. Later I found out that he had been wondering who to ask, and then one night he had a dream and he was at prom with me. The next day was when he called and asked me to go to Prom.

That was a huge contrast to the next year. We were on our choir tour in Seattle. We were having a great time. One evening we were having a spaghetti dinner at a church building and we were all sitting at round tables, probably 8 of us at each table and talking. The talk turned to the upcoming prom and one of the guys at the table was quizzing everyone on who they were going with, and if the girls had already found their dresses etc... He got to me, and asked me who I was going with. I told him no one had asked me, so I guess I wasn't going. I wasn't really sad about it or anything... I had gone to prom the year before and I figured this year was someone elses turn to have a divinely inspired date. I was happy and fine not going. Well my friend was shocked! Everyone was used to me being at things, but no one had thought to ask me to the dance, and so he gave me one of the most embarrasing moments in my life and promptly stood up and announced to our entire choir (100+) that I needed a date to prom. The next night we were sightseeing on top of the space tower in Seattle, and I had a dozen roses delivered to me, and was asked to go to the Prom. The guy that asked me was an aquaintance, and not someone I particularly wanted to date, and we double dated with a friend and his date. It wasn't as comfortable of a time, but I probably wasn't the greatest date either, so it's too bad we weren't able to get past the ackwardness.

So why am I typing out this story now? This morning I was thinking about my relationships in life. How I was in highschool, how I was in College, and how I am now.

I was asked on a date twice in highschool. Then I went to college for a year and wasn't asked on any dates during that time. I still did group stuff with friends, but slowly the guys I was friends with in highschool, left on missions. The summer after my first year of college, my three best friends and I who had all lived at home for our freshman year, decided to move out and and live together in an apartment for the summer. During that time I had my first true boyfriend. We had a physical attraction, we flirted, and then we started dating. It was my first true dating experience of going out on a date with the same person more than once. At the time I thought I was head over heels in love with this guy... but in reality it was mostly a physical attraction. We formed a light friendship, but when he (and later I) came to realize that that's all there was, we broke up.

At the end of the summer I went back and lived at home again, but had made great friends in the apartment complex we had been in, and I started attending the student ward for that complex during the fall semester- even though I lived at home. I was at my friends apartments almost more often than I was home during that semester, and when one of the roomates in my friends apartment got engaged, I williningly took over her contract and moved into her spot in the apartment at the end of the semester. All of a sudden my dating life took off. I was being asked on dates 3-4 nights a week. Friday night, Saturday night, Sunday dinners, and even mid week dates. I seriously had never in my life had so many dates. I was being asked by friends and we went out once, and then a few other guys asked me out on dates a second or third time. It was still very much friendship dates and I was having a great time. For once in my life I felt like I wasn't just "the friend that a date was being found for to complete the group. I was being asked out... just me, and guys wanted to date "me"!

Of course that couldn't last forever. I happened to get set up with this guy for Cinderfella... we didn't hit it off... then I had a guy friend that really liked one of my friends, and I told him to get me a date, and he could ask my friend on a date and we would double. He just happened to be friends with this guy I was hooked up for for Cinderfella... so we went on a second date. I still wasn't that impressed, and still was dating lots of guys... Then this guy asked me out himself (I guess while I wasn't impressed, he was) and we went and had a great time. I still wasn't ready to stop seeing other guys, and thought this guy was kind of cool and we should pull him into our group and start inviting him to things. What my head thought, and what my heart was feeling were two different things I already was having the longing to just be around him. I did start inviting him to all sorts of things. Tunnel singing, caroling in our apartment, baking cookies. Soon the word got out that we were dating, and all the other calls for dates from other guys stopped. Rich and I dated for three and a half months before we kissed. We developed a wonderful friendship, and he became my best friend. We only needed another month or so until we knew that we loved each other and wanted to share our lives.

So this morning I saw those pictures from highschool and I became reflective. I realize now that those years in highschool when I didn't really date, those years are where I learned to just be friends with the guys. I developed friendships with them and I didn't hide behind crushes as I had when I was younger. I just got to know them as human beings with faults and strengths.

I'm enjoying interacting with a lot of these guys again. I love to see the beautiful families they have and learn that they are doing well and are happy in their careers and with their families. I love that as I look back and see all of these friends, I don't have past romantic interests that I have to feeel guilty about with them. I truly can't remember feeling anything more than friendship with these boys, and am happy to have those memories now. It's interesting to see how many of them are in career fields similar to what Rich is in, and to notice the similarities of them to the man that I did eventually find (or he found me) and fall in love with.

Christmas Not Forgotten

On Thursday night we had our quarterly enrichment night at church. Our theme for the night was "Christmas Not Forgotten". We had a yummy potluck dinner with appetizers, a variety of salads and rolls and a bunch of yummy desserts! Instead of just using paper plates and cups, we had sisters volunteer to bring dishes and set a table each- so it was beautifully set with dishes and glasses from different sisters in the ward.  I loved seeing the different centerpieces different sisters came up with.  I hope to get some pictures from someone that had a camera there, and share a few pictures of the tables later. 

I'm the enrichment counselor, which means along with the enrichment leader, the two of us are in charge of the evening. I think one thing that I am learning in this calling is the need and ability to delegate to others. I feel like I'm slowly learning little by little as I've now gotten through two enrichment meetings.  I still ultimately have that anxiety the day of where I can't settle down and enjoy the activity as much, because I'm looking around and trying to make sure everything is going smoothly, but I think I did better at working with the others and we all did different parts of the night so none of us were overwhelmed.
Thursday night was no exception and I realized at the end of the night that I had only had half a small plate of appetizers, and a cup of punch. I didn't get any of the salads, or the desserts because I wasn't able to sit and enjoy the time. I was watching the clock too much for when we needed to start the program, and making sure everyone in the program knew what order we were doing it in, and when we were starting etc.

The program went well (I thought). We basically took the Christmas story from Luke chapter 2, and put three songs in between parts of the scriptural account. Here it is:

Tonight we invite you to travel back in time, to when our Savior was born. The scriptures chronicle the story of his birth well, but there are those who were there, whose stories were not recorded in the scriptures. Imagine with us what it might have been like if you were there. 

1 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all athe world should be taxed.
2 (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)
3 And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.
4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)
5 To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.
6 And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.
7 And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

"Where you there on that Christmas Night" (we did a duet version- the link is to a SATB version)

8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
15 And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.
16 And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.
17 And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.
18 And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.
19 But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.

"Away in a Manger"  (it was a solo and was beautiful.  I don't know who wrote the arrangement, but it's one I hadn't heard before and I loved it!)

40 And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him.
41 Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover.
42 And when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast.
43 And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem; and Joseph and his mother knew not of it.
44 But they, supposing him to have been in the company, went a day’s journey; and they sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance.
45 And when they found him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking him.
46 And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions.
47 And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers.
48 And when they saw him, they were amazed: and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing.
49 And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?
50 And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them.
51 And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them: but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart.
52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.

"I was not his Father, He was mine"  (this goes to the album, you can listen to a clip of the song- just find the song title and listen to it)

This song is not a familiar one to a lot of people, but I love it.  I asked an older brother in our ward to perform it and he did great.  He was a little worried, because he doesn't feel like he has a great professional quality voice, but that's not what I wanted- This is a ballad and I wanted it performed in more of a storytelling voice.  He did a great job!

He was working late one evening with the wood he knew so well,
when she thought she recognized him, though at first she couldn't tell. 
As she humbly begged his pardon_ a strange sadness swelled in side
when she asked, "Aren't you the father of the man they crucified?"

Then the carpenter repeated what he'd said so many times. 
He said "I was not his father, He was mine."

Then he humbly went on working with his worn and calloused hands. 
Though she did not ask more question, he knew she did not understand. 
So he asked if she would help him.  He saw her answer in a glance. 
And she did the chores he asked her, and she was grateful for the chance. 

Then they talked for hours of Jesus and how he knew he was divine. 
He said "I was not his father, He was mine.

How could one so foolish and so flawed ever hope to raise the Son of God?"
Then he spoke of the misgivings he had had a thousand times,
and how Jesus found the tender moments to let him know he'd done just fine. 
Then the carpenter recited the greatest truths he'd ever learned
and testified they came from Jesus, and then her heart within her burned.

Then they embraced as she departed.  Joseph told her one more time,
"Tell them I was not his father, tell them he was mine. 
No, I was not his father, he was mine."

It was a great night.  It took lots of planning and work, but I loved how it turned out.  Everyone did so much to make it a wonderful evening and I'm so grateful for all the help everyone gave.

We wanted to make sure we did this at the begining of the month so we could kind of "set the spirit" for ourselves for the rest of the month.  Now we can focus on Christmas, both the spiritual and the fun sides to the season.

My family was ready to put the tree up last saturday, but I made them wait so I could take the tree up to the church for the enrichment meeting, so yesterday we finally got our tree up and decorated.  I'll take pictures and put them on the family blog soon. :)

Newton website

Just a reminder to check my other website for more stuff about the kids. I've posted some pictures from class parties, and Ashley's piano recital. :)

Here's the link: The Newton's

Thanksgiving cooking- Day 2 Thanksgiving.

This morning I got up and started on the sweet potato's first. I peeled the outsides, then cut them into chunks and roasted them in the oven for about an hour and a half.



While those were roasting, I whipped up some nobake pumpkin cheesecake. My friend gave us one a few months ago and it was soo good! I had to make one for us.


Then the potato's were done roasting and I dumped them into the mixer with butter, egg, cream, and spices and whipped it together. Then poured them into one big pan and two small ones (to freeze for use another day) and put a oatmeal brown sugar butter topping on them and popped them all into the oven.


Then I got the turkey out, and finished thawing it inside, and got it ready to put into the oven.



After that I relaxed for a while, then made the stuffing and gravy when the turkey was done, and topped the sweet potato's with marshmallows, and set the table.

We had a wonderful yummy feast!

A perfect day- Thanksgiving cooking Day 1 Journalling.

So... last week I blogged about my love for having a day at home to just cook... with no pressure and no reall time table.

I decided to document my day in pictures. It really was two days of pretty much bliss for me in the kitchen. The kids played WONDERFULLY! with each other and I was able to just enjoy myself. For future years I wanted to journal about it here. :)

Thanksgiving cooking day 1:
After the kids had breakfast, I started by peeling 5 pounds of potato's and roughly cutting them into 2 inch size pieces and put them on to cook till tender. Then I started the cranberry sauce and the cranberry jello salad. The cranberry sauce is simple- 1 cup of water, 1 cup of sugar, bring it to a boil, and add in one bag of cranberries. Let it simmer at a low boil for 10 minutes, and then turn off the burner and let it cool. Then package it up into a container and put in the fridge until the next day.



Then I made the Jello salad... I forgot to take a picture of it though... but it's easy too. Mix one package of jello with the hot water it calls for. Stir it until it's dissolved and then place it in the fridge for about 10 minutes to cool. Mix sour cream, can of whole cranberry sauce and 2 cups of chopped walnuts together. Then mix that into the dissolved jello, and pour it into a 9x13 dish. Cover and chill until it's set up.

After that the potato's were cooked so I drained the water out of the pot, and dumped it all into my great bosch mixing bowl. I put some butter in the bowl first, and then dumped the hot potato's on top of it. Then I put the lid on and let it sit for a few minutes while I unloaded and loaded my first load of dishes for the day. (I normally don't like doing dishes, but when I'm spending the entire day in the kitchen, I don't really mind doing them) I got the dishwasher started and by then the butter had plenty of time to melt in with the potato's. I added a little bit of salt and pepper and a touch of garlic powder, a splash or two of half and half, and then turned the mixer on and whipped the potato's right up.

I pulled out 2 cups of mashed potato's for my rolls, and then the rest fit perfectly in the bowl.





Then it was time to start on the rolls. I won't go into all the details, but I really like my roll recipe and it's a potato roll recipe, so it's a little different than the standard rolls. I made a double batch because Alex could Live off of these rolls and I knew he would be sneaking them every time I turned around, so I had to plan for that as well. :)

I have to let it rise in two bowls because I don't have one bowl big enough for a double batch to rise in.

Dough rising in the oven, preheated to the lowest temperature and then turned off...





By then I was ready for another round of dishes lol!



While the dough was rising, I decided to clear out space in the fridge for all the food I was making and the leftovers the next day.

I found an avocado... perfectly ripe that I had forgotten I had, and some queso sauce and since I just happened to have some chips in the pantry... I had myself some guacamole and queso for lunch. yum!






The dough rose beautifully, and I almost let it rise too much, right over the edge of the bowls!



Then it was time to roll them up into rolls... 2 batches made about 69 large rolls... you could make them smaller and get even more!





The girls got a chunk to play with and made their own rolls after using it as playdough for about 20 minutes... I'm not sure if they actually ate their rolls that night or not. lol! I'm sure they were pretty hard.





Let them rise, and bake them for about 15-20 minutes...



And that was all I did on Day 1...

Oh... while I was cooking all day, the girls played beauty shop.





and then later that day when I left the kitchen for probaly one of the few times that day that I was gone more than a minute or two... someone decided to take beauty shop to the next level and I returned to find this:



That's Angela's hair... luckily her hair is so wild with the curls, that we can hide small cuts like that, but still... ugh...

Thanksgiving

I am thankful for a lot.

Today though I'm thankful for the opportunity I have to cook thanksgiving dinner.

I really do like to cook it. I love to cook big meals and spend hours in the kitchen.

Day to day cooking sometimes get's me down, because I'll cook something and the kids complain about it, or I'll just be busy running kids around to different things and not have time to really make a good meal.

But Holiday cooking? When I get to spend the day in the kitchen going from one dish to another dish in preperation for the big meal...

I love it! :)

So... here's what I'm making, what are you having for your Thanksgiving meal?

Turkey
Stuffing
Mashed Potato's
Gravy
Sweet Potato casserole
Cranberry Sauce
Cranberry jello/walnut salad
Homemade rolls
Olives
Green Bean Casserole?? (I bought the crispy French's onion rings to try it- I've never made it before)

I was planning on making a pumpking cheesecake for dessert, but I've got pie's from a school party that were never touched, so we will probably just eat those instead.

We are just staying home this year for Thanksgiving. We aren't even having anyone over, so we'll have a fun time just as our small family. I'm excited.

What are you doing, going, and having for your Thanksgiving? :)

Sunday thoughts

So today I taught Rich's Sunday School class. When I got there all the girls were discussing the movie "Twilight" and I told them to not get into to many details because I hadn't seen it yet, and didn't want to hear all about it before I saw it.
So they finished their discussion and we started the lesson. I hadn't known I would be teaching till that morning, and hadn't had a chance to do more than grab the lesson book from the library and glance at the lesson.

The lesson was on Eternal Marriage. Most of the lesson focused on the story of one young woman and how her thoughts and belief in eternal marriage changed throught the course of her own civil marriage and a subsequent pregnancy.

We actually had a great discussion about Eternal Marriage, the Plan of Salvation, and the goal of not only having a Temple Marriage, but having a Celestial Marriage. We talked about some traits and qualities that we see in those around us that can help in achieving a Celestial Marriage. I had a good time and enjoyed teaching the class. I hope the kids were able to take something from the lesson that will stay with them.

Movies

Last night Rich and I went to a movie. While we were sitting there waiting for the movie to start I realized that we were watching Commercials on the screen. Regular commercials that you would see on the tv for local car dealerships, and retail stores. What ever happened to the movie trivia facts that they used to have a reel of going during the 15-20 minutes before a movie started.

I don't really have any other point to this, just that I missed having the movie clips and trivia they used to show. I don't really enjoy watching 20 minutes of commercials... I can watch commercials at home on my tv... I don't want to see them at a movie theatre.

I've come to realize...

1. I've come to realize that my kids... are funny!

2. I've come to realize that my job... is hard and easy all at the same time.

3. I've come to realize that when i'm driving... I can't do math problems in my head.

4. I've come to realize that i need... quiet time to balance myself.

5. I've come to realize that I have lost... a lot of my intellect

6. I've come to realize that I hate it when... I have to repeat myself to the kids- but I really hate it when I have to repeat myself to Rich.

7. I've come to realize that if I'm drunk... I'm probably asleep and dreaming.

8. I've come to realize that money.... helps solve some problems, but opens the doors to many others.

9. I've come to realize that certain people... don't see me in the way I perceive they do.

10. I've come to realize that I'll always... love chocolate

11. I've come to realize that I have a crush on... Rich

12. I've come to realize that my mom... did the best she knew how to do.

13. I've come to realize that my cell phone is... a leash

14. I've come to realize that when I woke up this morning... I was still halfway in a dream state.

15. I've come to realize that last night before i went to sleep... I fell asleep before I kissed Rich goodnight.

16. I've come to realize that right now I am thinking about... Cuddling up in a nice warm bed and sleeping.

17. I've come to realize that my dad... likes to talk on the phone.

18. I've come to realize that when I get on Myspace... I don't like it.

19. I've come to realize that today... is a busy day.

20. I've come to realize that tonight... I'll get to go on a fun date with Rich.

21. I've come to realize that tomorrow I will... get to do a lot of laundry.

22. I've come to realize that I really want to... loose some weight.

23. I've come to realize that the person who is most likely to repost... has already posted.

It's a small world

So today I was reading through some blogs. I use the rss feeds of blogs and really scan through a lot of them. If a title catches my eye, I click on it and then go to the whole article.

So I'm scanning through and see a title "Mormon's are Pretty" and of course that caught my eye...

So I clicked on it and start reading. The author is not LDS, and has just through blogs been exposed to lots of LDS members. She talks about how she has noticed that a lot of them are just very pretty and then talks about one specific blog that is a family of 4 girls that are all beautiful. She then links to the blog. I'm reading along and I'm like "I know that blog!". It's a friend of mine in our ward, so I jotted off a little email to her to let her know about the link.

She was surprised and had never commented on that blog, but reads it and once had linked to it in one of her blog posts. Apparently the author of the other blog keeps track of who links to her, and has been reading her blog all this time.

So... something like this could happen and it is a reminder that what we put on our blogs is viewable to others. It can make us decide to keep blogs private, which is fine. I think it also can allow us to realize that we are having an impact in people's lives. I can write something on here, that through some randomness is read by someone and it causes them to sit up and realize that yes I'm LDS, and I'm still a normal person. I have struggles, and I have highs and lows. That I've choosen to live my life and strive to follow the teachings of my church, and that it's not a blind choice, but one that I've choosen to make and am happy with my decisions to do so.

So.... I'm reading and apparently I use the word "So..." a lot... lol! I'll try to stop using it as much. :)

Blogs

I reminded myself today that I have another blog set up for the family, and I've been neglecting it.

http://newtonaaaa.blogspot.com/

So from now on I'm going to try and keep the family stuff to the family blog- trip reports and funny things the kids do...

And keep this blog more for my thoughts and getting tagged by friends...

We'll see if I can remember to blog over there. :)

Background

Okay... so I had to put something in the background because I didn't like the plain white...

I want to figure out how to put the floral around the title on the sides, but I'll be content with this for now.

Tagged!

Okay I was tagged...

So, tag list :
1- Show both hands in writing something,
2- list 5 of your 50/50's..
3- 5 pet peeves and
5- 5 things that don't mix well.
ready, set, go!


Here's both hands writing a phrase:


5 of my 50/50's:
1-Chocolate chip cookies/Straight chocolate
2-Cozy chair, good book, blanket, and cup of cocoa/Couch, good movie, popcorn and a soda.
3-BYU Football game live- at the stadium/watching the game with a big group of friends
4-hearing giggles from the girls and knowing there's a mess to clean up- Going right in and making them stop and clean it up/spying, seeing it's not a property value draining mess and just enjoying them playing together and having them clean it up later.
5-Going to DisneyWorld with the kids/Going to DisneyWorld with just Rich.


5 pet peeves:
1- Stupid... it's an overused word that assigns intellect to non animate things... I get a visceral reaction to it being over used a lot of the time. (hey it just asks for pet peeves- it doesn't say it has to make sense to others! lol!)
2- Closing doors... really... the fight the kids have every afternoon when they all file in the door and fight over who was in last, and should close the door- Pet Peeve!
3- Shoes... I swear shoes multiply in this house. I have no idea how my girls have gotten so many shoes into their shoe drawers... oh wait... I'm the one that put them there because they rarely ever put them away, but how did we get so many in this house??? (I fully admit that I am part of this problem- as said before it doesn't have to make sense to be my pet peeve! lol!)
4- Hystronics... I am pretty even keeled with my emotions, and Rich is too so how did we get kids that so easily dissolve into hysterical fits?
5- I'll steal this one from the person that tagged me- stepping in something wet with socks... and then having wet socks...

5 things that don't mix well:
1- Again I'll steal from the person that tagged me... she posted that she had found a chocolate caramel mint candy... Chocolate and caramel- heavenly, Chocolate and mint- refreshing, chocolate caramel and mint all at the same time? Don't mix well in my mind.
2- Mommy with little sleep, and little kids with lots of sleep and energy- don't mix well.
3- Reading a bunch in my comfy chair with my cup of cocoa next to me, and having a clean house- Don't mix well... (or would that be for a list of 5 impossible things to happen at the same time?)
4- Loud computer typing program for son, and daughter practicing piano loudly right next to the computer at the same time- Don't mix well.
5- Peanut Butter and Mayo sandwiches- Don't mix well (but when I was 10 I thought they did! ewww)

New Soup Recipe

So last night I made a soup for a dinner I went to. I wasn't positive it would be liked, but everyone seemed to like it. They said that it tasted like a pumpkin pie!

I kind of made up the recipe, so I'm going to try and write down what I remember about it... :)

Take two medium Butternut squashes. Peel them and then cut them in half lengthwise. Scoop out the seeds, and then rub them with oil on both sides and place them on an oiled baking sheet. Sprinkle them with a little bit of sugar, and salt, and cover with foil, sealing the edges on to the baking sheet. Bake for about an hour and a half at 325 degrees, until it's fork tender. Then pull off the foil and let it bake for another 15-20 minutes to give the outside a bit of a carmelization.

Let the squash sit and cool down for about 10 minutes. Then in batches puree it in the blender. I did two batches- so there was one whole squash in the blender at a time. Add a little bit of liquid to help it blend. I had some vegetable stock and added that at first, and used about 1 cup of it. Then I ran out of vegetable stock and used about 1/2 - 3/4 cup of Apple juice with the second squash.

Pour the puree'd squash into a pot and turn the stove onto a low heat. I then added about 1 cup of half and half, 1 tsp of cinnamon, and 1/2 tsp of nutmeg, and about 1/4 tsp of salt. I wanted it to have a little bit of sweetness to it so I added about 1/4 cup of sugar. Then to give it a little more wintery sweetness, I added 1/4 cup of brown sugar. It seemed a little thick still so I added about 1 1/2 cups of milk to the soup. I then let it simmer for about 2 hours.

When I came back to it it was still very thick. I added about 2 cups of water to it and let it simmer for another hour.

When I came back to it this time, the consistency was fine, but the spices and the sweetness seemed a little bit too heavy. I added about 1 cup of plain unflavored yogurt to it, and it gave a tiny bit of a tartness to it that cut the spices and sweetness. (in the future I might just not put as much sugar and spices in, but this worked well this time).

Then I just let it continue to simmer until I packed it up and took it to the dinner.

DisneyWorld Trip

Okay... so I am finally going to get stuff posted about our trip. In order to kind of keep things in order, I'm going to post date all the trip posts, to the days that the trip actually took place. So the first day that we drove... will be posted and dated as Oct 11th... and then on through the trip. Here are links to each of the days so it's easier for everyone to find them. :)

Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7
Day 8
Day 9
Day 10 & 11

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEETIE!!

Happy Birthday to my sweetie! I'll get mushy here for a second... because, well Rich isn't a mushy person and every once in a while I have to get a little mushy and tell him how great he is...

Happy Birthday Honey, I love you and I love the person you are. You are a wonderful Father, and a wonderful spouse. I am so happy that you are in my life. You grow more and more handsome to me each year, and you can still make my legs turn to jello. :)

Happy Birthday! I love you! Julie

Halloween pictures:

Here are our halloween pictures. First Alyssa and Angela LOVED helping clean out the pumpkins to carve them. Then we had a lot of fun carving the pumpkins... The order of the pumpkins are: Mommy's, Ashley's, Angela's and Alyssa's (Alex didn't want to carve with us). Then we have pictures of the trich or treaters... Alex got to go trick or treating with his best friend Cole. They both were storm troopers. Alex is on the left, Cole is on the right. Ashley wanted to have a friend go with her too, so we invited her friend Peyton to go trick or treating with us girls. Ashley was a Witch, Alyssa was a Good Witch, Angela was a princess, and I can't remember what Peyton was, but it looked cool! :) We had a fun time and the girls got WAY TOO MUCH candy... we are still trying to eat (get rid) of it...

PIcture problems

I figured out what the problem was...

When I put the fancy backgrounds on, I did something in the code and basically made it so the larger pictures wouldn't fit...

I'm going to put it back to this plain background for now, and then maybe in the future I can figure out how to put the fancy backgrounds back on and not mess up the size of the columns and stuff. :)

what???/

Why are my pictures not reducing in size... it's cutting off the right side of them...

Well... when I get this figured out, then I'll put up a bunch of pictures...

Rich??? Wanna help me figure this out?? :) Pretty please??? :)

Ok... I'm going to barrage ya'll with pictures... I'm trying to get my write-up about our trip done, but first I'll start with the not so distant past, and then move further in the past to the trip.

Halloween:

Ashley had a book report due on Halloween day. It was a biography on a famous american. She choose Betsy Ross. She wasn't thrilled with the costume I came up with, but she didn't want it to be her halloween costume, so I told her since we bought the halloween costume, I wasn't spending money on this costume.


Alyssa and Angela and I started carving pumpkins while the older kids were at school. They had a BLAST! and loved pulling out the guts.

I really have been neglecting the blog lately. I hope to get back to blogging more in the coming weeks, but for now I just haven't had much time to sit down and sort through pictures to post, and then I feel guilty that I haven't posted about our trip, and feel like I can't post about everything else going on...

But I really will try to carve out some time and get the blog caught up. I like to keep family caught up on what we are doing, and I like to keep a record- after all the primary function of this blog is as a journal for me, it's easier to keep it here, than in a paper journal.

Sorry..

I still haven't had a chance to upload all the pictures so I can post them from out trip. I'll try to get to it soon. :)

Ha... well that was different

I just answered the phone. It was Direct TV, our satelitte provider. I was expecting them trying to talk me into upgrading our package or something. Instead it was a pre-recorded message appologizing for an interruption of service on Tuesday and telling people that if they are still having problems, to reset their receiver.

Hm... I just reset the reciever this morning because it was acting up. lol!

Anyway... that was definitly the first time I've gotten a call like that. :)

I'm going to try and get the pictures from the trip off of camera's today and start sorting them. Perhaps I'll get a chance to post some of them today, but my more detailed write-up about the trip will probably have to wait till next week. :)

DisneyWorld Trip- Day 10 & 11

Monday/Tuesday- Drive home
On Monday we got up and packed up the car. We went and got breakfast in the hotel and then I used up the remaining counter meals and snacks on our meal plan. I think I had about 26 snack credits available, so I got pop tarts, crackers, cookies, and some drinks…
Then we all loaded into the car and said goodbye to DisneyWorld.
The drive home was uneventful, except for Alex getting sick and throwing up… luckily we were able to catch it in bags every time. We think he was just carsick, because he was fine the next day. We got home in time to relax and unwind on Tuesday before it was time to go to bed… and get back to the regular routine.

Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7
Day 8
Day 9
Day 10 & 11

DisneyWorld Trip- Day 9

Epcot-

Our last day at Disneyworld… the week went by so fast! We had our breakfast at the hotel and then took the bus over to Epcot.
At Epcot we went to Fast Track first and got some fast passes, then Rich and Ashley rode on Mission Space and then we all went on the Ellen ride- Electricity something… it’s a fun ride that everyone enjoy’s. After that we could use our passes on Fast Track so we did. Then we stopped by the soda place where you can try all the soda’s from around the world, and then getting icecream for our snack of the day. . From there we went to the other side of the park, and Rich picked up fast passes for Soarin, and then we went on Finding Nemo. After riding Finding Nemo there’s a large aquarium and we just happened to get there right in time to see them feed the fish. There was an employee talking about the fish and sharks to everyone outside, and he had all the adults clear the front area for all the kids to sit up next to the glass. Then the divers were in the tank and they fed the sharks and sting rays and stuff. It was very neat!



From there we went over and rode the Land ride… then over to the imagination station and went on the ride there. After that we hurried across the park to the Mexico pavilion. We had an early dinner reservation and ate a yummy dinner there at the Mexican restaurant in the pavilion. They have it set up so it looks like it’s an open air outside restaurant- in the twilight of the evening… (it’s inside, so it’s nighttime all day long). The kids behaved great! This was one of only two sit down, sit down meals we had where it wasn’t buffet style and they had to sit and wait for their meal to be brought. Rich and I pulled out our cell phones and the itouch, to keep the kids entertained while we were waiting.


After dinner we rode the ride in Mexico featuring Donald Duck! and then headed back over to soarin to use the fast passes we had picked up earlier. When they were done riding that Alex and Ashley and Rich went and got in line to ride Test Track for a second time, and I headed over to the world showcase to find a good spot for us to watch illuminations. I found a GREAT spot, and despite having to park the stroller there, and run Alyssa to the bathroom to divert an accident, we were able to save a slice of the area for our family. Meanwhile Rich kept emailing me that the line was long, then it was broken, then it was back up… it was getting really close to when illuminations was going to start and I wasn’t sure if he and the kids would get to me in time to watch. They wound up walking up about 2 minutes before they turn the lights down and start the illuminations show.
It was a neat show, and a great spot to view it. I wound up holding Angela for most of it, and Rich held Alyssa for a lot of it, and Alex and Ashley sat in the stroller watching it.


It was a good end to our time at the parks. We then loaded Alyssa and Angela into the stroller, and walked back to the bus. It was PACKED at the bus terminals… and while walking out to the exit Alyssa and Angela had fallen asleep. We left them in the stroller as long as we could and then when they were about to start loading, Rich took Alyssa, and I put Angela up on my shoulder. I folded up the stroller (I’m soooo glad we had an easy folding stroller that I could collapse with one hand!) and while Rich held Alyssa and shepherded Alex and Ashley on the bus, I climbed up with Angela asleep on my shoulder and trying to maneuver the stroller through the seats which was very narrow. It wasn’t going very well and I grabbed the first empty seat I found and everyone around me was wondering why I had a sleeping baby, and the stroller… I mentioned that my husband had the other three tired and cranky kids and they agreed with me that I had gotten the easy end of the deal. We got back to the hotel and a gentleman helped and carried the stroller off of the bus for me.

Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7
Day 8
Day 9
Day 10 & 11

Hi from the Animal Kingdom!

DisneyWorld Trip- Day 8

Saturday: Animal Kingdom

We drove to the Animal Kingdom instead of taking the Bus. It’s farther and it seems a waste of time to have to take the bus all the way back from it, to just turn around and drive to Boma that night… so we usually drive over there. At the Animal Kingdom Rich and Ashley hoofed it across the park to get some fast passes for Expedition Everest, and Alex, Alyssa and I went and rode the Triceratop spin (like Dumbo and the flying carpets of Aladdin). Then Rich and Ashley rode the Dinosaur ride, and we rode Triceratop spin again… Then we walked down to the Dinosaur Ride to get the rider switch pass, and I rode Dinosaur with Ashley. From there we went over to the Kali Rapids Raft ride. Rich and Ashley and Alex rode the ride and then while they were on it, Alyssa decided that she wanted to ride it. When they came off the ride, Ashley and Alex were only too willing to ride it again… unfortunately the rider switch pass is only good for three people, so Ashley had to sit back and let Alex go with Rich and Alyssa on the ride (I didn’t want to get wet, and Ashley usually goes with me when we switch because Alex doesn’t want to- for this ride he did so it was his turn).


From there we went and walked through the walking safari. We grabbed fast passes to use later on the Kilimanjaro Safari, and had fun seeing all the animals.


They have a great kid discovery program that the kids all got little cards to get stamped all over the park at the five different stations.


We also stopped and played on the bongo drums some, and saw a “living tree” walking across the pathway.




From there Ashley and Rich went ahead and rode Mount Everest, and Alex, Alyssa and I took a slower route and stopped at another kids discovery center and learned a little more about another animal. We then meet Rich and Ashley at Mount Everest, and Ashley and I went on the ride.
Then we were hot and hungry and the kids wanted to find yet another discovery center. We found it and also found an icecream hut. We all had yummy milkshakes… it was just the right thing for the warm day and cooled everyone down.




We then headed back over to the Kilimanjaro Safari, and had a good time seeing all the animals on it.



Alex really, really wanted to go and get the stamp over at the Rafiki Conservation Center. We had gone to it the year before and while it is neat, it also takes a lot of time to ride the train out there… the girls wanted to see the “It’s a bugs life” 3d show at the tree of life. Since Alex doesn’t like that show, we decided that Alex and I would go and get the stamps on the cards at the conservation center, and Rich would take the girls to see the show. We had bad timing and just missed the train both ways, so by the time we got over to meet up with Rich and the girls, they had been out of the show for a while. They were able to snag a great spot for the parade though and we got the best view we’ve ever had for a parade. The characters were coming right up to the kids and they really enjoyed it!.






After the parade we went to the last kids discovery center, and the kids all got their cards completed and a little passport thing saying they completed the Kids discovery program. They were all very happy about that.
We then decided to go and do a little bit of shopping before we had dinner that night, so we headed to Downtown Disney. It’s always a crazy madhouse there, but finally we were able to get everyone to decide on a souvenir and the timing worked out just right. We drove back to the Animal Kingdom Lodge and had just a little bit of time to sit and unwind while waiting for our table to be ready.
Of course I loved the meal again that night. Our friends had left for home that morning, so it was just our family that evening and the kids didn’t have friends to play with, but it was a little calmer because we only had four kids instead of nine kids around the table. Lol!
It was another late night by the time we got back to the hotel…. But we had a very fun day.

Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7
Day 8
Day 9
Day 10 & 11