"Stick to the basics, mom!"

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So, lately I have been trying really hard to broaden our dinner menu. I cannot stand to cook the same old meals week after week. I have been pouring over recipe books and browsing internet sites in hopes of finding some new "slam dunk" meals. I have decided I must be a pretty bad judge of recipes based on sight only. I must not have the ability to read a recipe and determine whether the ingredients will combine to make a delicious meal. Every new recipe I have tried lately has barely been edible. I consider myself a pretty good cook but I am starting to get a little insecure in the kitchen. I have been excited for days to make this delicious Sunday meal. Christmas Cranberry Pork Roast with a side of Swiss Potatoes and Carrots. Doesn't that sound delish? Basically a pork roast cooked in a crockpot with cranberry sauce, orange juice, honey and some seasonings. Potatoes and carrots cooked with swiss cheese and cream and some seasonings. Well, both dishes came out with much disappointment. Very bland. Not so good. Connor said, "Mom, I think from now on you just need to stick to the basics!" The rest of the kids quickly agreed. I need some new basics because quite frankly, I am sick of my basics. They have been my basics for almost 20 years now. Should it really be this much trial and error to come across some new recipes? From now on I am not trying a new recipe until I have it on good authority that someone has tried it and loved it. So start sending your "slam dunks" my way!

P.S. My new dishes are cute though, aren't they?

TOFW and Entering a New Decade...

Wow! This past weekend was fabulous! Well, it actually started on Thursday. I went to a yummy lunch with friends and neighbors to celebrate my birthday. After lunch, I crammed in one last bike ride before the "big storm" and cold weather was upon us. I have to say, it was one of my best bike rides ever despite the fact my belly was full from a big lunch. It was that kind of "eery" weather where its unusually warm and very overcast with some pretty big wind gusts at times. I really pushed myself and just sailed along Wasatch Blvd feeling so happy. I kept thinking to myself, " I am going to be 40 tomorrow and I am riding my bike feeling like a young kid!" It was a very liberating experience.

Friday morning was spent getting ready to leave for our 2nd annual Time Out for Women (TOFW) retreat. It was extra special this year since it fell on my exact birthday. My mom, my sister Amy and my two sisters-in-law all met up for dinner before the Friday night session began. We then attended a wonderful and very spiritual evening. There were two great speakers and an amazing entertainer. After, we went to eat AGAIN! Nachos and dessert at Chili's. Yes, we love to eat! We checked into our hotel, had a sleep deprived night and got up early for another full day at TOFW. Again, the speakers were amazing and the music was so uplifting. I left feeling completely "filled up" spiritually, emotionally and yes even physically with all the eating out we did. I learned more about our dear prophet, President Monson. He is a very loving person who really cherishes his relationships with others and is a great example of "bearing one another's burdens". I learned to compliment my children more on their Christ-like qualities. I learned that Heavenly Father gives us children we have because He knows we are the best parents for them. People who are given difficult children are thought much of by our Heavenly Father because He knows we are capable of parenting them. I learned that it is great to have "high hopes". Life is good and we have every right to expect good things out of it.

Overall, I came out feeling like I want to be a better person in my 40's than I was in my 30's. I'm not saying I was a bad person before but I know that life is a refining process and over time we need to continue to get the kinks out and just strive to be better.

I came home Saturday to a clean house. That was amazing! We had made plans to go to dinner to celebrate my birthday with some close friends of ours and then Alan had organized a little "dessert open house" with mostly people from our ward. He really went to a lot of effort to get amazing desserts. It was a really fun night and it was so sweet of him to organize it. I am just feeling so grateful for so many things right now. A wonderful family with great parents and loving brothers and sisters. A super husband who continually tries to be better and puts up with a lot of my weaknesses. Children who love me and who are each so unique with amazing qualities. Wonderful friends and neighbors who really care and make time for one another.

Yes, life is good!

Oh, I love this birthday girl!

Thursday and Friday were fun days spent celebrating Abby's 5th Birthday! She was SO excited for the big day to arrive. Wednesday night she started crying saying she just couldn't wait until her birthday. It was just taking too long to come! She is only slightly dramatic! I took her to McDonald's for lunch on her birthday with a few friends from preschool. Then I helped in her class, which was fun to watch her being "celebrated" by the teachers. That night we went to Training Table as a family. Friday she had her first real birthday party. She invited 5 friends from the neighborhood and school. We dressed them all up in cowgirl hats and pink bandanas and headed down to my dad's house to ride horses. The weather could not have been more perfect. It was a beautiful, warm fall day. My dad was great and gave each girl ride after ride. They LOVED it! I have decided I am not going to let myself be sad about her growing up. If I do, I will miss out on the moments. She is such an amazing little girl. Smart, outgoing, loving and did I mention dramatic? I think she takes the cake on that one! She loves to sing and dance and play with her Little Ponies. I can definitely say I am blessed to have this girl in my life.

Halloween Extravaganza...

Well, this past week has been fun! I love Halloween. I love the fall weather. I love the decorations. I love going to the school parades to see all the cute costumes. I love trick-or-treating in my neighborhood and yes...I love picking through my kids' loot when they come home. I personally have my own "stash" in my night-stand drawer. The biggest stress for me this Halloween was coming up with costumes for Alan and myself. We were invited to a "Murder Mystery Dinner" and Alan was assigned to be a pirate and I was the character "Jean Golddust", the town gold dealer. I cannot believe I was once the lead in the school play. My "Ado Annie" days are definitely over as I have become much more reserved in my old age. It was amazing to see how many people really got into their parts. I was more about the good food and company than trying to solve the murder. I found our costumes from a lady in our neighborhood who has a "costume cellar" full of anything you can imagine. Once I found something to wear, the rest was quite fun. I summoned Amy and Taylor to come and do my hair and make-up. I don't think I have ever had my hair and make-up done so it was a lot of fun and of course, Abby was right there with me, loving every minute of it. A few days prior, I went dressed as a nerd to the Primary Halloween Party hosted by the Young Men and Young Women. Abby was very distraught over the fact that I looked so ugly. She did not like it at all. Deciding on a costume for Abby this year was fairly easy. She only changed her mind once and wanted to be "Brittany" from the Chipettes. She was sure I could just glue brown cottonballs all over her and she would look exactly like her. I quickly talked her back into her Minnie Mouse costume, which she looked adorable in. Connor, thought he looked really cool in his costume as a "burglar" and I have decided..that's all that matters. Personally, I wouldn't have really known what he was but...he was intent on dressing the way HE wanted to so..I put my control-freak tendencies aside. Halloween night was a little bit of a bomb with the rain and all but the kids still had fun. We ended up zipping around on our friends' golf-cart, visiting all the neighborhood attractions. The weekend came to an end with an unexpected delivery of homemade donuts from our friends just minutes ago and my 6am run can't come soon enough as I am feeling a little large right now.

I love General Conference

I look forward to Conference weekend every Spring and every Fall. For so many reasons. Since we have been on the 9a.m. church schedule this year, I have especially enjoyed being able to sleep in and just lounge around all weekend. Saturday worked out perfect because Connor had a football game from 1-2pm. Other than that, we were home the whole day and I was able to watch all of Saturday session and do a TON of ironing. I always look forward to my Saturday night tradition. Get the boys out the door for priesthood session and then I get together with some close friends for pizza at my house. We have been doing this for years. It started out in my little house on Stratford Drive when we all only had a few kids. We currently have 20 kids between the 5 moms. Only 3 of those kids go to priesthood session so yes, that means 17 kids are at my house and it's awesome! I love these gals so much! We have shared so much over the years and I hope it's a tradition we can keep for a long time. I am so proud to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints! I am always touched when I hear of the new temples being built and how much impact the missionaries are having throughout the world. I love hearing the children sing primary songs in different languages. It's easy to live in my little "bubble" in Salt Lake City and take for granted all that the church offers me here. We are so lucky! I felt like some of my Sunday was spent wondering if my kids were even listening. I spent so much time saying "shh!!" and "quit arguing"..but later at dinner I asked the kids what they learned from conference and Connor piped right up and said "I learned that rules are here to protect us." I looked at Alan and he looked back at me in amazement. Connor continued..."like when that man told the story of the cow that was fenced in but he kept trying to get his head through fence to eat the wheat...and then he ate too much wheat and his stomach blew up..the fence was really just there to help the cow." Well...I guess my efforts to keep him in front of the TV paid off. I loved the talks directed to raising our youth. One stood out to me especially when he said "sometimes we just don't have a good feeling about letting our kids do things and we just need to tell them we love them too much to ignore the feeling." He also quoted someone saying "Parenting is not a popularity contest". Such good reminders to us raising teenagers! It's easy at conference time to listen to the talks and start to come down on ourselves for not doing the things we have been counseled to do. I don't want to fall into that trap. I am simply going to take it as an encouragement to do better...and that I plan to do!

School's in Session...

I know I say this every year but I can't believe how fast the summer goes. The kids started school today. I was quite proud of myself..only a few tears shed as I drove Zach to his first day of High School. I didn't even get choked up as I waited outside Connor's school and watched him line up with his new class. I am usually a mess. I don't know what happened today. Maybe I am more ready for them to go back than I thought. I started the morning off early..a 6am power walk with a few girls from the neighborhood. It was DARK outside. UGH! The ONLY thing I hate about the season changing. Getting up in the dark to exercise is grueling. Each of the kids were happy about their first day. That was a relief! They all had friends in their classes and aside from the $186 worth of checks I had to write out for "school fees", it was a good day for all.

I'm Back

Well, thanks to my niece Mariah, I now have a new look to my blog. I have been encouraged by my family to start blogging again. With Tara and her family moving out of the country, it will be a good way for us to communicate. Last night I had 6 stinky 7 year olds over to celebrate Connor's Birthday. It was so fun to watch them run around playing "Ghost in the Graveyard", lighting marshmallows on fire, throwing pop rocks in the firepit and watching them all fart with their armpits. Talk about an easy party.
This morning I went for a great bike ride w/my friend. I am so lucky to live in a place where I can be so close to the mountains within about 15 minutes on my bike. It's easy for me to take for granted how beautiful Utah is. I look out my kitchen window all day every day and rarely notice the amazing mountain view I have. I guess this is true with life. We get so busy in our own lives that rarely do we take time to notice the beautiful blessings right in front of us. I guess this is my thought for today...take time to notice the view...whatever that may be.