Our Long Weekend

We sure enjoyed a very fun and exciting weekend. This was how it went.

FRIDAY
The kids thought it would be fun to exchange Valentines this year, something we haven't really done in the past. So they made invitations earlier that week and had some of their friends over to our house. They passed our the cards they made earlier that week and had fun playing. That night, we agreed to watch our neighbors' kids as part of a babysitting swap, (they watched our kids on Saturday). We fixed homemade pizza and the kids all ran around a played, again. We finally turned on "Night at the Museum" so they would just sit still for a minute and pretty soon everyone was asleep.

Saturday - Valentine's Day
Dennis went to work out in the morning and took Afton with him. They came home with a big bouquet of yellow roses for me!(One day I'll share the story that started the tradition of the yellow roses.) We had our Saturday dounuts,(Krispy Kream) that were delivered as part of a fundraiser. That afternoon Dennis and I went to the Provo temple together. (We narrowly avoided getting into an accident when a big truck ran a red light in the middle of a pretty good snowstorm. I certainly hope there was a camera on that light.) Afterwards, we sat down to eat at my favorite Chinese Restaurant and realized that we had better get it to go, due to it being Saturday night and we have early morning church. We picked up the kids did a last minute pick up of the house, showers and actually got them to bed pretty early. Dennis and I made chocolate dipped strawberries and enjoyed eating them with our Turtle Pie and drank Welch's Sparkling Grape Juice in our only two fancy smancy glasses! We snuggled on the couch and watched "If a Man Answers" which was so funny! It's an oldie but goodie that we borrowed from the Wallace's.


SUNDAY
We had most of my family come to our house for a little get together and dinner. We pulled out the Harry Potter Clue game, chatted, played air hockey, and just had fun together. (It sure is nice having the additional space in the basement!!)

MONDAY
Because of President's day Dennis didn't have to go to work, so he stayed home and grouted the bathroom shower! Afton went to a birthday party, the boys played with friends and I pulled out some more boxes from the garage and put them away, and actually vegged on the couch a bit.

Wow!!! It was so much fun to play all weekend long, but I've got to tell you that on Tuesday it was pretty hard to get going again!!

Mulligatawny

Here is another recipe post. I found this one in Family Fun Magazine, which I have been subscribing to for quite a few years now. (They are also at FamilyFun.com) I enjoy soup as well so I tried this one out on the family last night. It is flavored with Curry so if you like it you would love this! Out of the 6 of us 5, approved. The one who didn't approve, has become quite the picky eater and did have to sit at the table until it was gone. He did without gagging this time which is really saying something if you knew his track record. Dennis and I were laying it on pretty thick though, things like, "some kids only have one meal a day and in other places they eat raw fish and rotten duck eggs and dog meat and chicken legs, and pig snout. You should be grateful for what you have to eat." (aren't we terrible). I think he did great just eating through all that visual commentary. Here it is. It does simmer for an hour so plan accordingly.

Ingredients
4 tablespoons butt or 2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
1 celery stalk, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped (we omitted this one because I don't like green peppers and they give Dennis headaches.)
1 apple, cored, peeled and chopped (nice twist!)
1 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breast, chopped
1/2 cup flour
2 to 3 teaspoons curry powder (I only used 2 and though it was plenty, but Dennis said he couldn't taste it very much.)
5 cups chicken broth
1 (14 1/2 oz) can diced tomatoes, drained
salt and pepper to taste
2 cups cooked, hot rice

1. melt the butter, or heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion, carrots, celery, green pepper, apple, and chicken, and saute for about 15 minutes. Turn the heat to low.
2. In a small bowl mix together the flour and curry powder. Add the mixture to the pot, then stir and cook for 3 to 5 minutes. Add the chicken broth and tomatoes. Partially cover the pot and simmer the soup for about an hour, stirring occasionally. Add the salt and pepper to taste.
3. To serve place about 1/4 cup of rice in a bowl and ladle the soup over the rice. Makes about 8 cups.

If you try it let me know what you think.

More Painting

Now that things are wrapping up in the basement it was time to move on to the girls room. Afton has been so excited to paint her walls. She wanted one wall pink and the other one purple. I, being the painting phobic that I am, was hesitant to do anything with colors at all. I'm afraid that I won't like it once it's up and that will be that. Well after staring at paint cards for over a week I finially took the girls with me to Stringham's and mixed up the pink and purple paint. By the way they were soooo nice to the girls while we were there. Lauren, I think was his name, gave the girls popcorn and even bought them gummy worms and chocolate. When we got it home I opened the cans and about died. I thought it was going to be way too bright, but when we got it on the walls it turned out to be just right. We got right to work and now I'm so glad that we did it. It looks like such a fun room! Now we get to decorate it with big funky flowers and stuff. I repainted Afton's bed and then she moved right in. Now it's on to my school room!!!

Book Review

The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
I wasn't familiar with the Grimm tale of "The Goose Girl" when I read this book, but the storyline is the same and one that is pretty common throughout most fairy tales genre. It is one of a princess who is betrothed to an unknown prince in a far off kingdom. She is turned "goose girl" by plotting and schemes involving her lady-in-waiting who wants only to steal her crown. It's in this setting of being one of the lesser Forest Folk of the kingdom, that Ani, the true crown princess, finds her voice. The title of "fantasy" is used pretty lightly here since there are not fairies or Ogres or giants in the book, though it does have a type of magic that is easy to believe really exists. It contains key elements of a great fairy tale: a prince, a princess, betrayals, sword fights, friendship, magic, loyalty, courage, danger, and a happy ending!


I love being in the middle of a good book and the middle of this book started fairly early on for me. I loved the setting and the description of the landscape. It was very easy to be drawn into the book, and only took a couple days to finish it. Accents are always pretty hard for me to read but the authors writing was very helpful in this regard. This is a book I would happily add to my own library. I am definitely looking forward to reading more Shannon Hale books!


This book prompts great questions, and reflecting opportunities, perfect for a book group type setting. (Any takers?? Email me!!)


A couple of my favorite words: abeyance and resplendent.


I just loved this line - "I've no more good skin to give over to another bruise." - the goose girl


And then here is my favorite line, one that made me cry because it holds the essence of true friendship or love - "And when you get tired of worrying and mourning your horse and trying not to be afraid, tell me and I'll do it for you a while so you can shut your eyes and sleep peaceful." - Enna


View all my reviews.

A Steal of a Deal!!

Now that we have our basement all but finished we've been moving in. The hard part about finishing something like this is that you naturally want new things to go in it right? Well I thought that our little night stand that we've had our TV on looked so sad in that nice pretty room so I started looking for something nicer. Of course my aim was pretty high, but I figured we'll just save for it and then I can have what I want right? Well, a week ago Dennis found this entertainment center on KSL for a price even we could afford. What a deal!! We called right on it and even arranged for my in-laws to pick it up for us. They were coming down to visit anyway so it worked out so well. The gentleman we bought it from was storing it in his garage next to his boat. It was in wonderful condition! When they were unloading it, it was in 5 pieces, our neighbor was driving by and he and his 3 other friends stopped and helped bring it all in and down stairs. When we got it set up it ended up being a perfect fit. So fun!!
This is the picture from the ad.

A Day for Jacob

Today is Jacob's birthday. He is now 9 years old. The past week I have been remembering the day he was born and the circumstances surrounding it. Dennis' granddad Ralph Moyle Cluff died just shortly before Jacob was born and his funeral was the day I was scheduled to go into the hospital. Having Jacob was a very long wearing experience proving that he was not ready to be born yet, but my doctor suggested the induction due to a high blood pressure issue. But he came and we were so happy to have him here. Jacob had jondous bad enough that he had to stay an extra day in the hospital. It was so hard not to be able to hold him all the time like I wanted to. When we finally brought him home it was to put him in the bili-rhuben lights for another few days which was also torture! I remember the relief I felt when I could finally take him out turn the machine off and just cuddle him all I wanted.
Jacob still likes to snuggle up close. He occationally holds my hair and rubs it between his fingers like he would when he was young. Jacob has always been a more sober child and often times very reflective. He is very obedient and wants to do what's right. Jacob has a talent for the piano which he loves to play and needs little prompting to practice. He is very coordinated and loves sports. He is currently on a Jr. Jazz team. Jacob is very goal driven and has found a lot of satisfaction in the scouting program. Jacob loves playing games both board and video and tends to get really wrapped up in them. He also has a lot of fun reading books and loves to have us read them to him as well. We are currently reading Percy Jackson and the Olympians series together.

Happy Birthday Jacob!!! We love you sooo much!

Moving In

Well we've begun the work of moving our things back into the basement. We have the boys mattresses down there and a few toys. We bought a couple more book shelves and I put them together today(hooray for me and my power drill) and put those up. Now comes the work of setting things up the way I want them. It's like getting a new house! We are really enjoying it! The bathroom isn't 100% complete and the doors aren't finished yet, but it's getting there.