Happy Leap Day

I thought I would write a quick post to wish everyone a happy leap day! It is such a fun day!!

Chicken Lo Mein

We tried another recipe out of the everyday food magazine. This time we tried the Lo Mein. In the book they use shrimp, but we used chicken. This recipe was very yummy. Although if it were on a menu it would definitely have a pepper by it to indicate spiciness. Next time I won't use as much of the red pepper flakes, but I think we will definitely make this again.

Happy Birthday Vallen

We hope you have a special birthday today! Post pictures of the fun day!!!

Manners

I have started a manners class for Parks & Rec.! It is pretty fun. Someone should try it. It lasts a month.( every Monday). You learn how to interduce people, and yourself properly,Table manners,and lots of other manners.

Daniels progress

Today was a payday for Lewis and I. Today Daniel received his Patriarchal blessing. Sometimes we never thought we would see this day. The Patriarch was wonderful and told us all kinds of things that Lewis and I found informative and educating. The biggest thing he stressed was making copies of your blessing. He said that Daniel should give one to us and then make another and keep it with his important stuff as well as one in his scriptures. It takes about a month for them to replace yours now if its lost. I requested a copy of mine two weeks ago and know that I have another two weeks before I will see it as a result of our meeting today. We thank all of you for your continued prayers in Daniels behalf and want to express our gratitude for him and all of you. We are truly blessed. Daniel should be meeting with the Stake President for his melchizedek priesthood interview in the next week or two. We will let you know when his ordination is scheduled. Oh yes, speaking of copies, Carleton and Jan, if you have one of Lewis's blessing, he has lost his too.

My Chain Saw Experience...

Yesterday we had help from a few people in our ward and chopped down our tree. At first I said to my dad,"I'm not gunna touch that chain saw." And then I'm using it the entire time: in the tree standing up, on the ground, everywhere! I eventually got a small, tiny cut on the chain saw. Three fourths inch long and about 1 half a centimeter deep. We are goin' Desert style!

The Results

Well tonight we had hot dogs topped with the homemade sauerkraut. It smelled awful, which was disappointing. It tasted mild. I put the normal toppings on my hot dog in addition to the sauerkraut and I could taste it at times. I'd say it was ok, but I probably won't be making it again any time soon. In fact I have a rather large jar full of it, so I'm not sure what will become of that jar. Since we still love cabbage we are still going to try the sweet and sour cabbage wedges and we'll be sure to report on that later.

(On a side note yesterday Paisley had corn on the cob for the first time and she loved it. I wasn't sure if she would know what to do with it, but as Jason and I were assembling our food she started right in on her corn. It was very cute. She even finished Jason's piece for him.)

A Food Adventure

Today I decided I was in the mood for an adventure so I decided to make sauerkraut. The recipe was in my Everyday Food magazine. I received this stock pot and two bigger for Christmas and I haven't used them yet, so I thought I'd have two firsts today. I made my first batch of sauerkraut in the stock pot. I've never tried sauerkraut but it seems like something I would like so we shall see. It is currently in a jar in my refrigerator. Tomorrow we are going to have hot dogs for dinner (I've had all the bratwurst I care to have while in Germany) and we'll top them with the sauerkraut. We'll let you know how it all turns out.

Baseball and Flu season

I know that Mrs. Layne Whelchel isn't much of a baseball fan, but in true brotherly concern, I want to remind her that Tuesday is the first day mandatory day of spring training for all the players. Many have joined their clubs already. Spring training games in the Cactus and Grapefruit leagues begin the week of the 25th. That's what they call the Florida and Arizona training camps. The first day of the official season is March 25th, with the Red Sox and the A's playing two games in Tokyo. Everybody else gets started on March 31st, then happiness will abound and the planets will align and all will be well.

I also got the flu Thursday night. Ugh. I'm being supported now by overdoses of painkillers and cold medicine. I always tell people I don't get sick, but I remember doing this last November when I was in Portland (yes, Mom, I'm still taking Vit C =2000mg/day each day as ordered). I tried to go to the clinic today but there were 30 people in front of me, so I decided to suffer in silence, and in bed. If I'm still feeling dull tomorrow, I'm going to skip church and go first thing when they open. Usually, the only hope I have is 1000mg Augmentin twice a day for 7-10 days with a refill. With any luck, I'll get worse and have to stay in Utah all week.

I'm going to visit a house in the north end of Apple Valley on the way back to CA on Monday. It will be 15 minutes from the plant - an improvement over the 900-1000 miles per week I currently drive now. :)

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY TO EVERYONE!!

I just got home from an almost midnight raid at WalMart to get everyone a Valentines goodie. I got off work at 5pm and we still had plenty of flowers and candy and balloons. But by the time I got there, it was down right slim pickens. Good thing I knew what I wanted and luckily the stuff I wanted was still there.

I hope you have a great Valentines Day and that you know you are loved and appreciated!

Layne and Jen's Wedding Day!!!!

The happy couple were blessed with a beautiful day to be wed!!! Blue sky, not so bad temperatures and God's Holy House. A recipe for success if you ask me. The bride was radiant! I had just met her but I liked her immediately. I loved to watch her watching Layne. Love is a beautiful thing. The sealing was unlike any I have been to with their sealer, Elder Packer declaring their altar kiss "celestial", "not to long and not to juicy". We had a wonderful time meeting Jen's family who were so friendly and welcoming. The food at the luncheon was great and so was the company. I sure hope Layne and Jen had as much fun as Lewis and I did.

Extreme Solutions!

As you can see from the pictures we solved Paisley stuck-indoors-boredom problems in a major way! We heard that Rebecca had a bounce house that her kids love very much and I thought that is exactly what we need! We haven't been able to go outside for months and so we have been really struggling lately for ideas of fun things to do. You can only play with play doh so many times before before it isn't that entertaining. I looked around and did major research to find a bounce house that was affordable. We came up with this nice bounce castle. It is doubly nice because she thinks it is her princess castle! It said that it is an indoor/outdoor toy but I had no idea it would be so HUGE. We are definitely the coolest house on the block now!

Our Morning Winter Wonderland!!!!

It is so icy outside that I decided I would rather take my chances getting them to school than to trust the bus to get them there. The roads in Bloomington were very icy and slushy but once you hit the freeway, it was clear and dry. Going into St George proper we learned that they didn't get as much snow or ice. What is with that? I mean they are only a mile or two away. We are supposed to get another storm later today. Woo hoooooo!!!!!

We really have snow this time.....

We awoke this morning to rain. Late this afternoon it started to sleet, then to snow, then back to rain and then back to snow and as you can see in the second picture, they were huge flakes!! The result is probably an inch or two of snow and very messy roads. Freezing temps predicted thought the night, and my kids praying for a "SNOW DAY". LOL

California here we come.....again

I don't know who Lewis has talked to other than your parents. We decided awhile back that the commute thing wasn't working out for us. We then began a short lived effort to try to find Lewis a new job that would allow us to live together again. Through a series of events, we have decided that what is best for all of us is for Lewis to keep his present job. That created a challenge of uniting us again in California. Again, the Lord provided and Lewis was offered the opportunity to move his office to Victorville. We will be finding a place in Apple Valley and Lewis for the first time in 5-6 years will NOT have to commute to his job. We should be living less than 10 miles from his office. What a great blessing to be able to have our husband/Dad back in our home and to be united as a family again. We are shooting to be in California on June 1st. James will arrive home just in time to help us move back. LOL.