Seasonings

I love these two seasonings.  One is so easy,  I should make my own,  but it never turns out.  SuzyQ season salt.  It's just garlic, salt, pepper and parsley.  I have yet to make it as well as they do,  so I gave up and just order it in bulk.  It's great on bread, sandwiches,  roast, chicken, soup, steamed veggies, raw avocado... you get the idea.

I also can not  live with out Spade L Ranch Beef Marinade and Seasonings.  My grocery store carries it.  It is amazing.

Moab

We took a quick weekend trip to Moab,  just the adults.  Even though it was cold we had a great time.

What I'm thinking about

At 10:15 I get a second wind.  It's ridiculous,  but I feel more awake now than I do at 10 in the morning.  Sometimes I clean or read,  but tonight I've been looking at pictures of my family and feeling pretty blessed.  Here are some of my blessings.

Dave- he's kind,  and loyal,  and so good to me.  I can't imagine what would happen if he didn't walk in the door every night.  We've been married over 13 years now,  and I'm still getting butterflies.  

Claire-- she was home today with a cold,  she makes everything more fun,  more special.  She has all these ideas and dreams.  I'm so glad I get to watch her grow.

Thomas - he tells me almost every day that he loves me so so so so so so much.  Then he says that I'm the bestest mom in the world.  

Talmage-- he actually wanted to snuggle tonight and read stories. Then he held my hand and closed his eyes.  It's amazing to be trusted like that.

Mom-  My mom is amazing.  If you are ever sick then you need her.  No one is better at taking care of someone than her.

Dad- He loves life.  He is excited every day to see what is going to happen and what he is going to learn.  95 % of the seemingly random facts I have in my head are from him.

Bryce-- Check out his blog,  he is such a thinker,  and we get to talk about books!  I love watching him becoming a Doctor.  We are all lucky that he choose medicine.

Kirt-- I know I didn't get him when I was little,  but man what a great big brother.  Did  you know he showed up the other day and plowed our drive way.  It was great.  And watching him watch football is extremely entertaining.

Jenny-  so sweet and kind and funny and almost perfect.  She saves me almost every week,  and with a smile and says "oh it's no big deal."

Ann-Marie- everyone should have a sister like her.  She gets me like no one else does.  She understands so many things and her wisdom has saved me a million times.

Geoff-- He's the calm eye in our tornado of a family.  He can joke us back to being calm and make anyone he's talking to feel important.  Next time I'm in an ER,  I hope he's on call.

My father-in-law Lyndon-  He shows up when you need help. I think that is a characteristic that is so amazing.  I think about him sitting in the rocker at the hospital with my precious nephew.  He could play games,  get him to eat,  and get him to fall asleep.  And he knows how to fix just about anything.

My mother-in-law Toni- She is the most compassionate person ever. She always seems to know when I'm a little off.  She is so supportive and understanding.  I'm always sad when I hear other women complain about their mother-in-laws.  They are missing out.

Maegen-- She can tease,  and she knows how to do a million things at once.  I can't even keep her schedule straight,  but somehow she does it all and  do it well.  

Chad-- He can tease,  with a straight face.  He is a hard worker who spends his free time coaching everything.  And watch him with is daughter,  he's amazing.

Adam-  He makes the family complete.  He is a listener who can find solutions for any problem.  What a blessing to know that there is someone who will always take the time to listen.  He's listened to me way to many times,  but I'm sure I'll be talking his ear off again.  

MiKell- We were friends before I even knew Dave.  If you want to know a sweet person,  then she is it. She is so talented and caring.  Generous to a fault.  We've shared a lot together,  and I know we will share even more.  

Chris-- He's hard -working and ambitious,  meticulous and daring.  Dave and I are lucky to be associated with him.  

Hailey--Fun is the word I always think of when I think of Hailey.  She even made 6 months in a hospital room fun.  She has endured more that she should have to,  but she is still positive and planning the next party.  And watch it will be perfect and every guest will leave feeling like the party was just for them.  

Nick -- the secret agent,  he can tease too.  And boy can he deal with stress.  He is a very impressive person who has so many layers.  Spiritual and funny, daring and careful.  

And then my nieces and nephews.  These are amazing people.  From the big kids,  Ian, Summer and Ben who are so fabulous with their growing up and the Jr High moments all the way down to the little one who hasn't shown up.  I love Emme and Kate with their purses and bags  and babies.   And Cooper and Sam with their secret destruction. Hugh who loves to know the rules and wants to be a big kid,  and Graham who seems to just laugh and giggle.  Then you have Eliza and Ella,  two ladies who know what they want and can figure out how to get it.  Jack has a smile to melt your heart and can get up after a hard hit.  Ty is willing to try new things and talk about it with his aunt.  Emma,  who is the perfect friend for Claire,  so fun and kind,  easy to be with and caring.  

So its a good life I have,  surrounded by these people.  I joke about how we live in a compound with so many of us so close,  just two families out of state.  But with blogs and planes and texts and calls,  I still get to have them around.  I'm pretty lucky.  

What a great deal

Free Christmas Cards

I just wanted to spread the good news that Shutterfly is giving away FREE Christmas cards if you blog about it! I can't wait to get mine!

These are some of the beauties I like.....what about you?

I'm sooooo excited! Thanks Ann-Marie for the tip. You're a real gem! I'm so lucky to have such a great sister.  Maybe i should spend the money I save on you!

Sign up HERE for yours.

New Photos

I finally downloaded pics from my three cameras.  Here are some of them.

Rain in San Antonio

The best thing about rain in san anotnio means that I can sit on the couch eat my favorite local toritlla chips,  and inhale guacamole.  So glad I 've been dieting all week!

More pics

Hi, here are a few randomly picked pictures becuase I couldn't see the images, I just clicked on the files. But I am thinking about a pic of me for Dave's office (to ward off any more set-ups.) What do you think. There are more on the next page.

Halloween

We had a great Halloween celebration this year. We invited everyone who was in town over for tacos and pictures. Then Summer and Claire helped us take Tommy, Eliza, Talmage, and Emme trick or treating. Emme loved getting treats and had to walk slowly so she could eat along the way. Talmage wanted to move faster so he could get some more!

the one good thing.

So this week was really bad. I'm almost ready to forget the whole thing. I was talking to my husband who was having a reaccurance of kidney pain and were debating whether or not to go to the ER, when I said that there was nothing good about today. Well, he said that there had to be something, so an hour later I thought of it.
Today I learned that my sons are not afraid of snakes.
Under our patio there lives a rather large harmless snake. (I love him because he eats mice, thats how big he is). Evidently there was a litter of baby snakes. The boys were outside picking them up, letting them crawl down thier shirts and then doing it all over again. Laughing the whole time. So, now I know that my boys are not afraid of snakes. Hopefully they do not have salmonella but that is what soap is for right?

So I am a little lazy,

Here is some pics of my kids for my family members who have been very patient. Sorry, I know you love them too.

Claire's Dance Recital was a hit. The theme was UTAH, and she is Cherry Hill. How cute. She really performed well. I hope you can see it, but she is in the middle most of the time. I was trying hard to get her.

Salsa

I got this recipie from my Sister-in-Laws, so I don't take a lot of credit. I did make a few adjustments so I'll add those too.

2 big cans whole tomatoes mostly drained.
1/2 yellow pepper (I just do the whole thing)
1/2 Jalepeno no seeds ( add a few seeds for heat if you like)
1/3 Annehiem pepper (more for heat if you like)
pulse together in a blender or processor

add
1 t cummin
1 T Lime (We like more than that)
1 T brown sugar
2 cloves garlic (again I like more)
chopped green onions ( I like almost the whole bunch)
garlic salt
salt to taste
pepper if you like
Chopped Cilantro ( 1/2 a bunch, becuase Dave is not a huge fan)

If you cook tomatillos and add them its really good too.
Pulse again and serve.
Add some more lime or Fruit Fresh is you are not serving right a way.
Chuncks of avacado are really good too.
If things are too hot add a little more sugar.
But let it set for a while before you really decide, it needs to meld together.

Mother's Day, or why we should let it go

I'm in favor of forgetting Mother's day. Really, it s just a lot of stress and no one gets to do what they want to celebrate which is , have a nap, read a really shallow book, have lunch, get a pedicure, have a perfectly clean house, a thoughtful gift and card from each child and husband, and watch a shallow chick flick. Doesn't that sound awesome! Instead we race around trying to make sure the Mother's in our lives know we appreciate them (which we really truly do), clean up after the disastrous breakfast, (how does batter end up on the ceiling?) and get a wilted petunia at church where all of our kids act out.
I know that sounds very shallow and ungrateful, but really, I just want a nap.

Owie

My poor baby, it makes me cry just looking at the pictures. And this is after 3 or 4 days.

Jay, Tommy and Me

Almost every night, Tommy wakes up at 10:30. It is like clockwork. I'd say 5 out of 7 nights. He gets up, walks out and climbs on the couch with me. He is asleep as soon as he is on the couch. So I've gotten in the habit of waiting to watch Jay Leno's monolouge becuase the chance is good I'm just going to get up to put my boy back in bed. Here he is fast asleep on the couch. He even slept through the flash.

Why I almost became a Vegetarian

Yesterday at the grocery store Tommy and I passed some salmon being put out. I commented on how pretty the color was and how yummy it probably tasted. Then Tommy in a loud voice asked,
Mommy is the salmon dead?
Yes the salmon is dead.
Did we shoot it with a gun?
No
Did we shoot it with a bow and arrows (add in sound effects in your head)
No, the fish just died after it got out of the water.
Oh, so we don't want to eat it while it's alive huh.
(Add in the muffled laughter of 3 or 4 shoppers listening in)
No Tom, I don't want to eat it while it's alive.
So anyway, I decided not to get any salmon this time.

Family pictures (all right I'm bragging)

Okay, my family is amazingly good looking. Now since all of you who are invited to view this are pretty much related to us you will have to agree. I'm really glad Jenny thought to have pictures on the lagoon trail. I think they really turned out.

First Day of School

Okay Ann-Maire, here are the pics from the first day of school. We are finally posting them.

Claire has a big flag ceremony and then they line up and go into school. I loved being able to see Emma go off to Kindergarten too. Claire picked out her outfit by herself, and it matched! YEA. Tommy goes to Miss. Lisa who lives about 1/4 mile away. She is very nice and perfect for early childhood education. Tom already has new friends and seems to enjoy being in a more structured routine. Now mom just needs to get up beforethe bus leaves! Just kidding we haven't missed once this year.

Tommy and I rode bikes to the preschool, however we may not do that again due to the lack of a sidewalk and Tommy's inability to ride in a straight line. There were tons of busses going to park in the bus lot and I almost lost it thinking he was going to swerve and be killed. Oh my. I can't even write about it.