Canning chicken with a toddler and a baby in the church parking lot

Last Saturday my Relief Society had a "Super Saturday" and we canned chicken. I had some previous commitments (a birthday party, not to mention naps for the kiddos) so I contemplated not going at all. I remember my mom canning when we were kids. It looked like so much work, the kitchen (and therefore the house) was hot and steamy all day, and I remember being kind of afraid of it. I guess I would see my mom sticking her hands into the hot, boiling water and being warned a thousand times to not touch the jars on the counter.

Anyway, part of me wanted to can chicken because I knew I should for food storage purposes, not to mention I already had the jars. I decided to go for just long enough to get my jars packed and in the pressure cooker. I got there (with both kids since Robert was working) at 8:30 and realized upon arrival that not only was there NOT a child care room set up, but I was the only one who had brought my kids. Ethan was calm and mellow, as usual, but Craig wanted to run everywhere and touch everything, including the propane stoves and burners (which weren't lit yet). We were set up in the parking lot and as I tried to stand there and listen to the directions while corralling Craig and keep him from running in front of cars (the pine wood derby was happening in the gym), I started to wonder how I was going to do this. I decided to call a neighbor and see if I could bring Craig over for an hour while I got my chicken started, but then I realized I forgot my phone and I didn't know their number. I was just about to give up and go home when I thought, "I'll just put him in the car for 30 minutes." I was only doing 10 jars so he wouldn't have to cry and scream for too long. And then I remembered: we have a DVD player in our new van! Hallelujah! I popped in the Wiggles and Craig watched four grown men dancing and singing, "Toot toot, chuga chuga, big red cah" for a half an hour, Ethan enjoyed being held by a gracious sister in the ward, I got my jars done, and we were off!

The chicken is very tasty, by the way, and I've decided that I want a pressure cooker because I really like canning!

Executive Sous Chef!

Robert's been promoted to Executive Sous Chef at the country club that he works at! He is now the second in command for the restaurant, right below the Executive Chef and above the day time Sous Chef (and everyone else). I am so excited for him. He is finally getting the recognition he deserves and has worked so hard for over the last 5 years...well really over his entire working life. This means we'll probably be moving closer to his work when our lease runs out this summer, but that's not too much farther away from here. It's a cute little town called Fountain Hills.
As another cheer for Robert, I thought I would post a picture of something amazing that he did last week. A woman named Birdie had a birthday and her husband threw her a party at the restaurant (they're members and live at the golf course). She doesn't really like dessert and cake so he requested a fruit plate for her instead. However, Chef Robert decided that it needed to be more than just a fruit plate. This is what he did:

Those are slices of fruit stacked up with raspberries on top! Then he carved a pear to look like a little bird, since her name is Birdie, and the little banner the bird is holding says, "Happy Birdie-day." I am in total amazement at the creativity involved there. Robert continues to impress me with his skill. He SO deserves this promotion!

Craig's best friend (besides me)

I've been meaning to get a video of this for a while. Craig loves the kitty and he's found a way to really play with her. He just holds a string and runs around the house and she chases him. He thinks it hilarious. It's pretty cute to watch her jump out from behind the couch and surprise him, and then he busts up laughing. She has been a great distraction for him more than once when I needed him preoccupied.

Flash back to 1989

Yesterday was a beautiful, breezy spring day with temperatures in the low 70's. I opened the doors and had a lovely cross breeze. As I was sitting in the living room with Craig and Ethan, a sound floated in that instantly took me back to summers in San Leandro when I was a little girl.

We would each take our turns spending a week at our grandparents' house in the suburbs of San Francisco. Their house is in a classic 1950's-style neighborhood. The kind that ice cream trucks loved to visit. I remember hearing that upbeat tune coming from three blocks down. Listening for it as it got louder and closer, waiting for it to appear around the corner, trying to guess which direction it was coming from, was like Christmas in July. We didn't have things like that in Sonora.

That is where my mind took me as I was sitting in my living room yesterday and "The Entertainer" came playing along with the breeze. I jumped up and ran out the door. I saw a girl two doors down, about 15 years old, come bolting out of her townhouse with dollar bills in hand. Sure enough, there was the ice cream truck with a long line of kids of all ages waiting to buy their ice cream.

Well, I guess it's more of an ice cream van. But the flash back was neat at least.

P.S. This reminded me of the last time I saw an actual ice cream truck. It was in Chapel Hill, North Carolina in a shady-looking apartment complex. My companion told me that often in that part of town the ice cream truck was a cover--they sold something, but it wasn't ice cream. :) Who was that companion anyway? One of you out there? I can't remember.

March 18, 2005

Happy Anniversary, Robert!

Thursday was our anniversary. It's been 5 years, and I can't believe it. To celebrate, he got the day off and we all went to the Wildlife World Zoo (more on that later). That night, a neighbor babysat and we went to Red Lobster for dinner then came home and watched a movie. It was a really good day.

Here are a couple of my favorite pictures from March 18th, 2005.

When we got to the church for our reception, there was a basketball! We played a tiny bit but I admit, the dress got in the way a little.

Five things I love about Robert:

1) His patience with my moods. (And they've been bad lately.)
2) He takes the time to really be a great, fun, caring dad.
3) I can tell him how I feel, even when it's not good, and he'll listen.
4) We have our own little inside jokes and can make each other laugh.
5) The way he wakes me up when he leaves in the morning to give me a kiss goodbye.

Another new outfit

When we went to see Robert's mom a couple of weeks ago, she gave Craig his birthday presents since she won't be able to be here on his birthday. This outfit was one of them. I think it's the cutest thing. He never liked hats before, but when I put this on him, we would not let me take the hat off, not even for nap time.

I took him to the park that day and as I was talking with another mom there, she asked which kids were mine. I said, "The striped one." She looked over and saw him and chuckled. Then she said, "Yeah, my son isn't very stylish today either."
Wait...what? I thought. Well, I think he's adorable and don't care if it's stylish or not, so there!

And just for laughs, when I took the camera out to take his picture, he wanted to play with it and I wouldn't let him, so he threw a tantrum. This is the picture:

What do you think I said to him? Yep: "There's no crying in baseball!"

Wildlife World Zoo

So here's the Wildlife World Zoo. It's different from the Phoenix Zoo. Apparently, this place is a research and breeding facility where they help repopulate the world's endangered species. As a result, the admission price is fairly high (a once a year kind of trip) and the zoo itself is a little rudimentary (like no pavement and many of the enclosures are just logs dug into the ground instead of expensive fencing). It's smaller, too, but I think we liked it better, overall. It was very accessible to get around to see all of the animals. Plus they have an aquarium, which was fun to see. First, I have pictures of the baby animal nursery.
A baby kangaroo. We didn't get to see him either, but I thought this was just so cute. :)

Baby porcupines. While we were watching, the one on top crawled over to snuggle with his or her sibling. It's hard to snuggle when you're a porcupine.

Here's a picture from the aquarium.

This boa was hanging on this tree as we walked out of the aquarium. As far as we could tell, he wasn't tied down or anything. Kind of creepy, but cool.

I thought this garden of flamingos was kind of neat, too.

From the top, you really couldn't see this guy. I think he was trying to hide from us, but he didn't realize that the glass wall went under water, too, so we could see him anyway.

One of the white Siberian tiger "cubs."

This was really neat. This cage went over the walkway between the white Siberian tigers and the cheetah. Here's the cheetah just taking a nap/showing off. I didn't zoom in at all for this picture, by the way. That's how close he was to us. If it weren't for the extra layer of fencing, a tall person could've just reached up and touched him.

Craig and Ethan did really well. There was a petting zoo, too, but we didn't get any picture of that. Craig loved feeding the goats and being practically run over by them. They even had a few baby deer. I think petting the deer was my favorite part. By the way, deer are a little rougher than goats when they're eating from your hand. Just FYI. Ethan slept off and on in the stroller. Craig should've napped on the way there, but didn't. Having missed his nap, he did relatively well. We got back into the car at about 3:00 (2 1/2 hours after his usual nap time) and within literally a minute, he was out:

It was a really good day.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Here's your joke for the day:

What do you call an Irishman who stays out all night?



Paddy O'Furniture

Ba dum bah!

Finally!

Sorry it's been so long. My classes this semester are really killing me. For those of you who don't know, I've been doing an online bachelors program through BYUI since last Fall. This semester I have three classes and they seem to consume all of my computer time. I try to get updates on here once a week, but life flies by and I forget. I have two semesters left (Summer and Fall of this year) and then I graduate and can dedicate all my computer time to blogging. Well, we'll see about that. Anyway, here what's been going on the last week or so.

I can't believe Ethan is 6 months old already! Here he is with his first taste of rice cereal. He didn't really like it at first, but he's getting used to it. (That bib says "Lunch is on me." Ha ha.)


I got Craig his own little chair at a garage sale last Saturday. Gotta love garage sale-ing in rich communities. :) This was $10 but I only had $9 in my wallet and they gave it to me anyway.

Craig's new church suit. He's so cute. He didn't want me to take it off.

Last Sunday Robert had the day off and it Stake Conference so we decided to head up to Show Low to see his mom. She hasn't seen the kids since last September, so it was time. We almost got stuck in this storm on the way home. This was about 5:00pm and we kept thinking we should turn around, but it cleared up as we got down the mountain. I love the Mesa winters, but it was nice to get up to the snow again. We had a lot fun.

Sittin' Tall

Just a couple of days ago, I sat Ethan up with a toy and walked out of the room for a minute. When I came back in, I fully expected to find him on his back, but I found this instead:

He sat there for a long time until he got tired and just rolled backwards. It still amazes me when he and Craig both make those leaps in their development. Craig was only a month or two older than Ethan is now when he started crawling, so I guess I need to keep an eye on that, too. Life just blows by and I lose track of time. My baby is growing way too fast.

FREEDOM!

We are officially minivan-ers!

Robert swore that he would never own a minivan--that's why this is in my name. :) We got more back in our taxes this year than expected, so we decided we would get either a van for me and the kids or a commuter car for Robert. After much searching, disappointment, and two very long, tiring days of driving around Mesa/Phoenix looking at cars with no great prospects, we found this through a private owner on Craigs List. It's a 2000 Honda Odyssey and has all the features we were looking for. The back seat folds into the floor, so that means when it's up there's a whole bunch of extra storage in the back. It has the two chairs in the middle rather than a bench, which we wanted to keep Craig away from Ethan :). As a bonus, it has a new DVD player that the guy who sold it to us installed just to make it sell faster. The guy also replaced a bunch of stuff like the brakes, tires, even the transmission is new! And, since he was wanting to get rid of it so quickly, we got a screaming deal on it. It's emaculate, too. Everything inside and out is clean and intact. We got REALLY lucky on this. I love it and I love the freedom!

Funny thing: when we were looking at dealerships, we went to a lot of the little hispanic used card dealers in downtown Phoenix. I used the bathroom in one and it had a list rules (all in Spanish) to the employees. I read very little Spanish, but I got the message in #4 loud and clear. Basically, it said, "If you have to go 'el mejor 2' go to the McDonalds down the street." I thought that was hilarious! Needless to say, we didn't go to that McDonalds for lunch.

Updates

Here are a few things we've been up to lately:

Robert bought a little plastic remote control helicopter and now we can't keep Craig away from it unless we hide it. (This picture was taken right after dinner and his shirt was particularly messy, so I just took it off.) As soon as Robert showed Craig how to work the controls, he was off and flying. He does better with than me, for the most part. It's starting to fly a little sideways, though, because Craig likes to watch it ram into the walls. He is such a little techie. With language skills, he's still working on pronunciation and using two and three words together, but give him something electronic and he'll figure it out in no time.

Bumbo seat...booster seat. It's all the same.

We've lived here for almost 9 months and finally hung curtains on Monday. I've actually never hung curtains before since most places we've lived have either already had them or we didn't really need them. It's just so darn sunny here all the time, we need a break from it once in a while...:) I really like the way they add so much warmth to the room.

And here's Craig, throwing a fit since I won't let him play with the camera. What'd I tell ya? Mister Techie.

And finally, I made these cookies on Sunday. They're SOOOO good and really easy. Here's the link for the recipe: Chocolate-Marshmallow Pillows.

I also made this soup last night for dinner. Robert and I both thought it was blog-worthy: Loaded Baked Potato Soup.

Cheesecake, blue aliens, and a light sleeper

Since Robert usually works on holidays (especially Valentine's Day) we've gotten in the habit of going out on a day other than the actual holiday. So on Tuesday night we went out on our first date (all by ourselves) in over 7 months for Valentine's Day. I've been wanting to go to the Cheescake Factory for a while, so we went there for dinner. I've never been there and it was awesome! I would highly recommend it. Robert was even impressed, which is hard to do. Then we went and saw Avatar, which was an awesome movie. It was a great night altogether. Our neighbor babysat for us and everything went smoothly until 10:30 when Ethan woke up and she couldn't get him to go back to sleep. They were both up when we got home at midnight and she had to go to work the next morning! We felt really bad. Ethan normally doesn't wake up until around 2 or 3 in the morning, so she just happened to get him on a bad night. The next day we offered to watch her son in the afternoon so she could take a nap. All in all, it was a lot of fun and I can't wait until our anniversary next month when we get to go out again!

Chocolate Raspberry Truffle (this is what I had...well this and dinner, which was good, but not picture worthy)



Great movie! I think this is blu-ray worthy--no pun intended.

You wouldn't mind losing sleep over this, would you? :)

Blessing Day (Finally)

Today we (finally) blessed Ethan!

Ever since we moved to Mesa Robert's had to work most Sunday's. Therefore, we haven't been able to bless Ethan. Here, they pretty much only do blessings on Fast Sunday and Robert's had to work every Fast Sunday since Ethan's been born. The only other Sunday's Robert had off were in December when we were coming back from California and then one week when we were all sick. The other times he's been at church there's been one reason or another why we couldn't do it that week. So, we finally did it. Poor Ethan...it was right during his nap time and he wanted to be good, but he did whimper and squirm a tiny bit during it. But he's now officially a child-of-record in the church. :)

I was surprised that he still fit into the blessing outfit. This is the one Craig wore and it's a size 0-3 month! (Ethan is 5 months already--crazy.)

Things I love about Robert

We think the same things are funny.

Craig lights up when Robert comes home.

He tries hard to pay as much attention to Ethan as Craig (it's hard when your almost-2-year-old demands so much attention and your 5 month old is so mellow).

He is extremely talented in his craft...and I wish I could somehow make his employers see that.

Because of the previous statement, I have learned SO much about cooking/baking and have gained a greater appreciation for it.

He's developed great patience in many ways, and I don't think he knows it.

Our time together can be just as fun and meaningful if we go to the store as a family or on date (but dates are still nice).

I've had many people tell me throughout the years, "Your husband loves you so much...he's always talking about you."

He really likes having people over for dinner, dessert, games, or just to get to know them better.

He's always thinking of ways to do something nice for someone or helping someone who needs it.

I can tell he's always thinking of ways to make things better and more comfortable for us.

He is ambitious. Very ambitious.

He's quite a skilled handyman. He's always surprising me with his ability to do random household things.

He really wants to be a great husband and father.

He doesn't know it, but he already is a great husband and father.

O Canadians

Now that Vancouver will be hosting the 2010 Winter Olympics, these are some questions people from all over the world are asking.

Believe it or not these questions about Canada were posted on an International Tourism Website.

Obviously the answers are a joke; but the questions were really asked!

Q: I have never seen it warm on Canadian TV, so how do the plants grow? ( England )
A. We import all plants fully grown and then just sit around and watch them die.

Q: Will I be able to see Polar Bears in the street? ( USA )
A: Depends on how much you've been drinking.

Q: I want to walk from Vancouver to Toronto - can I follow the Railroad tracks? ( Sweden )
A: Sure, it's only Four thousand miles, take lots of water.

Q: Is it safe to run around in the bushes in Canada ? ( Sweden )
A: So it's true what they say about Swedes.

Q: Are there any ATM's (cash machines) in Canada ? Can you send me a list of them in Toronto , Vancouver , Edmonton and Halifax ? (England )
A: No, but you'd better bring a few extra furs for trading purposes.

Q: Can you give me some information about hippo racing in Canada ? (USA )
A: A-fri-ca is the big triangle shaped continent south of Europe Ca-na-da is that big country to your North...oh forget it. Sure, the hippo racing is every Tuesday night in Calgary

Q: Which direction is North in Canada ? ( USA )
A: Face south and then turn 180 degrees Contact us when you get here and we'll send the rest of the directions.

Q: Can I bring cutlery into Canada ? ( England )
A: Why? Just use your fingers like we do.

Q: Can you send me the Vienna Boys' Choir schedule? ( USA )
A: Aus-t ri-a is that quaint little country bordering Ger-man-y, which is...oh forget it. Sure, the Vienna Boys Choir plays every Tuesday night in Vancouver and in Calgary , straight after the hippo races.

Q: Do you have perfume in Canada ? ( Germany )
A: No, WE don't stink.


Q: I have developed a new product that is the fountain of youth. Where can I sell it in Canada ? ( USA )
A: Anywhere significant numbers of Americans gather.

Q: Do you celebrate Thanksgiving in Canada ? ( USA )
A: Only at Thanksgiving.

Q: Are there supermarkets in Toronto and is milk available all year round? ( Germany )
A: No, we are a peaceful civilization of Vegan hunter/gathers. Milk is illegal.

Q: I have a question about a famous animal in Canada , but I forget its name. It's a kind of big horse with horns. ( USA )
A: It's called a Moose. They are tall and very violent, eating the brains of anyone walking close to them. You can scare them off by spraying yourself with human urine before you go out walking.

Q: Will I be able to speak English most places I go? ( USA )
A: Yes, but you will have to learn it first.


Why do the Americans have to be the REALLY stupid ones? Sigh.

Watch this with your spouse

I had to post this. It's called "Tale of Two Brains."




There's also a 10 minute extended version on YouTube, if you're interested.

Another baked item that I probably shouldn't have made, but am really glad I did

Maple Pecan Scones

Again, these are from the Pioneer Woman. I love her recipes because they always turn out just they way she said. Usually, the only variations I make are for personal preference or because I wasn't prepared and had to make substitutions. I would recommend these. The maple icing is awesome and the sweet, nutty flavor of the pecans in the scone is a perfect match. Try 'em. Since these are from her cookbook and I can't seem to find them on her website, I'll type the recipe here for you. You're welcome. :)

Scones:
3 cups flour
1/3 cup sugar
5 tsps. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/2 pound butter, chilled
1/4 cup pecans, chopped fine
1 large egg
3/4 cup heavy cream

Icing:
1 pound powdered sugar
1/4 cup whole milk
4 Tbps. butter, melted
Dash of salt
2 tsp. maple flavoring or extract

Preheat oven to 350. In a large bowl, stir flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Cut the cold butter into the flour mix until it resembles crumbs. Add the chopped pecans and stir. Mix the egg and cream in a separate bowl and add to the flour/butter mix. Stir until just combined. turn onto a lightly floured surface. The dough will be very crumbly. Just press it together with your hands into a pile on the counter. Don't knead or press too much, though. Very gently roll out the dough into a 10-inch round about 3/4 inch thick. With a sharp knife, cut into eight equal-sized wedges. Transfer to a baking sheet either lined with a silpat (or a silicone baking mat) or spray baking sheet with non-stick spray. Bake scones for about 22-26 minutes until they barely begin to brown. Do not allow the edges to become dark. Allow them cool completely before icing. For icing, mix all ingredients together in a medium bowl until smooth. Pour generously over scones. Allow to set before serving.

Love You Forever

For the past three nights, Craig has been wanting me to read this book to him for his bedtime story. The first night, I couldn't get past the the first page without breaking down. The rest of the book I sounded like I was talking through a mouthful of cotton balls. The next night, I lasted until the boy begins to grow into a teenager (my boys are never going to grow up, I've decided). Then last night I was doing pretty good and thought I was home free, until the page where the boy is all grown up and holds him mom in the rocking chair and says:

"I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living
My mommy you'll be."

I can't even type it without getting blurry eyed!

I love being the mommy of two little boys.

Especially these two little boys.

Things I love about Ethan

He is so smiley and happy, even when he's fighting off sleep.

He is a great sleeper (after a lot of work, but not as much as I thought it would take).

He's very low maintenance. He's content to just be near me when I have an hour's worth of homework to do.

He has the greatest little belly laugh, which he reserves for only the extremely funny things, like tickling him in the "tickle spot of the day"--it varies.

He can be occupied for a long time just observing Craig and the world around him.

He is so cuddly.

He's always surprising me by doing something new, like falling back asleep in the mornings after I feed him and I think he's totally awake. Then I can get Craig set up with his breakfast and go back to sleep myself.

Because of his constant state of contentment, I can easily take him with me to primary if Robert has to work. Then the only distraction are the little 8 year old girls who seem to be hard wired to ignore everything else when a baby enters the room.

Since about 6 weeks old, he's had an amazing ability to simply close his eyes and drift off to sleep on his own. I've never known babies so young could do that. It's the staying asleep part we had to work on.

My evenings have opened up a lot sooner than I expected because of that ability to fall asleep on his own. (Temple, movies, dinner, we can do anything!)

Now that he no longer needs to be swaddled, he very resourcefully found another use for his blanket: