Working Hard on a Wednesday

On Wednesday Paul came home a little after noon to begin his Thanksgiving break. I was happy to have him home even if we spent a good part of the day working. We raked, blew and bagged leaves for three hours.

The kids were suppose to be helping us but it was a bit cumbersome with all four of us working in the front yard so Andrew said he would start in the back. He kept telling us how big his pile was getting but we didn't want to stop working and lose momentum. We told him we would check it out when we were done with the front.

We came in the opposite side of the backyard from where Andrew was working. We had head he and Emma giggling. Paul went to check on them and to see the size of the pile. The next thing I heard was Paul laughing and then him telling me I needed my camera. This is what I found.

Of course Emma needed a turn in the pile.

Meanwhile Paul started back to work.

It wasn't much later when Max and Nick came out and joined the fun. Then someone got the idea that they should jump off the fences into the pile.


This pile is still there and there are a bunch of leaves still in the area. We are in a better position than we have been in years and we worked really well together but it still isn't done. At least they provide a lot of entertainment.

Last Night was so Much Freaking Fun!!!

Yesterday I had my evening all planned. I had a date with the Dancing with the Stars finale.

I made a real dinner, with salad and bread and everything. I got all nice and full. I was going to lay in bed, get toasty warm, let the pasta and white bread turn to fat and just veg. in-front of the TV. Bliss.

When Paul called on his way home to tell me there was a basketball game I wasn't that thrilled. At dinner he asked the kids if they wanted to go. Of course Emma did, Andrew didn't. I told Andrew we could stay home together but I would be busy so he should plan on being ignored. He was okay with that. When Emma and Paul started getting ready to leave he started to re-think his options and decided to go. I hated to send Paul off with both kids, alone, again so I got ready and went too.

We got there a little late, picked some seats in the student section

and texted our friend Cameron to see where he and his family were sitting. He was really close by! We sent the kids to say hello. After a while I went to collect our kids. At this point they wanted to see grandma and grandpa. Do you get the feeling they don't go to watch basketball? I do.

While they were on the other side of the Marriott center we texted Cameron again to see if their family would like to join us. They texted back "on our way". They were just getting settled when I lady from BYU started heading straight for us. We tried not to make eye-contact. We thought that she was going to ask them to return to their seats. Nope. She wanted to know if we would be interested in sitting in the I.M. Home sectional, "The Best Seats in the House" Ummm, YES! Off we all went to sit in the couch.

We were also promised a meeting with Cosmo and time on the scoreboard.

While we were waiting for a time in the spotlight a lady came up asking if there was another sectional anywhere. Um I think that's obvious, no. She then says that she has passes to sit there since she spent over $3,000 on mattresses. We were getting ready to get up when she walked away to find someone to talk to, so we stayed. She never came back, no one else asked us to move and even though I get the impression she was way ticked off, we stayed. Not long after that Cosmo came and we were shown on the board. I know it is really hard to tell but that is all of us up there.

Cosmo couldn't get to the side of the couch that we were on so we didn't get a family picture with him. :(

We watched the rest of the game from the couch.

Time for some Cosmo love!

While we were sitting we noticed one of the football players (Brian Logan) close by so we yelled his name, gave thumbs up and told them good luck Saturday. He looked like he enjoyed the attention.

After BYU kicked Southern's butt big time

we decided to go out for ice cream. We couldn't figure out a good place to go. Cameron suggested Chili's in Orem and it sounded fine so off we went. We got queso, chips, salsa and drinks. We're gobbling it all when Tavernari walks in to sit in a booth right behind us. Annika is a drooling at this point. I admit, he looked really good in his suit. The kids took some pictures with him and then we left him alone even though they all really wanted his autograph. Two other players showed up and came by his table to talk. It was so fun seeing them. Who would have thought Chili's was the place to be?

After the appetizers were gone we got dessert. We love their molten chocolate cake. Emma got a red velvet sweet shot. It was so much fun being in the spot-light, meeting players, enjoying great friends and conversation. We are blessed to have so many of these opportunities and such great people in our lives to share them with.

Two New Recipes for November

I was beginning to think I may not get a new recipe tried before the month was over but I did, I tried two, and boy am I glad. Both recipes were a success.

This soup is from the Lion House Classics cookbook. My friend Jennifer brought it to a card group luncheon we had last month. I really liked it and wanted to try it out on the fam. She gave me the recipe some time ago but I didn't read it very thoroughly so I had to make some changes today since I didn't have some things that it called for. Here is the recipe as written. I included my changes in parenthesis.

Hearty Chicken Noodle Soup

2 teaspoons chicken soup base or 2 bouillon cubes (I only had granules so I used 2 tsps of that)

3 cups canned chicken stock (I used 2 cups broth and 1 cup water mixed with the granules mentioned above)

2 cups chopped carrots

2 cups chopped celery

3/4 chopped onion (I didn't measure any of my veggies, just cup up what I wanted)

2 cans cream of chicken soup (I only used one)

1/4 C. evaporated milk or 1/2 cup whole milk (I used whipping cream, I didn't even measure LOL!)

Roux /see page 12 (Wait. What?!? I don't have page 12. I only have a photocopy of this one page.)

2 cups cooked diced chicken (I boiled 1 breast)

2 1/2 ounces cooked noodles (about 4 cups) See my notes on noodles below.

She added peas and I liked it so I did it too.

Salt and pepper to taste

Heat chicken soup base and stock together. Add veggies and simmer until tender. (Instead I melted 1/4 cup of butter, added veggies and cooked them in butter for about 10 minutes or until tender. Then I added heaping tablespoons of flour to make a roux. After that I whisked in the chicken broth, water and bullion and brought it to a boil) Add cream of chicken soup and milk. Thicken with roux as desired then add cooked chicken and noodles. (I added the condensed soup against my better judgement but it ended up okay once I added the whipping cream. I wish I had made my own condensed soup but I got lazy. Anyway, once I got the condensed soup in there and the noodles and the chicken and the peas it got way thick even with the cream. Like super scary thick so I added a whole other can of chicken broth and it turned out perfectly.) Season with salt and pepper. (I also added season salt)

I used my autumn dishes and served the soup with a crusty sourdough. A salad would have been nice too.

Do you guys remember the commercial for Life where they all watch Mikey to see if he would eat the cereal? We re-lived that with Andrew tonight. Emma eats all soups, Paul eats most things even though he makes his preferences known, I knew I liked it so Andrew was the final judge. He pushed away his bowl and I told him to go to his room. He didn't want to, he said he would rather eat the soup, so we told him to eat the soup. Next thing we knew the bowl was empty. Emma said "He likes it!" Wahoo!

My favorite part of the soup were these noodles. These are from Macey's and can be found in the freezer section close to the pies.

They are really thick and chewy like homemade. I loved that. Andrew said he didn't like them, but again, his bowl was empty. If you can find a big fat awesome noodles like this, use them. I think they are what makes the soup.

The other recipe we tried tonight was Muddy Buddies.

Yes we have been living under a rock. The cereal in on a really good sale this week so we decided to give it a try. I cut the recipe in half. Don't do that. Make it all. You will not want to stop eating it. It is so good. We are trying to save it for the Amazing Race but I don't know if it will make it.

If you have been living under a rock too here is the recipe.

9 cups Corn Chex®, Rice Chex®, Wheat Chex® or Chocolate Chex® cereal (or combination. We used rice)

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (of course I used milk chocolate)

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/4 cup butter or margarine

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2cups powdered sugar

1.Into large bowl, measure cereal; set aside.

2.In 1-quart microwavable bowl, microwave chocolate chips, peanut butter and butter uncovered on High 1 minute; stir. Microwave about 30 seconds longer or until mixture can be stirred smooth. Stir in vanilla. Pour mixture over cereal, stirring until evenly coated. Pour into 2-gallon resealable food-storage plastic bag.

3.Add powdered sugar. Seal bag; shake until well coated. Spread on waxed paper to cool. Store in airtight container in refrigerator.

BYU vs. Airforce

Yesterday we got to go to the game. It has been a while since we had one here. There were reports of snow but luckily it didn't make it. It was cold though. As Paul said 40's aren't bad until you are just sitting for hours, then it starts to feel very cold. We survived with hand hotties and hot chocolate. Overall we had a pretty good time.

We got to the game earlier than usual. While we were walking around looking for something to eat we ran into LaVell Edwards. He shook all of our hands and was kind enough to take pictures with the kids.

We went to the store inside the stadium to get Emma a sweatshirt and Andrew a ball.
I wanted proof that I was actually there ;)
Here come the players!
If you look very closely in the center of this picture you will see four tiny little dots. Those are the fighter jets that flew over the stadium before the game started. I can't tell you how much I love seeing the jets fly over the stadium. It never gets old. I'm just going to say it, the roar of the engines gets me hot.
Someone had the nerve to call us die-hards.
This is when Andrew started to freeze and get bored. When Andrew ain't happy, ain't nobody happy.
Don't be fooled by the fact that I don't have my coat on, it was cold. I had several layers on up top but only jeans on my legs so I kept the down coat on my lap.
BYU won!

Reflections

This year we decided to try our hand at Reflections. We had never participated before. I was completely intimidated. When we heard the theme, "Beauty Is...", we knew we could do something.

Emma started planning at the beginning of the year but then lost interest until pretty much the day before everything was due. I guess that's just how we roll around here. (Rolling eyes)

She entered a poem and a picture that she took in our backyard. She got an honorable mention for her photo. Thursday we went to the ceremony where she was rewarded a medal and a certificate for her poem. She was so excited to win something. They also gave away a great gift bag to all who participated. I was wishing Andrew had submitted something so we could have gotten twice the goodies.

Now that I have seen how it all works we will be a lot more at ease next year. I am guessing we have many more years of Reflections in our future.