Van Finally Has a Home Again

Our poor van, who growls at us every time we turn it on in the winter months, finally has a roof over it's head again.
Back in November our garage was transformed into an extra storage room out of necessity when we started the basement project. I'm afraid that the van got the boot, but I'm proud to report that as of today our van is no longer homeless. My hard work has paid off just in time for hopefully one of the last big snow storms of the season!
Oddly enough when I took Dennis to work this morning it made me laugh as I drove by all the other "homeless" cars out there who where left out in the snow as well. The term two car garage is very misleading. In reality what it should be called is an attached shed with room for a small car to squeeze into. And more often than not the typical two car garage is simply an extra storage room for most people. It's true because I saw if for myself! Car after car with a 1/2 inch of snow frosted on the tops of them.
The next item on our wish list is a shed. A real detached building in the back yard with a concrete pad and all to store the lawn mower, rakes, shovels, wheelbarrow and all sorts of lawn and garden care products that currently reside in our "garage". Never again will our van be homeless!

If It's Spring Why Does It Feel Like Winter?

Last week was absolutely gorgeous outside! I was just loving it! I even got a few things planted in my garden. Peas, spinach and lettuce. I also planted cabbage plants and bare root strawberries. I even had Dennis up on the roof taking down our Christmas lights. So then what does it do. . . it snows of course. The only consolation is that it isn't sticking it's melting away, but it is still pretty cold. I guess I should be thinking more of the positive. At least all the snow pack in the mountains isn't melting away all at once. That's a good thing. Also the faster it gets warm the sooner it gets hot and I kind of wilt in the extreme heat. So I guess things aren't that bad.

Last weekend we took the kids to the Draper Temple open house. The most exciting part for the kids was the bus ride to the temple and back. It was very beautiful inside. I was so excited for the chance to show our children what it was like inside.

10th Anniversary

Today is our tenth Wedding Anniversary!
It's funny looking back and after just going through all the stuff at Dennis' little brother's wedding last week. I'm just glad we're where we're at. It was a wonderful day, especially at the temple! Then there are all the smiles and family and attention and presents. It's fun to look at the pictures. I sure do love this guy!!

I thought in honor of today, I'd share a few trivial things about Dennis and I that I got from one of those many brag lists that are out there. It's kind of fun, so here it goes!

What are your middle names? I don't have one, Dennis Lynn

How long have you been together? Engaged December 26th,1998 and been together ever since

How long did you know each other before you started dating? Dennis and I knew each other from our missions. We wrote a couple letters to each other when I came home but it was about 4 months after Dennis came home that we started dating because we were both dating other people.
Who asked who out? I wrote him a letter giving him my phone number (because I would never call a guy) and he called and asked me out.

Whose siblings do you see the most? about the same for both of us
Do you have any children together? 2 boys and 2 girls
What about pets? We're down to just a cat we've had for 7 years and a baby chinchilla we got about 2 weeks ago.

Did you go to the same school? nope I went to Gunnison High, graduating class of about 93, and he went to Benlomund High in Ogden.

Who is the most sensitive? I am

Where do you eat out most as a couple? not so much one place, we usually get take out anyway.

Where is the furthest you two have traveled together as a couple? Oregon

Who has the craziest exes? Neither of us really.

Who has the worst temper? Dennis keeps his more in check than I do

Who does the cooking? me but Dennis does breakfast sometimes
Who is more social? Dennis
Who is the neat freak? Dennis used to be but I've softened him up a lot in 10 years.

Who is the most stubborn? I'll have to say I am but we're both pretty layed-back and give in a lot. The difference is that I usually give in with a "hummmph" or an eye roll and "whatever".
Who hogs the bed? the kids that always end up there!

Who wakes up earlier? Dennis thank goodness! I'm not a morning person and it takes me a while to actually wake up enough to talk.

Where was your first date? Temple square and then crown burger in SLC

Who has the bigger family? there are both 6 kids in our families but his family by far outnumbers mine on grandkids! 18 to 8

Do you get flowers often? Valentines Day sometimes on our Anniversary and more often in the summer when he walks in the door with a rose he's picked from the rosebushes in our front yard.(That's why he planted them there!)

How long did it take to get serious? a couple months although it was probably sealed when his grand dad introduced me at the Bountiful Temple to the workers as Dennis' fiance after just a couple dates.

Who eats more? probably me have you seen my hubby!!:)

Who sings better? I'm going to say me just because Dennis has the piano thing and I want to claim something that I'm better at!! :) He is a great singer though.

Who does the laundry? both of us

Who’s better with the computer? Dennis

Who drives when you are together? Dennis beause I don't like driving at night, but I'm starting to trade him when the kids are in the car on long drives because I'd rather deal with the road than the crazy kids!

Who picks where you go to dinner? he always asks me where I want to go, but gives suggestions when I say I don't care or I feel like . . . .

Who is the first one to admit when they’re wrong? Dennis because he doesn't want to fight

Who wears the pants in the relationship? Dennis (even if he didn't I'd say he did.)

Who has more tattoos? We're both squeaky clean
Who eats more sweets? Dennis?? Which would be a switch from 10 years although it's probably really close!

St. George & Sunshine

Wednesday Dennis and I drove to St. George and left the three older kids at Grandpa & Grandma Sorensens'. Dennis was invited to be a speaker at the Rural Water Association of Utah Conference. I really enjoyed seeing him in this element because I don't get to see the "City Planner" Dennis very often. He was amazing! He spoke on "Growing Pains" in dealing with planning and other issues in the city. The auditorium was really big and there was a very nice size crowd of city workers in attendance from all over the state. He really did a wonderful job and knows his stuff. We decided to stay there for an extra day and call it our "Anniversary Trip". I dragged him out shopping with me, we walked around some antique shops, went out to eat, went to the St. George Temple Visitors Center, and soaked up a little sun.
On the way home Dennis wanted to stop and drive around the other end of Zion's park that we've never been to before, Kolob Canyons. To be perfectly honest, I didn't want to stop, I really just wanted to get home. But Dennis won out and I'm glad he did. Red rock isn't my favorite, I much prefer the forest or ocean, something more green, but seeing that area makes me reflect on how it was all made and who made it all. There is a peace there that kind of stops time and lets you breath.
It was a fun weekend together!

If I Only Had a Brain

Yesterday I forgot about Jacob's piano lessons and Enrichment night.. . auggghhh the frustration! They were right there on the calendar, Tuesday 24th: get teeth cleaned 12:10pm, Jacob piano 4pm, Enrichment 7pm. So where has my brain gone? I have no excuse like Pregnant Brain or Octeginarianism. Maybe I just found the spot right between the two with Mother of Fouritis.

This month always seems to be the hardest month for me to get through. It reaches that point when I begin to wonder, will the snow ever melt, and the house seem to shrink in size. The kids just want to go outside and play . . . but . . . the past couple days have been soooo wonderful! We sat out on the pouch and read! Then yesterday we noticed tiny little spikes of my tulips starting to break through the ground. It became necessary to make a couple rounds in the backyard to picking up garbage that has blown in and been buried under the snow. It's getting me all giddy for spring!

We all got our bikes out of the garage yesterday, pumped up a couple flat tires, dusted off the helmets and made a couple laps around the block. Afton rode her bike without training wheels for the first time. Dennis even got in on the action and took the kids on a 5 mile ride north of town.
So I guess I'm chalking up my forgetfulness to the fact that we were all enjoying the lovely weather outside. Its just spring fever! I have it!!

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.